Warminster Wellness, Counseling Center Continues To Grow

WARMINSTER, PA — After collaborating with a Bucks County-based business management consultant, a Warminster health and wellness center has continued to expand its operations and offer therapeutic counseling practices to people across the area.

Airmid Wellness and Counseling Center was founded in 2015 by Dottie Kelly-Arabia, LPC, RN , and Marianne Welch-Salkind, MS, LPC. Kelly-Arabia is a registered nurse and a licensed counselor with more than 20 years of experience, and Welch-Salkind is a licensed massage therapist and licensed therapist.

Taking their company's name of Airmid, a Celtic goddess of healing, Kelly-Arabia and Welch-Salkind's goals has been not just to offer talk therapy, but to also change people "through healing the body and spirit", according to their official website.

When the COVID-19 pandemic first began, the two founders had already increased their staff significantly, with a total of 15 therapists on staff, as well as wellness staff and coaches.

"We were like the second responders during COVID," Welch-Salkind said. "Everybody was trying to adjust to such a drastic way of living, and it really took a toll on their mental health."

With this increase in clients for the wellness center before and after the pandemic, the owners were looking for ways to keep up with the demand for their services. It was in December of 2019 that Ed Salkind, Airmid’s Wellness Director and Marianne's husband, reached out to SCORE Bucks County, a local business management consulting agency, for help.

Bill Grant, a SCORE mentor, began helping Salkind and Airmid with various business practices like billing, facilities, classes, and transition planning.

"They still have a backlog but are working this down by bringing on the new therapists and folks finding other solutions for their needs," Grant said.

Being that Airmid provides holistic healing through wellness classes such as yoga, meditation, reiki, and more in conjunction with traditional talk therapy, Grant assisted the center with practices and steps to differentiate them from other therapy centers.

"Because of the mentorship, I’ve been able to re-examine it, recreate it and find different ways to
promote it," Kelly-Arabia said.

The Warminster business specializes in supporting youth with emotional needs, including those on the autism spectrum. Five of the center’s therapists provide children’s services at the center’s new Children’s Play Therapy Center, which incorporates art, play and sand therapy and a SMART (Sensory Motor Arousal Regulation Treatment) Moves Therapy Room.

"It’s impossible to help somebody with their emotional issues and not address how the body is storing it," Welch-Salkind said. "We know that physical movement needs to happen for a complete healing."

Airmid is now offering its services in a hybrid format in an effort to keep existing clients and bring in new ones.

"Hybrid makes it difficult to create that community that Airmid is all about," Kelly-Arabia said "These are all people working on being their better selves. It’s a great network and social connection to support each other."

Because SCORE provides no-cost mentoring throughout the life of a business, Grant continues to work with the founders and owners of Airmid to ensure that they are utilizing the best business practices they can.

"We’re doing everything that we’re being advised to do and it’s lifting off the ground," Welch-Salkind said. "We’re learning so much."

The wellness and counseling center's office is located at the Hartsville Professional Village, located at 1260 Old York Rd. in Warminster.