Meet the AW&Y Team
Asha W. Sims (she/her/hers)
Chief Entrepreneurial Officer (CEO)/Clinical Director
Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor Supervisor (LCMHCS), Clinical Hypnotherapist (CH),
Certified Yoga Instructor (E-RYT-200), Reiki Master Teacher (RMT)
Asha W. Sims is a therapist, holistic wellness practitioner, and yogi. She believes in promoting wellness and the prevention of illness through total holistic care. The maintenance of an aligned soul, body, and spirit is the key to healing.
Ms. Sims is the founder and Chief Entrepreneurial Officer of Ashakti Wellness & Yoga PLLC as well as the Clinical Director. As a leading clinician in the field of mental health, she supervises budding wellness practitioners with a keen understanding of the total person. In addition, as a certified Hypnotherapist along with other specializations, Ms. Sims is skilled in assisting with resolving trauma and PTSD. Other areas of her work include smoking cessation, weight loss, stress/anxiety, women & sexual health, and past life regressions.
Asha W. Sims' background in Chakra Therapy allows her to provide a grounded approach. The focus is the integration and balancing of core energy centers that affects development, growth, and mental health.
Aisha Yesher-El (she/her/hers)
Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor (LCMHC),
Reiki Practitioner (RP), Dance Instructor, & Certified Yoga
Instructor (CYI-200) in Training
Aisha Yesher-El provides wellness services in the form of holistic therapy as well as integrative care. She treats a multitude of diagnoses in addition to assisting with everyday life transitions. Her areas of specialty include, but are not limited to: Childhood neglect, ADHD, Oppositional Defiant, Trauma/Abuse, Homelessness, and Mood Disorders. Aisha also enjoys providing guidance with life adjustments such as parenting/co-parenting, career development, and spiritual development.
She helps to identify as well as educate on presenting imbalances. Her expertise includes, but is not limited to: Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing, Chakra Therapy.
In addition to being a LCMHC, Aisha is also a holistic wellness practitioner. She incorporates therapeutic expressive arts (i.e. dance, healing sound, and energy work) into her already extensive skillset. Her work helps clients to process unspoken trauma.
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Cyndi Friday (she/her/hers)
Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor (LCMHC),
Reiki Master Practitioner (RMP)
Cyndi is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor, as well as a licensed school counselor in the state of North Carolina. Cyndi served four years as Dean of Student Services at a K-12 charter school and for ten years as a High School Counselor at a K-12 charter school.
She is owner of Innerversations, a therapeutic private practice, where she invites her clients to examine and reshape the conversations within. Cyndi received her Ed.S, and M.A., in Mental Health Counseling from Gardner-Webb University, and her B.A. in Psychology from Queens University. S
She is a member of the American Counseling Association. Prior to her career move to counseling and education, Cyndi worked in banking for sixteen years in various positions, including customer service, operations and risk management. Cyndi loves practicing yoga, meditation, spending time with family, reading, traveling, and perusing local businesses.
Shay White-Joseph (she/her/hers)
Physician Assistant (PA), Certified Yoga Practitioner (CYI-200), Reiki Practitioner (RP), Iridology (IP)
Medical Intuitive & Wellness Practitioner
Shay White-Joseph is a Physician Assistant, formerly specialized in Western Medicine, specifically: Internal Medicine, Family Practice, Pediatrics, Urgent Care, and Women’s Health for 17 years. She developed an interest in Naturopathic Holistic Health after recovering from a personal health crisis. Western medicine failed her causing extreme side effects to underlying issues. Her regime included taking many prescription medicines daily for hypertension, congestive heart failure, diabetes, and chronic pain.
The implementation of simple healthier lifestyle choices, research (medical intuition), and her studies (i.e. yoga instruction, reiki practitioner training, iridology practitioner training) offered a stable resolution to her problems. Results were evident in 3-9 months and the overall process was less expensive. A passion for sharing this wealth of love and knowledge was born.
Shay White-Joseph wants to help others seeking more natural, holistic, and organic means of resolving health issues. Her purpose is to improve the quality of life with “health wealth” medical knowledge and holistic measures.
Tahnaya "Tee" Williams (she/her/hers)
Reiki Master Practitioner (RMP), Energy Practitioner (EP)
Medical Intuitive & Wellness Practitioner
Tahnaya "Tee" Williams is a Reiki Master, Behavior Coach and Wellness Practitioner. Tahnaya is a Master Energy Practitioner and specializes in men's health and working with children with autism. Tahnaya believes that it is important to always make what you do personal and do it with love and a smile.
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Spencer Scorsone (she/her/hers)
Master of Arts in Counseling
(Clinical Mental Health)
Reiki Master Practitioner (RMP)
Wellness Practitioner
Spencer Scorscone is a Holistic Therapist, Wellness Practitioner and Plant Medicine Advocate. She utilizes the 8 dimensions model to explore total wellness: emotional, mental, spiritual, physical, social, financial, occupational, and environmental. Spencer is eclectic in her style integrating several research-based techniques into the wellness process including mindfulness and self-awareness practices in the here-and-now, somatic therapy, Reiki, cognitive-behavioral interventions. She works with college students, couples, and parents to explore their these relative to their thought processes, acceptance and commitment therapy, and existential approaches. Spencer's approach is to explore the lenses through which clients life experiences in order to assist with clarifying their sense of purpose and meaning.
Kiera Butler
Graduate Counseling Intern
University of North Carolina at Charlotte for a M.A in Counseling
Undergrad: B.S in Sport and Exercise Psychology, minor in Addiction Studies from West Virginia University.
Home is where I learned about the impact of addiction and stigma associated with the disease which kickstarted the desire for a career that blended holistic approaches with treating substance abuse.
My counseling approach and belief is as follows:
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Belief of psychodynamic approach in conjunction to early childhood experiences and the unconscious driving behaviors.
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Belief of humanistic approach in conjunction to the belief individuals possess the qualities they need to flourish, they just need to be nurtured.
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Belief of a mindfulness approach in conjunction to helping individuals learn how to cope and self-regulate when they recognize stressors.
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Belief of a creative approach in conjunction to utilizing expressive methods that incorporate all 5 senses with healing.
Tara Nicole Forman
Licensed Massage Therapist/Reiki Master
Hello, my name is Tara Smith and I am a Licensed Massage Therapist and Reiki Master. Originally hailing from Buffalo, New York, for the past 20+ years Charlotte, North Carolina has been my home. As a Licensed Massage Therapist and Reiki Master. I am always an advocate for total wellness and believe massage therapy is an essential component for a healthy mind, body and spirit. Massage can do many things, including allowing you to relax your mind, restore your body and renew your spirit. This journey towards wellness is vital in helping us become our best selves. As a result I continue to explore other practices within this sector, and am constantly continuing my education within this realm.