This episode shares all about the Sliding Scale and Solidarity Pricing for the Herbalism, PTSD and Traumatic Stress Course that is open for enrollment Saturday 22nd March.

Links & resources from this episode

• Herbalism, PTSD and Traumatic Stress Course – https://solidarityapothecary.org/herbalismandptsdcourse/
• Join the course waiting list – https://mailtrain.solidarityapothecary.org/subscription/fmbLcOZlJ
• Solidarity Places Information - https://solidarityapothecary.org/ptsd-solidarity-places/

Find them all at solidarityapothecary.org/podcast/

Support the show

Music from Sole & DJ Pain – Battle of Humans | Plant illustrations by @amani_writes | In solidarity, please subscribe, rate & review this podcast wherever you listen.

Welcome to the Frontline Herbalism Podcast with your host, Nicole Rose from the

Solidarity Apothecary.

This is your place for all things plants and

liberation.

Let's get started.

Hello. Welcome back to the Frontline Herbalism Podcast.

So I was recording an episode that you've hopefully listened to all about the herbalism

PTSD and traumatic stress course.

And I just realized it was getting a bit long,

so I thought I would record a part 2 instead.

So please, please, please listen to the first one to give you all the context about.

And I will just.

Yeah, I'll just kind of crack on from where I

left off.

So the first part now is how much does the course cost?

And this is probably the question I get the most.

So I'm going to talk about the standard price first and then the resource price, and then

I'll talk about the solidarity price and the sliding scale in much more detail.

Okay, so the standard price is £225.

And there are payment plans.

So you could pay, for example, £75 for three months or £45 for five months.

So this is for people in employment or folks who have a kind of steady income who are able

to meet their basic needs and like afford extras, you know, like holidays or takeaways

or clothes, things like that.

Not, I mean, everyone needs clothes, but I mean, like, yeah, you're kind of like actively

consuming in the world, if that makes sense.

And yeah, for people with some savings and safety net and then the resource price is 375,

so payment plans, there's like 125 pounds for three months or 75 pounds for five months.

So this is for people with like, access to unearned generational wealth, for example

trust funds or family allowances or people that are kind of living off like significant

kind of inheritances for people who own a house or own more than one property or are a

landlord, and for people with larger than average like savings and pensions and

investments beyond your sort of daily cost of living,

or folks who are a kind of like middle to high earner in terms of like work and wage labour.

I don't get many people, if I'm honest with the resource price, but I really appreciate

people that do pay that who, you know, recognize their sort of class and economic

privilege and use that for the course.

Because like I said, like, you know, I've never like actually published the Data.

But like 75% of people access the course with the solidarity price pricing.

So most people actually don't contribute or contribute kind of an average of like 12 lbs.

Or something.

So the people that pay the standard price and the resource price are like, yeah, they're

just like so appreciated.

Like it's you that makes the solidarity

apothecary, like financially viable and means that I can focus on it and I don't have to

sell my labor somewhere else.

And that I can, you know, do things like send hundreds of books to prisoners around the

world each month and get medicine making packages out to folks and support people who

can't pay me with like the one to one clinic, for example, and you know, a bunch of other

stuff.

Okay, so the solidarity price, this is like its own sliding scale.

So it can be from 0 to 2 to 5.

So you can kind of choose where you are on

that.

And this is for people who are refugees, asylum seekers, or people without papers,

former prisoners and detainees, like low income prisoner and detainee family members.

Because, you know, like the whole project is supporting people experiencing state violence.

So it's a lot of like these groups of people that are.

And also folks who are like low income organizers, like experiencing state

repression.

And then there's also this broader category which is like anyone in financial distress,

like unable to meet their basic needs.

And yeah, I can share a little bit more about that, but just kind of like, why a sliding

scale before I do, like, yeah, this, you know, I'll read what I've written here.

So this course offers three different packages designed to accommodate different levels of

financial resources and acknowledge the impact of systemic oppression.

While the detailed packages are outlined above, the core principle is simple on low

incomes pay less and financially resourced people pay more.

So this approach represents an imperfect way to create a more economically liberating

model.

While we work to create different economic systems.

So understanding class and its intersections is crucial.

It is inseparable from other forms of oppression, racism, sexism, transphobia,

ableism, et cetera.

People situations are complex and rarely fit into neat categories or sliding scales in our

capitalist society, which generates and perpetuates a feeling of scarcity.

This manifests differently for different people.

For many, scarcity is acutely real.

For example, people living in actual poverty.

For others, it is an emotional feeling of instability and fear that is equally real.

You know, studies have shown that even millionaires feel that they do not have,

quote, unquote enough.

So this complexity in our relationship with money makes implementing a sliding scale

challenging,

highlighting why it is important to integrate and analysis of systemic oppression and class

rather than an emotional feeling of what you can afford.

So what I mean by that is like,

I don't Know anyone that feels like,

hey, I've got, like, plenty of money and I'm absolutely fine and I'm not worried about it

running out or I'm not worried about where I'm going to get more from, you know, like, even

folks that I know that are in like, conventional employment, like, feel a

sensation of like,

I might lose my job or I don't have enough savings or I don't have enough save for

retirement or for old age or I'm not going to inherit this or, like, do you know what I

mean?

So it's like, it's very difficult because people are kind of coming in with like, their

own stuff and people that are actually like, significantly more financially secure than

others will have a feeling in their body, especially if they've grown up in, in poverty,

like, will have a feeling in their body, but that they are like, literally not safe, if

that makes sense.

Um, and the reason I wanted to kind of list

some of the groups is that, like, I guess I had some.

I was someone that, like, had a strong, like, working class identity, despite having, like,

huge access to, like, resources and privilege.

But like, when I started going to Calais, for example, and working with the mobile clinic,

it's like, **** me, I'm like, literally the most privileged person in the universe.

Like, you know, I'm interacting with clients, like, in the clinic who literally don't.

Literally don't have a pair of socks.

Do you know what I mean?

So it's like everything is quite relative.

And I think, yeah, like, even like poverty is

like very relative.

Like, I am like, not negating ******* poverty in England and Wales.

Like, it is ******* real.

Like, I was there when I was a child.

Like, is.

It is like, you know, it's real, okay?

Like, it's different to other countries, but it is also real and desperate and awful.

But yeah, there is also, like, again, these like, nuances and like, luckily, like, people

join from all over the world, right? So their context is like very different.

So someone say, coming from Mexico, who sees the standard price of like 2 to 5 is just

going to be like,

what the ****? Like, you know, like, as in like a working

class person in Mexico, not like every Mexican person.

Sorry, I'm getting very clumsy with explaining this.

But what I'm trying to say is like, yeah, I'm, you know, I'm.

Yeah, let me read the, the text I've written on the, like, about the solidarity page.

So, yeah, what I've written here is there's a question, like, what does financial distress

mean? And it says, I know financial distress means

things in different contexts, but right now, if you're struggling to afford basic needs

such as food, heating, et cetera, you should 100% use the code and donate whatever you can

afford at a sliding scale appropriate to you.

So obviously, the price of food has gone up so horrifically.

So most of us are probably like, I am actually struggling to afford food,

but there is a difference between I can go to the supermarket and decide which expensive

vegan protein powder I can buy versus I am having to choose between formula for my baby

and vegetables.

Do you know what I mean? There is a difference.

So, yeah, you can determine what financial distress means to you.

For people that are on benefits.

Our benefit system really keep people ing

poverty, like, intentionally.

So I would 100% encourage you to use the code,

but some people are on benefits who, for example, don't have to pay rent.

So therefore, like, they're actually maybe have more surplus income than other people who

have, like, three kids to feed.

Do you know what I mean?

This is what I mean.

It's like, so complicated and relative,

and I don't want to be the one judging your situation.

So I want people to, like, self identify and make that decision of what they can afford or

not afford.

Um, but yeah, I've written here, denying people in poverty access to learning about

trauma because they can't afford it goes against every bone in my body.

And I'm leaning into their trust that folks with resources will pay what they can, because

I know people that, who follow the solidary apothecary and the work I do care deeply about

liberation.

So I'm less worried about the people in financial distress and where they want to put

themselves on that scale.

And I'm more speaking to the people that have

financial resources that can, you know, utilize them and, you know, help this work.

Because obviously, like, I am paying myself with this course.

Like, I earned about, like, 12 grand last year that I paid myself.

But, you know, the.

The course generated much more money than

that.

But like I said, like, I use it for all the projects and the things I want to do.

But, like,

yeah, anyway, I feel like I'm probably, like, laboring this point too much.

But basically how the solidarity price works is like, I publish.

When I publish the course link, you put in the code, and then there's a donation box, and you

can put in whatever you want in the donation box,

including nothing.

So lots of questions I get about this is like, if they can't afford the full amount, is it

okay to just Donate something.

So for example, if you can't afford 225, but

you can afford 150, then that's ******* awesome.

Like, any donation is appreciated.

People ask like, is it okay to donate something later?

And I'm just like, yeah, 100%, you know, like, and that's so wonderful.

Like, someone will join the course for free and then three months later they'll email me

like, hey, I've just come into some money.

I've just dropped like 50 quid into your PayPal for the course.

And I'm just like, that's amazing.

Some people, yeah, you're able to also donate a smaller amount each month.

So I have like a system on my website where you can do like a monthly kind of direct

debit.

And it might be you can just afford to put in like £2amonth.

Do you know what I mean? And that's like amazing.

Like, that will cover half the cost of a book to a prisoner.

And there's a question here.

Do I need to share about my financial

circumstances to access the course? So, no, you do not have to email me about your

financial circumstances.

I grew up on state benefits where there was this feeling of like being a charity case,

right, where you have to like justify your needs.

If you apply for things, you give them, like photocopies of your parents, like benefits,

stuff like that.

Or you have to share, you know, details about your life story to get a grant.

And it's so ******* humiliating.

I didn't want to reproduce that with my

course.

That being said, I love it when people do send

me little bits of information about themselves.

Hey, I'm accessing this course, like for my brother in prison, da, da, da.

And I'm like doing this for my family and thank you so much, blah, blah, blah.

Like, I love hearing about who you are and where you are and like, yeah, what this course

means to you.

But like, I do not want you to be like,

you know, needing to like, tell me about your financial circumstances to like feel like

quote unquote guilt about accessing it for free.

Because like, I am in ******* choice here.

Like, okay, I am a self sacrificing femme in lots of ways and I'm trying to unlearn all

that stuff and codependency and all this bollocks.

But like, I am also someone who's been engaged in struggles, like anarchist groups and

projects and campaigns and movements for liberation since I was like ******* 10 years

old.

Like, I care about this.

I care about liberation, okay?

I have to run this thing like Some sort of weird business to do all the stuff I want to

do.

But, like, I am choosing to offer a sliding scale.

Like, I am not sacrificing myself for this.

Does that make sense?

Yeah.

And then there's a question of, like, is there

any other way I can support you if I can't afford to contribute?

So, yeah, yeah, like sharing the course on your social media, on your networks, like,

writing a really meaningful testimonial.

Like, you can organize a fundraiser for things

like the clinic in Calais or, you know, the Prisoner Herbalism Collective, like, help pay

for books to prisoners.

Yeah, there's just.

Yeah, there's just like, so many other ways

that you can kind of contribute.

Okay.

Yeah.

And I've written a bit of text here about,

you know, it says, isn't this financial suicide?

And I've written a long thing there.

Okay.

So I hope that clarifies some stuff about this sliding scale.

All right, so I. Yeah, I got interrupted by baby things, so I had to stop recording there.

But I thought it was kind of nicer to maybe just leave this episode as, like, a standalone

one about the.

About the sliding scale, because I always get lots of questions about it.

So it's nice to be able to point people to a resource to learn more.

And in the next part about talking about the course, I'm going to be kind of going through

the rest of the course page, so sharing a little bit more about myself, why I made the

course, what other people have said about.

What other people have said about it, stuff like that.

So please take a listen to that and don't forget that it is enrolling on Saturday, 22nd

March.

That's when it opens for enrollment.

And anyone that joins the waiting list by this Sunday has a chance to win one of these

amazing little sample kits of herbal medicine featured in the course with herbs that I've,

like, foraged and processed and made into medicine myself.

So, yeah, if you're curious about the course, you know, like, a waiting list is a waiting

list.

It doesn't mean that you have to sign up.

You're not obligated to enroll or anything like that.

But if you just want to kind of make sure you're notified when it's available to enroll

and have me spam you for, like, two weeks to encourage you to join the course, then that,

you know, that's what you're kind of consenting to, if that makes sense.

There's also this first day bonus of.

Yeah, if you sign up on the first day, there's a chance you can enter a lottery to join our

Practical Medicine Making training in June.

So yeah, so please sign up if you're interested.

Check out the links in the show notes to the course page.

I'd be really happy to talk about this kind of experimentation with sliding scales and things

in the future with folks books if you're interested in that.

And yeah, thanks for listening.

Take care.

Bye.

Thanks so much for listening to the Frontline

Herbalism Podcast.

You can find the transcript, the links, all

the resources from the show@solidarityapothecary.org podcast.