Integrative Healing Arts was founded in 2016 by Elijah Howard and Amanda Plecha, a husband-and-wife team who share a belief that true healing happens when the mind and body are addressed together.
They grew up in the Columbia, Maryland community and felt called to serve it by offering a model of health rooted in mindfulness, awareness, and connection.
Where modern life often fragments the physical from the emotional, Integrative Healing Arts offers a return to wholeness — integrating psychotherapy, acupuncture, and bodywork in a warm, welcoming environment designed for calm and clarity.
Amanda Plecha, Licensed Acupuncturist & Shiatsu Practitioner
Amanda helps clients restore balance, vitality, and inner peace through acupuncture, shiatsu, and natural facial rejuvenation treatments.
Trained at the Maryland University of Integrative Health, Amanda holds a Master’s in Acupuncture and specializes in Traditional Japanese Medicine, including acupuncture, shiatsu, cupping, and moxibustion. She apprenticed under master practitioners Ted Annenberg (Japanese-style Acupuncture) and Hazel Chung (Ohashiatsu Certified Instructor), cultivating a practice deeply rooted in sensitivity, presence, and precision.
Her approach begins with listening through touch — using palpation to identify the root cause of imbalance rather than chasing symptoms. She believes that once the root is addressed, the entire system reorganizes toward health, allowing multiple symptoms to resolve at once.
In addition to her clinical training, Amanda brings a rare embodied understanding of movement and alignment from her years as a professional dancer, performing with the Dance Dimension, Johns Hopkins Modern Dance Company, and the Baltimore Dance Project. This background gives her a refined awareness of body mechanics, posture, and flow — all of which inform her therapeutic touch.
Her clients describe her treatments as transformative, deeply relaxing, and intuitively guided — blending ancient technique with modern care.
Elijah Howard, M.S. Pastoral Counseling, LCPC
Elijah helps clients develop clarity, emotional balance, and practical strategies for living well.
As a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor and Nationally Certified Counselor, he works with teens, young adults, and adults seeking direction, stability, and personal growth.
His approach to therapy blends compassion with clarity — combining reflective insight with goal-directed action so clients not only understand themselves more deeply but also learn how to move forward effectively.
“Therapy is a conversation that leads to transformation — a process of rediscovering your own strength and direction.”
Elijah has extensive clinical experience in both individual and family work. At the Reginald Lourie Center in Rockville, MD, he specialized in attachment-based therapy, helping parents and children rebuild secure, functional relationships. He’s also served in schools, community centers, and crisis settings, supporting teenagers and adults through anxiety, depression, trauma, and life transitions.
He is trained in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and is a certified Circle of Security® parent guidance instructor — a model for helping families strengthen emotional connection.
Elijah currently offers individual therapy for teens and adults, parent support, and meditation-based groups that integrate mindfulness, emotional regulation, and authentic living.
