Welcome to
ROOTS & WINGS
For Renewed Health
A sunrise in spring often creates a feeling of hope and renewal.
So do we.
If you’ve been looking for a new path and a new focus for recovering your health — we likely have a toolkit of “new-to-you” approaches.
When you are ready, Roots & Wings will be right here for you, even if you’ve experienced months, years, or even decades of chronic pain, exhaustion and misery.
I wrote this webpage so you could have a thorough introduction to me, the way I think, and my practice. See if you think I can help you…
As of 1/2/26, this website has been posted but still has some quirks to be worked out. I expect they will be worked out over the next few weeks.
Offering Physiology Based Support for Chronic Pain & Exhaustion
Hi, my name is Ellen Nicholas. I am a Functional Health & Wellness Practitioner, Board Certified as a Holistic Health Practitioner, and trained and certified as a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition (FDN) Practitioner.
I live in the Mid-Hudson Valley of New York State and primarily practice online, with occasional in-person sessions in Rhinebeck, NY.
I serve people who need a new and different healing path after months, years or decades of chronic pain, disabling fatigue and overall misery.
In my work, I don’t diagnose or treat medical conditions. Instead, I help clients identify healing opportunities, restore balance, and in supporting how the body actually functions — and support the body’s capacity for recovery through nutrition, lifestyle support, targeted supplementation, and stress-resilience strategies.
When I describe my work as physiology-based support, I mean that everything we do is grounded in how the body actually functions and supporting that.
No chasing symptoms.
No chasing flavor-of-the-week supplements or novelty protocols.
No pouring good money after bad so you can try every possible option.
Just science.
Just physiology.
Just enough, done well.
Ellen Kennedy Nicholas
-Board Certified Holistic Health Practitioner (AADP)
-Certified FDN Practitioner
Does this Sound Like You?
HAVE CHRONIC PAIN, EXHAUSTION AND MISERY TAKEN OVER YOUR LIFE?
ARE YOU STRUGGLING TO GET THROUGH MOST DAYS. You just don’t have enough energy…
DO YOU FEEL YOU CAN’T, OR YOU CAN HARDLY, OR YOU’RE AFRAID YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO: take care of your job, your kids and their activities, relate with your partner and friends, take care of your house, shop for groceries, get down to the subway because of stairs, make Thanksgiving dinner with extended family or friends, or travel anywhere…
CAN YOU SCARCELY STAY AWAKE DURING THE DAY and then can’t sleep at night?
HAVE YOU BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH AN ILLNESS OR ILLNESSES YOU JUST CAN’T GET PAST —Like Lyme? Or mono? COVID? Epstein Barr? Maybe mold?
HAVE YOU GONE TO MANY DOCTORS, ACUPUNCTURISTS, AND CHIROPRACTORS (taken your antibiotics, gone to therapy, etc.) and you still don’t feel well?
HAVE YOU BEEN LOOKING FOR A PRACTITIONER WHO CAN LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE AND PULL IT ALL TOGETHER? One who understands, and has lived the nightmare of complex chronic illnesses characterized by chronic pain, exhaustion, and misery?
Functional Lab Partners:
Practitioner-Grade Supplements/Apothecary Partners
My Roots & Wings Apothecary (via FULLSCRIPT) provides you access to top Practitioner-Grade supplement brands.
Thorne - Pure Encapsulation - Professional Formulas - Microbiome Labs
Restorative Formulations - Pendulum - Integrative Therapeutics
Biotics Research - Nordic Naturals - Quicksilver Scientific
Biocidin Botanicals - Douglas Laboratories - Metagenics
Jarrow Formulas - Vital Nutrients - Life Extension - Nutramedix
Klaire Labs - Source Naturals - Codeage - Integrative Therapeutics
Researched Nutritionals - Seeking Health - Apex Energetics
Retail minus 15% - Never pay full price again.
We also have access to Designs For Health and Cellcore Labs Directly
Vibrant Wellness
Precisional Analytical
Doctor’s Data - Real Time Labs
Oxford Biomedical
IGE Igenex
Diagnostic Solutions Laboratory
Quick Silver Scientific
Nutripath * Fluids IQ
Mosaic Diagnostics Lab
Precision Analytical
Immuno Sciences Lab & More…
Why work with me?
YOU WANT YOUR LIFE BACK because you no longer RECOGNIZE the one you’re currently living…
YOU NEED TO WORK AND HAVE PERSONAL/ FAMILY/FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS YOU WANT/NEED TO MEET and you CAN’T easily do that if you aren’t WELL and have brain fog…
BECAUSE YOU HAVE NOT GIVEN UP HOPE that you can recover from whatever it is you have going on…
NOTHING YOU AND YOUR DOCTORS HAVE TRIED HAS WORKED OUT YET and you’re ready to explore a holistic and functional approach…
YOU RECOGNIZE YOU NEED A CHANGE AGENT TO COME TO YOU WITH NEW THOUGHT PROCESSES AND SOLUTIONS, and help break the impasse that you are in.
YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU ARE GOING THROUGH IS HARD (really hard) and that it might be easier with a coach and cheerleader guiding you through the process… We all need to be heard and it can be burdensome for our partners and family when this has become a long-term issue.
I WILL COMMIT TO HELPING YOU GET OUT OF THE STATE YOU’RE IN, both as an FDN Practitioner and your coach — IF YOU WILL COMMIT TO DOING THE WORK OF GETTING BETTER. I aim to provide to you what I needed when I was sick — a proven process with handholding and hope.
If this sounds like what you’ve been searching for, the next step is simply to learn what working together actually looks like — how we’ll partner, what’s expected, and how I’ll support you through each phase of your recovery process.
Individual Appointments
By phone or zoom, with email support.
Occasional in-person sessions in Rhinebeck.
Both men & women.
Individual appts & five-appointment packs.
Longer-Term Support (Recommended)
For complex or longstanding health issues, I primarily work in longer containers that allow the body time to stabilize, rebuild, and respond — without rushing or overwhelm.
Structured Programs
The Roots & Wings Assessment including pre-assessment appointment, a written report with assessment results, and a follow-up appointment to discuss the report after you have read it.
The Mystery Illness Solution, a six-month program which combines:
the Roots & Wings Assessment process with 1:1 support;
appointments every two or three weeks;
protocol recommendations with clear steps for implementation;
purposeful reinforcement of key concepts central to your healing process, supporting their clarity, understanding, and retention over time.
ongoing lifestyle support;
Facebook group office hours two days per week where I answer questions as they arise. If questions are personal, rather than general, they might turn into quick phone calls.
video or emailed responses to questions as necessary
an explicit intent to provide ongoing encouragement to those who need it.
video or emailed responses to questions as necessary
Additionally, there are resources made available to all including access to my online apothecary at Fullscript. My clients receive a 15% discount on pharmaceutical grade supplements. Never pay full price again…
*As this is a non-medical practice, no insurance is applicable.
*Cash, debit/credit card, Venmo are accepted.