It's all in her mind - and body

Dr. Nancy White, who founded Unique Mindcare, is a licensed psychologist, licensed professional counselor and a licensed marriage and family therapist, among other certifications.

Take one look at Dr. Nancy White's photo and it's  not hard to see that she takes her own advice about wellness and health.

“I believe everything being natural and focus on the whole person,” said White, who lives in Memorial and is the founder of Unique Mindcare.

White was born and brought up in Waco, but moved about 14 times with her Air Force husband before moving to Houston in the late 1950s.

Her decision to become a doctor came later in life. She was the “increasingly bored wife and mother” to her second husband, a patent attorney, when she decided to enroll in UH, where she earned a bachelor's of fine arts in 1977, followed by her master's in behavioral science in 1979. But it was while

White was enrolled in the doctorate program, working toward her PhD in clinical psychology, that the direction of both her career and her life changed dramatically.

She discovered a lump, but put off going to the doctor. When she finally did, “The doctor came in wringing his hands,” White remembered. He told her the cancer had metastasized, but instead of being resigned, White got angry. “I thought, 'I'm not going to see this guy again, he sees me as dead,'” White said. “I won't let the medical community kill me.”

White sought treatment an immunology clinic, became a vegetarian, too supplements and took other steps to get well. She got well and has never looked back since.

“It gave me the sense the body knew how to heal itself if you create the environment,” she said.

In the '80s White worked with a pioneer in EEG (neuro) feedback, and she became hooked on psycho physiology – the relationship between the mind and body. She founded Unique Mindcare in Houston, where conditions such as addiction and ADHD are treated not with drugs, but by “retraining the brain” during what she called “a psychic detox.”

“It works on the deep unconscious,” White said of the neurofeedback therapy. “It bypasses the ego to release traumatic material. It's been wonderful what we've been able to do.”

Nancy White, MD
Age: 77
Community Connection: founder of Unique Mindcare who is a pioneer and leader in the field of Applied Neuroscience.
Fast Fact: Dr. White lived on an air force base in northern Maine with her late husband in the 1950s during what she called “a lifetime of seven months.”

Ann C. Fisher is a freelance writer. She can be reached at neighborhoods@chron.com