What we study to become medical herbalists.

We train for four years undertaking over 500 hours of clinical practice, under the supervision of qualified herbalists.

What we study across four years to achieve the diploma:

·       Anatomy and physiology (where things are in the body and how they work)

·       Pathology (how disease and illness presents and develops in the body)

·       Pharmacology (what the body does to drugs and herbs and what drugs and herbs do to the body along with herb/drug interactions for safety)

·       Basic chemistry and phytochemistry (the structure and behavior of compounds in relation to herbal medicine)

·       Differential diagnosis (evaluating all presenting factors to determine the most probable diagnosis)

·       Nutrition (understanding the role of food and supplements in wellbeing)

·       Botany and plant ID (how we group plants together, name and identify them)

·       Research skills – how to read academic papers, identifying good and bad research and how to use this in practice

·       Final year research project (a dissertation)

·       Clinical skills (using a patient centered approach, hands-on clinical exams of all the major body systems including blood pressure, identification of red flags and when to refer)

·       History of herbal medicine, ethics and the law (understanding our place in the history of herbal medicine and the boundaries in place to protect herbalists and patients)

·       Foraging, growing and making (identifying plants in the wild and understand the laws on collecting them – growing medicinal plants - making medicine from medical plants)