This is part three of a series about learning herbalism. In this episode, Nicole (she/her) talks about the importance of finding the right mentors for you and people you feel affinity with. She shares about ‘continuous professional development’ for herbalists and anyone interested in learning herbalism, as well as what skills we need to develop for the current times and future times ahead.

Links & resources from this episode

• Herbalism, PTSD and Traumatic Stress Course – https://solidarityapothecary.org/herbalismandptsdcourse/

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 this is part three in like a kind of broken up episode all about learning herbalism.

So the first episode I was talking about like going deep with plants and finding kind of

like a plan, a single plant to work with and getting to know them really well and kind of,

yeah, approaching learning herbalism that way.

I also talked about kind of following your

passion and like the benefits of like DIY kind of learning, you know, listening to podcasts,

YouTube videos, etc,

and I also talk about the importance of like practical skills.

And then the second episode I kind of go into more depth about knowing your learning style

and what kind of method of teaching and learning really works for you and your body

and your nervous system and your life and then how you can use that as like a basis of

choosing a kind of path of study if that's what you want to do.

I'll talk about some of the main kind of options for people in the so called UK as well

as other courses.

So this episode now is two more sections which is kind of looking for mentors.

So I talk about the importance of finding people you feel affinity with but also like

you know, killing your idols, like not having people on pedestals, recognizing that people

are going to test you and trigger you and challenge you.

And yeah, what can you sort of take from that as a learning experience?

And obviously I talk about it in the episode, but there's a fine line between that and

people, you know, like harmful abusive behavior for example.

But yeah, looking at kind of different sort of mentoring programs I mentioned and yeah, just

kind of like the necessity of getting like real world experience and learning from

people.

And then I talk about this kind of continual professional development which is the

framework that herbal organizations use, professional organizations use, but really

more about how can you design your own learning pathway and find the courses that

work for you in the moment and what are some of the skills we need in terms of preparedness

and things that our communities are facing right now and are going to be facing even more

of in the future.

So yeah, I hope it is interesting.

I'm fascinated to hear what people think.

I would like to dive into these different areas in more depth one day.

But yeah, I just, I get asked so many times about these, about how I've learned herbalism,

what schools I've gone to, blah, blah, blah, blah, Blah that I just thought sharing my

general approach would be helpful.

So yeah, let me know if it's helpful for you.

And yeah, just a reminder, the Herbalism, PTSD

and Traumatic Stress course is open for enrollment.

As you're listening to this.

That's March, by the way, in case you're listening like I do, I always go through like

once I find a podcast I just like go through the whole back catalog.

But yeah, it's open for enrolment right now and it's like a fantastic way to complement

whatever kind of herbal training you're doing.

It's also a fantastic way to begin your herbal

training because I introduced lots of the foundational things like potent medicine

making and building relationships with plants and herbal energetics and constitutions and

herbal safety and the sort of like foundational things,

things you need to really get a kind of grounded practice.

Even if that practice is just looking after yourself.

And I say just because looking after yourself is a massive ******* big deal and is hard

enough.

So it's not like that's not much compared to looking after other people.

I just mean like if you are just someone that is focusing on herbalism for you, which I

strongly encourage.

Like I do think the courses are really amazing, like self honoring gift, if that

makes sense.

But yeah, I think it's a fantastic

introduction to herbalism.

So yeah, I'm just gonna plug it again.

All right, I hope you enjoy this episode.

Let me know what you think and yeah, if you

find value here, please share it with your friends.

And yeah, thanks for listening.

Take care, bye.

Okay, I am so sorry for the stop start nature of this podcast.

I just, yeah, have to stop sometimes because the baby and Rob's mum and stuff needed me.

So yeah, sorry if this is a little bit disconnected, but I was talking about some of

the options in the so called UK for learning herbalism and I just want to say in the so

called United States there's like a million and one options as well.

And I think I'm probably not the best place person to talk about them because I don't know

them so sort of intimately and I haven't met graduates of them and I haven't heard their

feedback about their tutors and things if that makes sense.

But I do think there is an option now, amazing opportunity with the Internet that we can

complement our learning and kind of design our own curriculums by like enrolling in other

people's classes so I can talk about my own experiences with those if that makes sense.

So I mentioned the SUDS series Before I've also done some classes with the Commonwealth

School of Herbalism which is Katya and Rin.

And I think they're fantastic herbalists.

I think they have a really wonderful approach to herbalism which is incredibly grounded and

sensible and yeah, just like kind of non heroic,

like straightforward but also just like huge depth of knowledge.

And they've been also really supportive with the prisoners herbal work work.

I literally like send them like mountains of books which a friend of theirs stored and

yeah, they helped get them out all over the US So I have a lot of time for them.

They also have a podcast called the Holistic Herbalism Podcast that you should check out.

So yeah, I've definitely done training with them and I think they're great.

I've also done a lot of training with the Herbal Medics Academy.

So that's Sam and Suchill Kaufman who I think are in Texas.

But they've got a lot of like more sort of kind of like first aid and like some trauma

courses and I've just been doing one about good manufacturing practices and I always find

their materials like incredibly high quality.

Again it's very suited to my learning style.

So it's a lot of super visual things, great

PowerPoints tables.

I can listen to them, I can revisit them, I

can download the materials, I can ask questions like via email and things.

But yeah, I really, I've really found their work like super high quality.

And then yeah I've done the odd workshop here and there like with different, different

herbalists and things.

I'm aware that like most of the teachers I've talked about so far are white and I'm aware

that there's like so many other teachers and programs and schools in the so called us.

I was just like looking online at this urbancura website the other day because it

came up on my Instagram feed and they have like a kind of learning library where you can

pay like $30 a month.

All their previous workshops and they've got workshops on like opium medicine and plants in

Palestine.

And I think it's all kind of like I, I don't

know exclusively but I think it's mostly bipoc teachers which is fantastic.

So yeah, I think after this PTSD launch I'm hopefully going to have more cash so I'm going

to enroll and invest in that.

I do know that there is like a lot of economic privilege in learning and I've been grateful

and fortunate and privileged that what sort of paid for my clinical training was my granddad

dying and he knew that my mum doesn't own any property or anything, my dad doesn't.

And he knew that we weren't going to kind of like inherit anything, if that makes sense.

So he left us like me and my sister, like a bit of money as well as leaving money to my

mum.

And yeah, I basically used that towards my clinical training and I bought my van, which

by the way is for sale, it's on Auto trader at the moment.

And yeah, and I, yeah, and that paid for my clinical training and built my herb shed.

So without that access to capital.

Yeah, that, you know, that I just want to name that, that that's like enabled shitloads of my

training.

And you know, I also redistributed a lot of that money, donated it to various places.

In hindsight, I think I should have like maybe whacked some in a pension or a savings

account, but I was just like, oh, money.

I don't know what to do with this.

But obviously I really believe in redistribution and mut.

And I would have, you know, given it to different projects anyway.

But I'm just saying, like, yeah, I just want to name that there was privilege there in

these courses and that,

that is why that kind of like initial self foraging approach is kind of often like the

only choice we have.

Like, if you don't have surplus money to

invest in education, then things like podcasts and you know, free workshops and stuff are

like, really powerful.

And that is why with the herbalism, PTSD and traumatic stress course, like, I didn't, I

didn't want a model where like people can only access, I don't want to say low quality

freebies because I think freebies can provide a lot of value.

Like my Herbal Guide to Panic Attacks, for example, or my like short workshops online.

But like, I get so frustrated that if you don't have any money, you're just meant to

like get by on those offerings and you're not meant to have access to like other structured

courses or more support or like,

you know, like, why should someone who has like chronic illness and autoimmune issues and

stuff because of like a lifetime of class or racial gendered stress then only have to like

muddle through supporting their own health with what they can gather with their limited

brain power and brain fog.

Like, it just doesn't feel okay to me.

Like, I would much rather that that person can

access like one to one support in a clinic, for example, the same as someone that's like

middle class or highly financially resourced can access a herbalist like Whenever they

want.

Right. So anyway, side rant.

But that's why with the herbalism, PTSD and

traumatic stress course, I wanted it to be that, like, wherever you are on that sliding

scale, including zero, you have the same access to education as someone else.

And I don't know many herbal schools that do that.

I know, like several schools do give a lot of scholarships away.

And, you know, there's like kind of often like lengthy processes of application and stuff.

Like, I'm not judging other people's models.

I never want to give ****** business advice or

judge other people.

Like, it's not my style.

Like you've, if you follow me on Instagram and stuff.

Like, I don't criticize people.

I don't like participating in cancel culture

because I've been doing abolitionist stuff forever in terms of prisoner support and a lot

of people in prison that I know have actually done some really harmful ****.

And it's about addressing that and the root causes and trauma and blah, blah, blah.

So, yeah, I'm not gonna like fling mud at someone who's like written something badly

online because that's where they're at in their learning journey anyway.

But I obviously am all about people fighting like oppressive institutions and, you know,

challenging people that are causing harm and stuff and, you know, sabotage and all the

things.

Wow, sorry, that was another side rant.

But what I'm trying to say is like, I'm not

trying to.

I don't want herbalists or other people to

feel sensitive about me saying about access and class stuff and sliding scale because I do

have a lot of privilege to be able to access that with the PTSD course in sense of living

in a static caravan,

having low living expenses, well, other than the cost of food is absolutely horrific now.

But I mean, you know, I've got one child and yeah, this access to housing here.

So it's not like a lot of people that are living in central London and are paying like

1500 pounds a month in rent.

Do you know what I mean?

So anyway, no judgment for me for people needing to charge for their offerings.

I think you have to.

I'm just saying that, yeah, I just want to acknowledge that it can take privilege to

undertake kind of herbal education.

And that looks different to different people.

Like some people might be putting all of their clinical training on loans and credit cards

and stuff, for example,

and other people just are able to pay for it, like one off or get family support or

whatever.

So I think anyone running a course needs to be

aware of the different dynamics and who gets to enroll and who doesn't unfortunately

anyway.

But yeah, in the so called US there's like tons of offerings.

Unfortunately, English is my only language, so my education is restricted to that.

But I know there's like other programs in other countries and other languages.

Like obviously herbalism is something all over the ****** planet.

So there's like a million and one learning opportunities beyond the scope of this

podcast.

And yeah, like, I think that leads me onto the kind of like next thing which is like finding

the right mentors for you.

So like I think that we learn when we're in

like a kind of quote unquote positive learning environment when we feel safe.

Not in a kind of like hippie dippy way, but in a way where like we're in like safe and social

in our nervous system.

We, you know, we can connect and communicate

with people and trust people and we're not like hyper vigilant and stressed and scanning

the room for danger and all of this stuff.

Like I think we learn best when we're in that kind of like receptive, engaged like nervous

system state.

And that means like being with mentors and

teachers that you feel quote unquote safe with, like you know, who you feel affinity

with.

Which is why it's so important that you know, racialized people can have teachers from their

own lineages.

Like that's why it is so vital because you

know, it creates a sense of safety and belonging.

And yeah, they're not going to be scanning for kind of like racist commentary and like

problematic teaching styles and you know, transphobia and what the teacher's saying and

do you know what I mean?

Like we need teachers and mentors that we feel affinity with.

So yeah, like that.

And I think I don't really need to say that

because it's really obvious.

But I think sometimes people join a school and

then they're really disappointed that it's like X, Y and Z and it's like well have, you

know, has that course website, like have they explicitly shared their values?

Like have they said their anti capitalists or anti racist, like you know, who's the kind of

faculty so to speak, like what content are they putting out?

And you know, sometimes you get a nice surprise and you don't always know like who's

running something on the inside.

But yeah, like I think yeah, finding people

you feel affinity with is really important.

And I also want to say because I've had, I've been very blessed to have different mentors,

like in the sense of plant medicine school, like the teachers and the, the people that you

can do clinics with are like so fantastic and like high quality in terms of their approach

to herbalism,

in my opinion.

But I've also been very lucky to work in with the mobile herbal clinic and have like various

different clinical supervisors because obviously like the first year I was doing the

project I was still a student or maybe a year and a half.

So I wasn't, you know, I had to be.

I had to have like total clinical supervision

basically.

And I was doing like the field coordinator

logistics and stuff.

And obviously, you know, you're soaking

everything up like a sponge.

So you are learning so much clinical stuff.

And we have the clinical debriefs in the

morning so you're learning more of that.

And I would obviously like be this, in this

sort of self foraging zone, you know, if you see someone in the morning with something you

don't recognize and then your clinical supervisor tells you,

oh, I think it's this and this.

And then you go home and look it up and

research it.

Like that's how it would work for me in terms

of like my learning growth.

But yeah, I was very lucky to be mentored by other herbalists.

For example, Melissa Ronaldson, who's a herbalist in London who has like a herbal

barge project who's just like got like so much knowledge and experience.

And like Dej Lembran, who does like herbal first aid at festivals, who's qualified

paramedic now.

She's also a trained nurse.

She's trained in, trained in traditional Chinese medicine as well as sort of

traditional.

I hate the phrase Western herbalism, but you know what I mean.

And yeah, and she just taught me like so much first aid stuff over like months and months in

Calais, like during the pandemic.

And I'm like so grateful for that.

So I think like.

And you know, and there's like been multiple

other clinical supervisors including someone called Noel who's a doctor and a herbalist

who's like fantastic, who I've learned loads from.

So it's like getting yourself into opportunities where you can learn from people

is so important and having that active mentoring because I know, I know how hard it

is like now that I'm not going to Calais.

I really miss that like opportunity for clinical practice where it's like collective,

you know, where you can like bounce ideas off people and talk to them about herbalism and oh

well, I don't formulate like that and I'll.

Have you considered putting this in and da da da da da.

And oh, that didn't Work for me.

And, like, you learn so much from other

people, and that's why things like online memberships and, you know, even ******

Facebook groups or whatever is so great, because you can be,

like, sharing that collective knowledge and, like, learning from each other.

So, yeah, any kind of opportunities you can find to find mentors is really, really good.

I think it's also important to kind of, like, recognize that every mentor has strengths and

weaknesses and that I personally think we need to sort of, like, kill our idols in the sense

of,

like, putting people on pedestals is really, really dangerous because you will be

disappointed.

And, yeah, you will think that someone could or should be a certain way, and then they're

not, or they might surprise you, something they come out with.

And, like, I think it.

Yeah, I just think, like, every mentor relationship, like, you need to have it with a

pinch of salt where you're taking some really amazing things from that person, but you're

also,

you know, potentially triggered and challenged.

And, like, when I look back in my life, like,

some of the people that have had the biggest influence on me have been like,

do you know what I mean? Like, someone I did this big campaign with

that I went to prison with was, like, pure out abusive, like, horrible man.

And, like, but taught me, like, so much about, like, security culture and how to do actions

and all this.

And, like,

you know, I've been very fortunate to have lots of amazing, like, elders and mentors,

like, in the animal liberation movement and anarchist movement and things who have

influenced me.

But you.

You pick up both things, right? Like, you pick up the bad.

Like, you pick up cultures of, like, self neglect, for example, or workaholism or, you

know, doing something really unsustainably.

And then you also pick up, like, the strategy and the compassion and the, you know, the

skills, the graphic design, the film editing, whatever it is.

And, yeah, I think in the herbalism context, like,

you know, like, you will find people who sort of, like, test you and trigger you, if that

makes sense.

And, like, that, in a way, is like, a learning

opportunity.

Like, I think, like, abusive mentors should be, like, like, 100% challenged.

And, like, abuse should not be acceptable.

You know, Like, I've heard horror stories

about Susan Weed, like, strangling a student and stuff.

And that, to me is just like, no, okay, you might be a spiky mentor, but that's just like,

that's the ******* line.

That's very different to someone, you know,

challenging you and your practice and making you reflect.

Like, for example, with Melissa, like, she was very,

very like, critical, which was very difficult for lots of volunteers who would sometimes be

in tears and I'd have to sort of soothe them and support them.

But her critical thinking around,

like, clinical safety of, you know, okay, you've seen 10 people with a cough, but did

you ask how long they've had the cough? And if you didn't, then that person might have

TB and you ****** it.

Didn't know that.

So, like, she sharpened me so much clinically

where it was like my hyper village.

Vigilance somehow of making a mistake made my

practice, like, very thorough.

But also, like, there are, like, negative

things around that too.

Right. Which I won't go into detail because I don't want to, you know, like, name and shame,

if that makes sense.

But I'm just saying, like,

mentoring relationships aren't always, like, easy, but we can still, like, learn from

people and grow from experiences and then think about how, you know, how do we react to

people?

Like, how am I as a mentor, for example? Like, and how does that feel to people who

come on my courses or do my online classes or whatever?

So, yeah, I think find your people.

Find the people you feel affinity with.

Don't be afraid to work with people that are

different to you because they might become big teachers and sort of powerful growth

enhancers.

Does that make any sense? I know that there are, like, various mentoring

schemes.

Teams like the American Herbalist Guild have,

like, a mentoring program where you can, like, you know, see a directory of herbalists that

are offering, like, mentoring hours.

I don't think mentoring always has to be formal.

Like, it's not always just approaching someone being like, hey, can I have you as my mentor?

Like, it's often more like, you know, oh, okay, I'm going to do clinical hours with this

person and see how they do it.

And I'm going to do clinical hours with this practitioner and see how different they are.

Or I'm going to have clinical hours in Calais and see what that's like as a setting to kind

of work as a herbalist.

And yeah, I'm just.

I just think, like, that variety creates,

like, a rich kind of resilient, like, learning ecosystem for yourself.

And that, yeah, we can learn from lots of people and their sort of backgrounds.

All right, so now I'm going to talk about this kind of like,

what an herbal organization,

like, you know, that has members and things would call like, cpd.

So, like, continual professional development.

You might not identify as a quote unquote

professional.

You know, that's something to kind of explore

and, like, Kind of interrogate together.

But what I'm basically talking about is like your lifelong learning.

So this is maybe pitched to people that have done some kind of body of clinical training

that are then like, what's next after this?

But it might also be for people that are just like curious about the kind of like self

determined learning, right, where you're like self foraging and gathering information and

doing short courses and listening to podcasts and things to kind of build your own

knowledge.

But I think I'm just gonna use like CPD as like shorthand.

But I think there's different approaches to this.

So I really love this,

this, you know, this framework of like just in time learning of like you learn what's kind of

like relevant and like at the bottom of your nose, if that makes sense.

I'm so bad with metaphors by the way.

Like my partner ****** himself because I'm

always getting them muddled up.

So I'm sorry, I don't know what I was trying

to say then, but bas in front of you.

So say for example,

I'm in a one to one clinic and I have a client who has like polycystic over.

Over polycystic ovarian syndrome.

And you know, maybe I've studied it in my

clinical training, which was several years ago, and I just need like a refresher and I

want to know, okay, what are the kind of current research like around this?

What is potentially useful? So you know, that might just be as simple as

revisiting my kind of herbal textbooks.

Or that might be like searching and finding an

online workshop about it with a herbalist that I really trust, for example, or buying a book

or you know, like, I don't know if people have heard of Camille Freeman's model,

which is called like Monday mentoring.

So there's like a weekly kind of zoom where

people can like bring kind of like cases and stuff and questions about their like clinical

practice.

And you know, you learn from Camille and all her experience and you learn from your peers.

And then she's got like a fantastic library of like different workshops that have sometimes

had like a theme.

Like she had like a whole year of workshops all about the digestive system and the

reproductive system and things.

So it's like when I was enrolled in that, it

might be like I'm seeing a client and they have a certain issue and I might just like

visit her library and find.

Okay, what's Camille presented? Okay, she presented this paper about this,

this and this.

Okay, I'm going to try this protocol.

Oh, I'M not quite sure.

I'll just drop her a message and see, you

know, how many mil of Vitex is blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

So I think like, like that's again the best thing about having mentors who've supported

other people is that you're sort of like fast tracking your,

your knowledge and your kind of like, you know, that clarifying the information you need

like faster.

But yeah, I really love this kind of like just in time learning approach because like, again,

like I said, like your brain can only hold so much information.

Like, maybe if you've been in practice, clinical practice for 20 years, you don't need

to like revisit references and things.

But I think, you know, this is what I talked in the last episode about one of my mentors,

Melissa Ronaldson, and it's like she would say to me, she's like, I've spent two days like

researching this thing for this patient and she got paid 40 quid for the consultation,

you know, and it's just like that is the challenge about herbalism is there's just like

so much to learn.

And I think that is why it's like nice to sort

of specialize a bit because you can go like deeper and deeper, deeper into your, your

particular field of interest.

Like for me, I'm very interested in sort of nervines and kind of people that are like burn

out and like have sort of like chronic inflammation, but are maybe not like hardcore

chronically ill.

You know, like I've never supported someone with cancer, for example, whereas other people

would like specialize in oncology and do loads of extra kind of curricula, study about that

and try and learn from herbalists who've been working in that field.

Do you know what I mean? Like, I don't think, I think herbalists are

generalists and I think if you have any sort of herbal medicine practice, you will have

everything under the sun presented to you in terms of different health needs.

But I think focusing is very powerful and can make you a bit more adept at your particular

area.

So yeah, being kind of focused is helpful, but I think maybe there's also that risk then of

like, you're limited to a particular situation.

And then if you want to kind of practice like real world herbalism, for example, the Mobile

Herbal Clinic, Calais, you're going to be presented with everything under the sun,

right? And you're gonna.

And this is what my do no harm course is about is, you know, if someone presents to you with

a headache, okay, you might think, oh, bettany blah, blah blah.

But actually, are you thinking, has this guy had a head injury?

Has he like smashed his head like against the inside of a lorry?

Has he had a cop hit him?

You know, do we need to take him to hospital? Like we're constantly scanning for red flags

and so somewhere like Calais, you need to not only be **** hot on your upper respiratory

infections, you also need to study, you know, wound care and infection control and digestive

health.

And you, you do need that like generalism, you know, that sort of general practice approach.

Whereas other people, you might set up a particular clinic where you're just focused on

people with endometriosis, for example.

So I think yeah, like you can design your own learning pathway to meet, meet your needs and

what you're interested in and what you're passionate about and you can be sort of needs

led.

But the thing that I love most about having a one to one clinic like which I unfortunately

had to stop doing when I got pregnant because I had horrific hyperemesis, I was like

vomiting 30 times a day is like, I love that like the people you're supporting are your

biggest teachers because you know,

you'll study like chronic fatigue syndrome or something in your clinical training and then

you'll have someone with chronic fatigue and like actually be, it'll be very different or

it's very different to the last person you saw with chronic fatigue.

So yeah, like I think having that real life experience and being needs led and being able

to like self forage and build on your knowledge, it's like really, really powerful.

So you can do that in a way that is like need said but you can also do that in a way that's

like following your passion.

So it might be that like, yeah, you are like particularly passionate about metabolic

syndrome or insulin resistance or whatever.

Like and that that takes you somewhere or you

know, often it's our own health issues that take us in a certain direction.

Or it might be that you do your herbal medicine training and then you're like

actually I just want to be a grower.

Like I'm not that interested in one to one

consultations.

I want to start a community herb farm or I want to run a community garden and you know,

offer emotional support to the volunteers.

Like you don't have to fit into this box of.

I'm just this herbalist who sees people in a room in a clinic and that is my only pathway.

Like herbalism is so expansive and there are like so many options.

If you are part of like a herbal association, you will sort of need to kind of document your

cpd.

But I think that's really good because then you can just, yeah, acknowledge like how much

you're learning and you know, the things you're doing to like improve your practice.

And like, even if we are like anarchist as and community based as and you know, that doesn't

mean that we don't have clinical integrity,

you know, like, because yeah, herbal training is obviously different all around the world.

But it's like I think most herbalists are so dedicated and passionate and devoted to their

craft that A, we keep learning because we love it, but B, we care about the people we're

seeing.

It's not like, here's an expensive consultation, I'll give you these supplements,

I never think about you again.

It's really like we're co creating with our

clients to improve their health and support them.

And actually we want the herbs we're working with to work right.

Like we want an ongoing relationship with that person.

We want to kind of demonstrate the power of herbal medicine.

And so, yeah, like investing in that learning pathway is really important.

And I guess that's my final point is that herbalism is like an absolute lifelong

learning journey.

Like there will always be tens of thousands of

plants that I don't know that I don't have a relationship with.

And that makes me really sad that I'm only going to be able to make a relationship with a

certain number of plants in my lifetime.

But you know, that's how it is.

And I think, yeah, accepting how little we know is so empowering.

But also embracing like the wonderful world of plant medicine is also amazing.

But just a shameless plug with my herbalism, PTSD and traumatic stress course is like,

even though, like we should be following our passion and doing things that are need led and

just in time things like this, like there are things that will come up that affect every

single human being who we, we want to serve or who we are serving.

And that in my opinion, is trauma.

You know, not everyone has had some like hardcore gnarly traumatic childhood or has,

you know, grown up in a genocide or a war zone or experienced like really high levels of

traumatic stress.

But most people have endured some level of chronic stress, some level of like significant

bereavement in their life.

You know, like I shared an Instagram post which was talking about like statistics around

trauma and abuse, you know, and just like how many children are abused, like how many adults

disclose when they're older about abuse as a child.

So it's like you can guarantee that someone you're supporting in your clinic will have had

that as a factor and that that is radically affecting or like potentially affecting their

physiology, their patterns of disease, you know, their whole nervous system state and

that is going to be feeding into how,

you know, their health challenges is.

So like, I do think trauma is,

is like something that all herbalists need to know about and I think when we don't

understand it, we do cause harm.

And that's like a whole other podcast episode

on its own.

But I think if we're interfacing with people who yeah, are kind of maybe not verbally

expressing what they've been through, but their body is expressing distress in a certain

way, then I think we need that, that vocabulary and that understanding of different

nervous system states to kind of, you know,

be able to support them.

You know, it might be that you can't even get through a consultation with someone because

there's so much in fight or flight that they're not opening up about what's going on.

And they're struggling to communicate and they're struggling to implement changes like

things like that.

So having this language and this familiarity

with the nervous system and our different states I think is like really, really

critical.

And I also think looking ahead, you know, for the challenges we're facing now of rising

fascism, climate change, you know, like societal collapse, like, you know, war and

invasion and genocide.

Like there is so much going on.

Like it's like we have to be prepared.

And that is a whole other podcast episode as well.

But like, like we need to be thinking not just about the skill sets that we need now, you

know, the needs we're responding to now.

Like people growing up in poverty and having mold related illness because they've been

living in damp housing their whole life, or people having terrible nutrition because of

industrial agriculture and you know, consumer capitalism or whatever.

Like we are already dealing with a lot of like societal challenges that are causing so many

of the health issues or all of the health issues that we're seeing in our practices.

But yeah, there are like big times to come, right?

Like, and I think that's why the Mobile Herbal Clinic is such a kind of innovative project is

because, you know, we're gonna have to be more engaged in like disaster response and more

people forced to migrate,

you know, more state violence.

So it's like building those tools is really,

really important and building those skills to practice herbalism in different ways, ways.

You know, like for example, like in Calais, a lot of students who come, they're used to

being in Clinic in a certain way, right,

where you have, like, I don't want to say, like, an indulgent amount of time, but you

have a good 40 minutes, like, maybe more or less to talk about something with someone, to

ask them all the questions under the sun.

And then you have time to, like, talk as a group.

You get support from your tutor, you know, and.

And yeah, like, you have time potentially afterwards to research things to then, you

know, create the best plan for that person.

Whereas when you're, like, doing, like, acute herbalism work, you know, you need to, like,

really think on your feet.

Like, you need to know how to change a

dressing fast because you've got 30 other people waiting with the same issue.

You know, you need to be able to spot the sickest person in the line so that you can get

them to hospital.

Like, you need to have a whole other game of

neuroplasticity.

And so I think, like, herbalists have the opportunity to kind of preemptively think

about where we want to practice the different scenarios, you know, we're likely to practice

in.

And one of the offerings I'm sort of working

on at the moment, like, you know, at night when my baby is sleeping next to me on my

phone,

I'm working on this frontline herbalism membership program.

So that will have all of my courses, like, available for a small monthly price.

And I'll offer kind of, like, mentoring and support and have, like, a bunch of other

herbalists around that can also answer questions and things.

And it will be focused on supporting people to develop those skills that are maybe not taught

in other herbalism schools.

You know, like, how to start community

projects, how to run free clinics, how to run mobile clinics, how to support unhoused folks

like herbalism and harm reduction, like herbalism and preparedness and climate change.

Like, you know, all of these other skills that complement this, like, strong foundational

training that you'll get if you go to a herb school, hopefully, and, you know, engage in

thousands of hours of training and clinical practice, et cetera.

So, yeah, so I just want to say, like, I think learning about trauma is really, really

important for everyone.

And I think my course is, like, a great offering for that in terms of, like,

foundational knowledge and learning about polyvagal theory and taking a bit more of a

deep dive into the nervous system and stuff.

But, yeah,

the kind of thing that I do every year is I create, like, a learning pathway design.

So this is like, like setting out my sort of learning goals for the year, looking up

courses or workshops.

I'D like to do making a little budget.

You know, some of them are just on there every

year.

Like I really want to do some functional

medicine training and it's just like eye wateringly expensive.

So I never sign up for it, but determined to do it this year and yeah, like just kind of

setting your goals.

Like maybe I'll do.

If people are interested, let me know.

I could do another episode about how to design your own sort of herbalism learning pathway,

but it's really about, about like identifying your sort of gaps and your areas of weakness.

You know, like maybe you're fantastic with your digestive system materia medica, but

actually your dermatology skin stuff is just like.

I mean, obviously the skin and digestion are really connected, but I just mean like, how

can you like address your own areas that feel less strong, if that makes sense.

So anyway, that's what I encourage you to do is have some intentionality and planning

around it so that you can keep, keep.

Yeah, you can keep learning so that you can

keep serving your communities.

Okay. And I'm sorry a lot of this has been orientated towards people that are like, you

know, engaged, sort of clinical herbalists, so to speak.

But I think everything I've said is also maybe relevant wherever you are in terms of what

you're doing and wanting to learn about herbalism.

And I've, you know, I've definitely had a combination of all of these approaches.

I've done the formal clinical training, I've done lots of online workshops and courses,

I've read lots of books, listen to podcasts, got all the practical experience on the land,

you know, sort out different mentors, like.

And it is that whole diversity of experiences

that I think contribute to someone feeling like a strong and confident herbalist.

Because I think that's the challenge is when people don't feel confident, they don't

practice, and then they're not helping people, you know,

they're not doing what they want to do out of fear.

And that is part of this do no harm course is trying to build people's confidence so that

they feel like.

Like they can really serve their people right.

Anyway, I've been blathering on a long time now, and I have to edit all of these as well

before I get the baby back.

So I'm gonna stop now.

But I'm just gonna remind you that the herbalism PTSD and traumatic stress course is

still open for enrollment for another couple of weeks,

so please jump in.

No one's turned away for lack of funds.

It's a really great structured way of learning

about herbalism that is also flexible and supportive and hopefully nourishing.

So yeah, please check that out.

Thank you for listening and spe 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.