Our Treatment Center for Women–By Women

Dr. Dixie Brown, owner and Executive Director of Willow Place for Women, is an Integrative Medicine Practitioner passionate about helping individuals who seek recovery from substance use and mental health disorders.  Through the use of Complementary & Alternative Medicine, she helps her clients feel their best- physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually and guides them in their journey to recovery.  Her greatest joy is seeing her clients fall in love with themselves in ways they never imagined possible.  Dixie holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Business Management, a Master of Science degree in Counseling Psychology, and a PhD in Mind-Body Medicine specializing in Integrative Mental Health.  Dixie has also completed certification in Integrative and Functional Nutrition, Biofeedback, Wellness Coaching and is a Licensed Clinical Addiction Specialist and Certified Clinical Supervisor.  Additionally, Dixie is certified and works directly with the Center for Mind Body Medicine in Washington, DC.  Dixie is also the Founder and Board President of The Seraph Fund, an organization that helps provide resources for those seeking recovery, a Board Member of the NC Association of Recovery Residences, and head of the Buncombe County Health and Human Services Patient Brokering work group. Additionally, Dixie is a National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) Certified Personal Trainer and ACE Group Fitness Instructor. In her spare time, she loves spending time with her family and two kitties, hiking, being outdoors, traveling, and taking photos of landscapes and nature.

Dr. Brady Schroer obtained his Bachelor of Science in Biopsychology with an emphasis in Chemistry at Nebraska Wesleyan University. He attended medical school at Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences in Kansas City. After medical school, he completed his general psychiatry residency at the Menninger School of Psychiatry, an internationally known psychiatric hospital.

After residency, Dr. Schroer worked in a large hospital setting for over five years as a psychiatric hospitalist taking care of geriatric patients, caring for patients with psychiatric issues on the medical floors and ICU (intensive care units), detoxifying clients from alcohol and benzodiazepines, ECT treatment for depression, and served as Medical Director and Chief of Psychiatry.

Dr. Schroer later moved to Western North Carolina in 2007 to become the Medical Director of the inpatient psychiatric unit and the detoxification unit at one of the areas top hospitals and served for seven years in that capacity. Most recently, he has been seeing clients ages 15 and over in sober living environments, residential treatments, and other outpatient settings.

He has a vast experience from all different perspectives of addiction treatment and knows what it is like to be a family member of someone struggling with addiction. Dr. Schroer views addiction as a poor coping mechanism from past emotional pain. This emotional pain manifests as self-hatred, resentments, shame, and extreme negativity, all contributing to the cycle of pain and addiction. He believes addressing the underlying pain is absolutely crucial in order to find sobriety instead of trying to numb the pain with addicting substances and behaviors.

He is extremely compassionate and nonjudgmental and enjoys teaching clients about the addiction process and how to overcome poor habits that are keeping them stuck. Dr. Schroer has learned a lot from the clients he has treated and continues to use this wealth of knowledge to help others move into a peaceful life instead of chaos.

Dr. Schroer is a Christian, loves traveling and playing golf, enjoys all forms of motorsports and photography. He loves spending time with his wife and family in the great outdoors. He feels especially fortunate to call Asheville his home!

Nicole works as the behind the scenes Executive Assistant from her home in Georgia. While her degree is a Bachelors of Science concentrating in Marine Biology, her journey in college began her work in the Recovery field in West Palm Beach Florida. Taking a part time job to pay her way through college, Nicole started her first job as a night tech at a local detox. There she was able to hone her skills as a Quality Assurance Manager, being taught every aspect of the administrative parts in Behavioral Health. As she was able to see the direct impact of a well maintained office to the future of the clients being served, her soul began to sing joy from the lives she was able to touch. This love for helping others is what continued her journey in Recovery instead of pursuing a job in her field.

From there she was able to assist opening another IOP in West Palm Beach leading her to her future job at Willow Place. In April of 2016, Nicole took the position as the office administrator in Willow Place’s West Palm Beach location. After working for Willow for 2 years, her journey involved her moving to her current home of Rome, Georgia. She was gladly able to take on the remote position of Executive Assistant, which she holds today.

Nicole’s expertise in Quality Assurance, Billing, and Office Administration has allowed Willow Place to thrive in new ways as she assists its leaders to be the best they can be. Playing the support role brings life to Nicole and Willow Place creating a symphony of amazing accomplishments. Her desire to serve and help other is what fuels her soul to work hard to make Willow Place the best facility it can be.

In Nicole’s spare time she is the mother of two children, animal mommy to 6 animals (dogs, cats, tortoises, and guinea pigs), serves at her church, and loves to paint.

Alunda Parker Amick

LCAS, LCMHCA, NCC

As Clinical Director of Willow Place, Alunda brings creativity to the role of empowering others from a colorful background of experience.  She has a passion for walking alongside others in their individual journey of healing, providing sacred space for vulnerability, meaning and purpose.  Supporting women to become their authentic selves has developed into her overall vision of her work in the world.  Alunda understands personally the effectiveness of an integrated approach to healing and is honored to be a part of the mission of Willow Place.  In 2008 she began her studies of clinical aromatherapy and holds the credential of Master Aromatherapist as well as certificate in Holistic Nutrition.  Creative expression in the forms of poetry, dance, and painting are tools that she has used since childhood and now shares with others therapeutically.

Alunda began her career in the mental health field in 2009 where she worked with children who had experienced severe trauma.  It was there at a residential treatment center in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains that Alunda discovered the importance of holding sacred space in support of others.  This experience led her to gain her Bachelor of Science in both Psychology and Crisis Counseling.  It was during her internship of undergraduate studies that Alunda found her love in working with substance use disorders.  In 2015 she began working as a clinician under the NC Addictions Professional Practice Board as a Certified Substance Abuse Counselor.  Alunda completed her Master of Education in Counseling & Human Development at Lindsey Wilson College and currently holds her LCAS and LCMHCA as well as NCC.

In her graduate program, Alunda found her home in feminist and existential therapeutic approaches and completed field work at the Art Therapy Institute in Carrboro, NC.  This time was precious to her as she witnessed her love of art and counseling blend together with seemingly endless possibilities.  Alunda is currently working toward her Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapy certification and has been utilizing creative expression in therapeutic settings in group and individual counseling.  Alunda believes in gentleness and ease in addressing suffering in ourselves and the world.  Mindfulness practices are an additional approach she brings to the table whether in the counseling setting or in leading individuals.

In her spare time Alunda embraces the beauty of the world through spending time with her family, reading a lot of books, dialogue of an existential nature, practicing meditation and yoga.  She still finds time to paint and write her poetry.  She also enjoys being in nature and the grounding qualities of the mountains.

Katherine is a licensed mental health and addictions counselor who is passionate about helping women on their path to recovery. Originally from South Carolina, Katherine received her undergraduate degrees from Clemson University. While studying at Clemson, Katherine also discovered and developed her love for joyful movement and the outdoors through yoga, running and rock climbing.

After graduating from Clemson in 2015, Katherine completed her 200-hour yoga teacher training, taught yoga and volunteered at Crisis Text Line before returning to school at Appalachian State University. She graduated from Appalachian State with an M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and a Graduate Certificate in Addictions Counseling. Katherine completed her clinical internship at a residential addictions treatment center working with adults and adolescents, during which she was able to begin integrating her knowledge of mindfulness and body-centered techniques into treatment and found her niche in facilitating women’s specific groups.

Since completing her Master’s degree and becoming a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor Associate and Licensed Clinical Addiction Specialist Associate, Katherine has been facilitating Intensive Outpatient and Partial Hospitalization programming for people on the path to recovery from substance use and mental health disorders. Her practice of evidence-based treatment through a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy framework continues to integrate mindfulness and movement as tools of healing and growth, and takes a person-centered approach to helping people identify their authentic core values and take steps in their valued direction.

When Katherine isn’t working she can be found rock climbing, hiking, or biking around the beautiful mountains of North Carolina, reading, and spending time with her cats.

Naomi is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor who enjoys meeting clients where they are with a heart of compassion in their journeys to wholeness.  She has experience working with people of all ages in community mental health, addictions recovery, eating disorders recovery, and church settings. She also brings her experience as a neurofeedback therapist to Willow Place, offering neurofeedback brain training as part of services received here. Naomi is originally from New Jersey and received a Bachelor’s degree in Food Science from Rutgers University, working in that field for several years before deciding to switch directions and become a counselor.  She received her Master’s degree in Community Counseling from Western Carolina University in 2006. Outside of being a counselor, Naomi loves being a mom to her teenage daughter who is a competitive dancer, and has lived in the mountains of Western North Carolina since 1997.

Leah Guarino is a licensed mental health counselor who feels genuine connection is necessary for healing.  Originally from Delaware, Leah completed her undergraduate degree in 2014 at the University of Delaware, receiving her B.A. in Psychology, with a minor in human development and family studies.  After graduation, Leah began working as a receptionist for an outpatient mental health facility.  There she realized she wanted to be the one working hands-on with clients to pursue goals, and work on whatever clients brought to the space.  In 2018, Leah moved to Asheville, North Carolina after being accepted to Western Carolina University’s Clinical Mental Health program.  Through her internship, Leah gained experience working with women in a therapeutic community focused on addiction recovery.  In May of 2020, she completed her program and received her M.S. in Mental Health Counseling, and was hired on as a substance use counselor at her internship site.  After receiving her master’s degree, Leah decided to stay in Western North Carolina to pursue licensure as a Clinical Mental Health Counselor Associate.  She is recognized as a National Certified Counselor by the National Board of Certified Counselors.  Leah is also a Certified Grief Counseling Specialist, after seeing how repeated patterns of loss have impacted her clients dealing with addiction.

When Leah is not working, she enjoys spending time with her dog Coby, completing crossword puzzles, engaging in many crafts such as painting, macrame, and cross-stitching, as well as spending time outside, at the beach, or driving on the parkway.

Robin is a Certified Eating Disorders Specialist at our Asheville facility, and also an Approved Supervisor for clinicians seeking certification through the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals™. She has over two decades of clinical experience working with women and their families in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Many of her clients have co-occurring anxiety and mood disorders, substance abuse, and disordered eating and body image issues. In the past, Robin served as Lead Program Therapist in the first eating disorders inpatient psychiatric treatment program in the state of NC. She has facilitated multi-family therapy groups and workshops and provided individual, couple’s, family and group therapy. Intuitive Eating, Interpersonal Therapy, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy–especially the mindfulness skills–form the foundation for her work. Robin models how humor and laughter are essential in the healing process and teaches clients to use non-judgmental, compassionate curiosity as their pathway to self-awareness and positive change. Licensed to practice in NC as a Licensed Professional Counselor, Robin is also a National Certified Counselor.

Robin holds an MA in Psychology from West Georgia College and a BA in Journalism from UNC-Chapel Hill. Before entering the helping profession, Robin was an advertising copywriter in Atlanta, GA. There she became alarmed about society’s obsession with female appearance and narrow definition of beauty and fitness, which is still harming the self-esteem and health of women and girls. She is a passionate activist for a medical and cultural shift to the Health At Every Size® paradigm. More holistic and inclusive, the HAES® approach recognizes that true health and well-being are multi-dimensional and include biological, psychological, social and spiritual aspects. Robin empowers people of all sizes to make peace now with their bodies and with food, and get on with living a mindful, meaningful and skillful life.

Erica Perez is an LCSW and LCAS-A with a heart for supporting women through their toughest and most meaningful times in their lives. A native from Charlotte, NC Erica has spent nine of the last eleven years living in Western NC and considers these mountains home. Erica’s career started in 2012 as a case manager/advocate at a small domestic violence/sexual assault dual agency in Boone, NC. Here is where Erica’s passion for working with women was solidified. This passion propelled her forward to complete her Masters in Social Work from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2013.

After graduating in 2015 as an MSW Erica began working in Asheville at an adolescent girls residential treatment center that specialized in Mental Health, Substance Abuse, and Eating Disorders. From here Erica spent 3 years providing Intensive In-home therapy to high risk youth and their families which led her to pursuing her addiction specialist licensure. When Erica isn’t working she enjoys reading about healing trauma, treating addiction, self-care and spiritual growth. Erica has one child, her son who is the light of her life and keeps her grounded and excited to make a positive difference in the world. In addition to her heart for her son and therapy, you can always spark up a good conversation with her about the benefits of yoga and movement. Erica completed a 250-hour yoga teacher training program in 2019 and hopes to share her knowledge with anyone willing to listen. Erica values holistic treatment approaches incorporating the mind, body, spirit, and community through a variety of treatment approaches that are individualized with the upmost care and respect.

Tai is a Licensed Professional Counselor and a Board-Certified Registered Art Therapist. A graduate of Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, she has spent over 16 years working with adolescent girls and women with a strong focus on trauma and identity development. Tai spent two summers in Africa doing art therapy with ex-child soldiers, as well as Sri Lanka doing crisis intervention work immediately after the Tsunami.  She is passionate about creating spaces that encourages others to brave their truth and be the alchemist of their own story.

Krystal is a trained conscious healer utilizing the art of acupuncture and herbal medicine to facilitate wellness and vitality. Her mission is to offer women and children a compassionate and loving healing space by supporting them through all their life cycles.

Krystal provides an intuitive and grounded approach to Classical Chinese Medicine.  With each person she creates an individualized treatment plan while offering a safe sanctuary allowing the innate wisdom of the body to emerge.  Krystal strives to empower women in restoring their own natural state of radiance and resilience.

Krystal devoted four years to a rigorous academic graduate program at Daoist Traditions College of Chinese Medical Arts that has provided her with a solid set of medical skills along with a Masters Degree in Oriental Medicine.  Krystal has a private practice in Asheville, NC as well as a community clinic for women. She also offers group acupuncture and sound healing for women in recovering at Willow Place.

In addition to being a licensed acupuncturist, Krystal is a trained midwife’s assistant, Reiki Master and certified teacher of Kundalini and prenatal yoga. She studied with world renowned midwife Ina May Gaskin at The Farm in Summertown, Tennessee; and with Tej Kaur Khalsa and Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa in Southern California. These experiences have given Krystal a diverse and unique array of healing modalities to assist each person on their own authentic journey towards optimal health.

Since 2016, as Administrative Assistant, Annette Krukowski has compassionately welcomed clients and loved ones to Willow Place. Annette has proven to be indispensable in managing the office, maintaining records, and facilitating communication for therapists, clients, and families.  Her compassionate presence and diverse experience serves Willow Place well.

Annette brings decades of related experience to Willow Place. Annette’s passion for helping others began with her service in a medical unit in Europe. As time went on,  she grew her organization and communication skills in management roles at Fortune 500 retail companies in Detroit.  Annette’s career path led her to customer service in the medical field for many years, gaining valuable experience with the complexities of record keeping and insurance. Annette’s family roots in Asheville go back many generations, and in 2007 she returned to the mountains of her childhood vacations to be with family.

Marykate joined the Willow Place team in the fall of 2019 as our Admissions and Outreach Coordinator.  Originally from Philadelphia, she graduated from the University of Delaware with a degree in Mass Communication/ Advertising and a minor in Organizational Leadership. She has worked for companies such as QVC, Verizon, The Walt Disney Company, Office Depot Corporate HQ, and consulted within pharma and technology industries.

Now at Willow Place, Marykate is thriving bringing her past work experience and pairing it with her true calling to help women struggling with mental health, substance abuse, or eating disorders.  Her goal is to help Willow Place grow to be able to serve twice as many women.

When not at work, Marykate can be found hanging out with her three-and-half legged pitbull named Gus.

Marcie works from home in Florida as a Billing Specialist while watching her baby girl. Although starting as just the Billing Specialist, she quickly and gladly took on more responsibility as the creator of our monthly newsletters and coordinator of all alumni events. While this job is unrelated to her B.A. in Technical & Design Theatre from Palm Beach Atlantic University, it fulfills her desire to create beauty and help people on a daily basis. Her detail orientated nature allows her to take extra care with all of the client’s billing records which allows for better understanding in an often confusing area.

Completely unfamiliar with the world of rehab, she has strived to learn all that she can so that she can best assist the clients and understand where they are coming from. To her, Willow Place for Women is a special place she feels privileged to work for. The company’s desire to help women in a holistic and complete way is compelling and encouraging. She is also learning a lot about what it looks like when the owners and upper management truly care about their employees; their overall welfare and sense of community amongst all co-workers.

Marcie is also a mother of two young children, an adoring wife, a faithful servant at her church and owner of her very own small creative business crafting home goods that make a house feel like home.

Haley was born and raised in Franklin NC, growing up she never imagined she would struggle with drugs and alcohol. Haley moved to Asheville in 2016 in search of a new beginning, a life free from active addiction. She was a resident at the Women’s First Step Farm in Candler for a year before moving on to an Oxford House in West Asheville. From there Haley started her journey to give back what was so freely given to her– support in learning how to live life without alcohol or drugs. Helping other women is crucial in her personal recovery and a career path she plans on pursuing. At Willow Place, Haley gets to be a part of beautiful transformations in Women’s lives. She says for her that is a dream come true. 

Sarah Comerford has joined the Willow Place team as a Behavioral Technician/Case Manager. Sarah graduated from Kean University, in New Jersey, with a Bachelors degree in Psychology. Through her own personal and life experiences, Sarah moved to Asheville in August of 2019, to pursue a Graduate degree in Clinical Psychology at Lenoir Rhyne University. Sarah’s life mission is to help women live their lives as their most authentic selves, to love themselves whole, and to find their self worth. 

Emma is currently working on her MA in clinical mental health counseling at Lenoir-Rhyne University in Asheville. She is an eating disorder recovery advocate and passionate about the Health at Every Size approach. Through her studies and work in mental health, she hopes to assist folks with healing their relationships with their bodies.