LLI GOLINE/NORMAN WELLS - Beth McGuigan goes to work to relax.

The Norman Wells resident built a spa in her home about a year ago and started her own business, Whole Healing day spa and wellness centre, after recovering from a two-year battle with Hodgkin's disease.

"I decided that I wanted to dedicate my life to helping other people be healthy," she said.

Before she and her husband moved to Norman Wells six years ago, McGuigan, who's originally from Mississippi, worked in the fashion industry in Miami and New York.

After her cancer diagnosis, she realized she needed to stop working such a stressful job and start taking better care of herself. Now a certified herbalist and aroma-therapist, she's usually booked up two or three weeks in advance and offers an expanding variety of services, including yoga and meditation workshops, facials and aromatherapy spa massages.

Though she makes sure to tell her customers she's not a registered massage therapist, she said one of her most popular techniques is a "raindrop therapy" massage, which uses essential oils on the spine.

She said she's grateful that people in the community have been so welcoming to her and her business.

"When people first started coming to see me, they knew I wasn't certified and they still came. I'll never forget that," McGuigan said. "I never dreamed I would be this busy."

She works in the spa part-time, accepting two appointments daily - more on Fridays, when her four- and five-year-old sons spend the day in preschool.

She also runs yoga workshops geared toward first-time yoga practitioners and elders at the community hall, and has travelled to Fort Good Hope to run workshops there. Eventually she hopes to take her business on the road to communities across the North. One of the most rewarding aspects of the job, she said, is when clients who suffer from chronic ailments, such as arthritis, tell her they feel better after spending time in her spa.

"I made the right choice. I chose to spend my day on something that is good for others," McGuigan said.

"It's not like work to me at all."