How to Find an Herbalism Pracitioner

In many of the blog posts I’ve written about self care, sleep, and herbalism support, I’ve referenced “a practitioner.” There are many ways practitioners enter into and practice herbalism and it can be confusing to figure out who to contact for guidance!

As I teach you how to use herbal remedies for self care and sleep with some degree of autonomy, I also want to impart awareness of when to seek support and what you may gain from an herbalist’s services.

There’s a lot we can do at home with botanical resources and through knowledge acquisition. But there’s also limits to that!

Herbalists can assist you by working with the larger picture of your entire system. Instead of simply choosing a plant for a singular discomfort or need, they will consider each plant’s multiple qualities and match it to numerous ways your entire system can be supported. You can’t find this assessment in a book!

As someone who is teaching about herbalism, I also want to assist you in understanding when it makes sense to consult an herbal practitioner. Researching an ailment and potential herbs to help it only gives a slice of information, and while it may be sufficient to address simple things with basic herbal knowledge, if you’re looking for a deeper understanding of what your system needs for ongoing health or why certain issues keep arising, you may benefit from a practitioner’s services.

Herbal practitioners have training and knowledge to assess you globally and in detail, which is not something you can ever get from looking things up in a book.

This post is extensive, and you may find these links useful to jump ahead to specific parts of this post.

• Some reasons to seek an herbalist’s services
• How does someone become an herbal practitioner, and what is an herbalist?
• Range of herbal practitioners’ services
• General ways herbal consultations work
• Benefits of working with an herbal practitioner
• Are herbal practitioners licensed?
• How do you know if an herbal practitioner is competent?
• Where to find an herbal practitioner
• Differences between herbal practitioners and healthcare professionals
• How to narrow down what you want or need to pick an herbal practitioner to work with

Some general reasons you may want to consult an herbal practitioner

Is it time to consider sitting down with an herbal practitioner? Maybe you’ve not found what you’re looking for at an apothecary or in a book. To the right are some reasons you may want to think of an herbalism consultation.

• If you want to create a team that supports your care needs, adding an herbalism practitioner could enhance your care by providing an additional perspective.

• If you are interested in working with natural remedies, you may want to expand your understanding of what’s possible for your specific wellness and health needs.

• You take medications and want to add herbs but don’t know about contraindications.

• You’re unsure why something is a chronic issue and want to explore its roots and/or find plant remedies to calm its discomfort.

• You don’t have enough time or are unsure how to thoroughly research remedies before using them.

• You are working with a healthcare professional and find gaps in addressing discomforts or causes of discomforts.

• You’ve tried herbal remedies and aren’t getting the benefits you’d hoped you would.

• You’re intersted in connecting with the natural world and want guidance on what plants may help you.

• You want to work in a time-limited, supported program that helps you improve your self-care and sleep. I have a program that offers just this!

How Does Someone Become an Herbalism Practitioner?

The word, herbalist, can mean different things to different people who work with herbs.

Here are three examples of people who may be herbalists:

1)  People who learned from traditions passed down may also be herbalists. Their lineage includes working with plants as healing resources, in ceremonies, or as part of regular care. These herbalists have learned from elders and provide herbalism work to their communities and sometimes other communities.

2). Some people have studied herbalism either in an herbalism school, with a mentor, or through self-study.

3)  Practitioners of various modalities may incorporate herbalism into their work. These could include acupuncturists, naturopathic doctors, or midwives, to name a few.

If you’re seeking herbalism guidance and want to work with someone, these are some people you may consider touching base with. It’s possible someone may have become an herbalist through more than one of the examples above.

It can be unclear with the number of people providing different services related to herbalism.

I use the term practitioner in a very broad sense. When I refer to a practitioner in my blogs, I mean someone who has a wellness-related practice and works with the tools of herbalism. I mean someone with a knowledge base of working with various botanical resources and who can assess physical-emotional patterns.

Consulting with an herbal practitioner is different from having an informative yet limited conversation with someone who is assisting you at an herb shop, apothecary, or with botanical products at a health food store. Sometimes, a practitioner does both of these roles, and you may be able to partake in that person’s consultation services.

Range of Herbal Practitioner Services

Herbal practitioners support people in a wide range of ways, and their services are quite varied! Here are 12 examples, but they are not exhaustive by any means!

General Process of Herbal Consultations

Assessment: A practitioner wants to find patterns in your system (we all have patterns).

Herbalism assessments take time to do well. It involves an extensive intake form and at least one conversation. Additionally some herbalists gather information from certain quailities in your body, such as the tone of tissues .

Most practitioners will want to meet with you one-on-one and have you fill out an intake form to collect information. They can use this information to devise herbal remedies and practices that suit those patterns and support greater comfort and wellness.

Most herbal practitioner consultations work in phases. You meet to discuss what you’d like support with, and the herbalist assesses for patterns in your system. The herbalist then develops an herbal protocol. You work with the herbs and meet again to discuss how it’s going.

Most herbal practitioners offer consultations that involve phases. You first meet to discuss what you’re experiencing and what you would like support with.

The herbalist assesses for patterns in your system and then develops a protocol to support you.

You would then work with the herbs in the protocol and meet again to evaluate how it’s going.

Devising Herbal Protocols: After an intake form is completed and consulting with you one-on-one to gather information that assists a practitioner in identifying patterns in your system, a practitioner can match potential remedies (single herbs or combinations of herbs in one or more formulas) with those patterns.

The remedies are put together in what are called herbal protocols.

An herbal protocol is directions for your personal use of herbs and herbal formulas. It tells you why certain remedies are selected and what their purposes are. It details how much to use and which form of herbal remedy (tea, infusion, capsule, tincture, elixir, aromatherapy resource, etc.) will deliver the therapeutic benefit. It also suggests how often to dose.

Follow-Up & Re-evaluation: After you’ve had some time to work with the herbs, a practitioner will usually schedule a follow-up appointment with you to assess how well the protocols and formulas are working and to potentially adjust them.

Additionally, the follow-up allows you to potentially connect any improvements or difficulties with other wellness topics that you may want to work on.

After years of offering herbal consultations and discovering that most people need help with their sleep because it relates to many other things they are managing, I developed a sleep support program to focus on that so that they could gain more from different facets of herbal consultations.

Benefits of Working with an Herbal Practitioner

An herbalist may be able to work with you through time to improve your wellbeing.

Appointments with an herbal practitioner may also give you a process to reflect on more subtle changes that help you track improvements and hindrances to your wellbeing.

An herbal practitioner may also help you discover practices and herbal formulas to maintain your wellbeing.

Herbalism books can be a trove of information about plants and botanical therapies. However, having someone to assess patterns in your system to support you can only come from meeting with a person who has that knowledge.

Specific examples of the above are:

• Immune system support
• Digestive issues
• Sleep disturbances
• Supporting the nervous system
• Calming the impacts of anxiety, grief, depression, and/or stress
• Assisting the body in healing from injuries
• Tonifying systems in the body
• Offering support as your system changes with age
• Connecting with part of your cultural heritage or Indigenous practices that may involve working with plants

A note on the last point: There may be a specific lineage of some people that they are looking to connect with. If this is you, you may find an herbalism practitioner working within a lineage that is part of your identity.

Working with plants may connect you to practices that have somehow been lost through generations, one effect of colonization and appropriation.

Our needs often overlap. For example, supporting the nervous system may have links to digestive issues. The impacts of grief or stress may affect sleep. If you’re struggling with sleep related to grief or stress, and may want to work with an herbalist on this, check out my program.

Are Herbalists Licensed?

Herbalism is not a licensed profession in the US but in some other countries. Herbalists acquire knowledge through various sources, such as attending an herbal school, apprenticeships, self-study, or learning from a cultural lineage’s practices. 

Many herbal practitioners take on extensive study, mentorship, and ongoing training, as well as acquiring skills for in depth research.

Some herbalists have vast knowledge and expertise, which they gained from their indigenous lineage. In this case, knowledge has been passed down to them from other people who work with plants in their traditions.

Additionally, some herbal practitioners come from various fields and modalities, such as nutrition, naturopathic medicine, acupuncture, allopathic or integrative medicine, nursing, mental health providers, midwifery, and others, where they choose to also study and work with herbalism. Some doulas also study herbalism.

How do you know if someone is a competent herbal practitioner?

Understanding someone’s credentials and program certificates is helpful because they demonstrate a certain depth and specificity of study; however, someone’s competency is beyond that. Credentials do not demonstrate deep wisdom and practices that can be passed down through oral and other traditions.

There is value in diversifying sources of learning and limitations to each learning pursuit.

There are many ways someone can become a competent herbalism practitioner. I respect and have worked with and referred people to practitioners with varied backgrounds, including ones that diverge from mine.

What about herbalists who hold a license in another field?

There are excellent herbalists who hold no license in another field, and there are herbalists with a license in a related field who may miss the mark—and vice versa!

So, looking for someone with a license in some field would not be where I would start. While I would certainly take into account what training a practitioner has pursued and value that, a holistic picture of how they have equipped themselves to offer what they are providing is important.

Additionally, someone with a medical license who works with herbalism may have a more medical perspective on how they work with botanical remedies, which may or may not be desirable to you.

You may want to start by gaining a sense of a practitioner’s scope of knowledge and how thoughtful, thorough, and peer—or community–supported their work is.

Some general things you could ask a practitioner are:

• How did you learn about herbalism?
  • You want to make sure they have a thorough knowledge base. If someone doesn’t know what they’re doing, they can cause harm!
  • You can inquire if their training has involved things like sitting clinic (where they observe another practitioner for some time), clinical training, and/or apprentice/mentorship, which gives you a sense of how detailed their training is.
  • If they learned through a particular lineage they could describe this and how it informs their work.

• Why do you work with herbs and what do you enjoy about it?
  • This question will invite someone to speak to how they work and doesn’t assume anything about their background, which is good since herbalists come from many kinds of backgrounds and ways of learning.
  • It may help you understand some of the soul behind their work.

• What type of herbalism do you practice?
  • This ensures the person can tell you the scope, lineages, and influences of their practice.
  • You want to make sure a practitioner has a way of assessing your needs and offering potential and appropriate remedies.

• What types of wellness support, conditions, discomforts, or problems does your practice address?
  • Herbalism can work with supporting healthy people to maintain and bolster their wellness as well as a wide variety of concerns; you want to make sure a practitioner is knowledgeable in the area where you need help.
  • If you have a particular health concern, you can inquire if they have worked with this before.

• Who do you tend to work with?
  • A practitioner may provide particular therapeutic offerings and specialties, or their work may serve people with specific needs, such as people who are in childbearing years, survivors of cancer, or people who have experienced trauma.

• How long have you been in practice?
  • This is helpful in understanding their experience level.
  • Newer herbal practitioners will have beneficial offerings and may be limited, yet be a great fit for foundational wellness work.
  • Practitioners with more extensive experience will be a good fit for more complex work.

• What kinds of botanical services are outside of what you offer? Are there any conditions that you don’t work with?
  • You want to make sure the practitioner is forthcoming about what they cannot offer.

• Do you have a particular philosophy of care or orientation to your herbalism work?
  • This may help you determine if the practitioner’s values align with what you’re seeking.
  • You may want to know if an herbalist is aware of things that impact you. This could be related to things such as identity, trauma, cultural orientations, level of access to resources or lifestyle facets that you need understood.

• Are you able to accommodate my accessibility needs?
  • By all means, it’s your right to ask about this. And it’s a red flag if that’s not responded to in a welcoming, aware and respectful way!

Where can you find an herbalism practitioner?

Below, I’ve provided you with some places to start in finding people who practice herbalism. I encourage you to list specific hopes you have for working with a practitioner so you can ask detailed questions if you decide to reach out to someone.

Note that I am not personally endorsing any practitioner you may find through one of these routes. Rather, this is a place to begin discovering herbalists who are practicing!

• Word of Mouth
  • • Sometimes, practitioners in different fields have relationships with herbalists they trust and can point you to one.
    • If you know someone who has had a good experience with an herbal practitioner, you can contact them and ask some of the above questions to see if they may be a good match for you.

• Herbalism Schools

• • • There are herbalism schools in many areas. Some of them have clinics where herbalism students, who are overseen by herbal teachers, see people for herbalism consultations

• Herbalist Teachers

• • • You may have come across a workshop or podcast led by an herbalist. That person may see clients or may know of other herbalists.

• Herbal Conferences

• • • Search online for conferences and look at the speakers. Even if it’s a former conference, most people who are interested in presenting on herbalism have a community of herbalists.
    • A large gathering of teachers can be found at the Good Medicine Confluence
    • The American Herbalist Guild puts on a symposium each year but also has a listing of registered herbal practitioners who have a high level of knowledge and what they term ‘associate members’ who work a significant amount of time in various fields and contribute to herbalism.

• Community Resources– I hope to add to this list over time.
  • • • There are community clinics and people who organize around healing justice that tend to gather practitioners.
      • These can be particularly helpful when you’re trying to find practitioners of color and folx who are committed to various communities.
      • https://www.healingbychoicedetroit.com/get-to-know-us-2
      • https://thirdroot.org/massage-acupuncture-practitioners-at-third-root-brooklyn-how-to-book/

• Your Instincts
  • You may find out about a practitioner that a number of people have recommended or that person is well respected by peers, yet you don’t feel quite right when you reach out. This is not your person!Alternatively, you may initially find little information about someone, but then when you get on an initial call with them, they provide useful information and something inside you tells you that there is a real resource for you.

• My Program if you specifically want to spend four months focusing on your self care and sleep.

How Herbal Practitioner Assessments Are Different Than Healthcare Diagnosis

An herbal practitioner is looking for patterns across parts of your system. They may want to know many details like what’s the consistency of your stool, if your nails are dry or what time you go to bed.

Herbalism assessments consider various characteristics of your system, such as:

• the condition of your tissues
• information from patterns in your sleep
• what your digestive process is like

A medical provider may also ask some of these questions, but they have different reference points.

• Medical assessments tend to look for pathological mechanisms, while herbalists look for patterns within a system.
• Medical consultations are to support people to stay within predetermined biological ranges.
• Herbalism consultations seek to match qualities within a person’s system (like heat or dampness) with plants that offer a response (like cooling and drying).

Assessment differences between healthcare providers and herbal practitioners:

• Healthcare practitioners usually assess for conditions that are specific to a part of the body (ex: the lungs/pulmonology) or deal with a system (ex: the cardiovascular system) to treat pathology.

• Assessments from an herbal practitioner may also consider specific organs or systems while looking for patterns across them to address interconnectedness within your system.

Healthcare practitioners are trained to look for what presents outside of what is considered “normal”.

• Treatment is to bring something within an organ or system back into what’s considered a normal range.
• What is outside of normal is usually classified into a diagnosis.
  • For example if someone has cholesterol numbers higher than the range deemed normal, a healthcare professional will consider treatments to lower it.
  • This usually means treatment recommendations are standard.

• In contrast to diagnosis, herbalists tend to look for patterns and do not diagnosis medical conditions.
  • They assess across different systems within someone’s body
  • They identify how a person’s body relates to the elements in the environment.
  • For example, if someone tends to have dryness in their body, they likely have a different relationship to arid surroundings than someone with a dampness in their system.
  • This also means what is balanced for each person’s system will differ.

• Healthcare practitioners track quantifiable descriptions.

• • Wellness tends to be looked at through measurement tools and by defining ranges.
  • Treatments tend to be from pharmaceutical medicines or services from healthcare specialists such as surgeons or physical therapists.
  • Nutritional support or lifestyle recommendations may have less emphasis, unless something is already out of range of what’s being tracked or if the healthcare practitioner has specialized training.

Many herbal practitioners are trained in the possibility for herb drug interaction and can assist you in navigating this if you need it.

If you haven’t worked with an herbalist before, you may find it more interactive than you’re used to.

Whoa, that’s a lot of information in this post!

How do I narrow down what I want or need to pick an herbalism practitioner to work with?

There’s clearly some curiosity since you’re reading this post! Ask yourself what you’re looking for. The answer to this question will help you feel into what you may (or may not) want in seeking the services of an herbalism practitioner.

Give yourself time.

You can use that information to write a list of what’s important to you and consider that when you learn about an herbalist’s practice.

Then see if you can find someone who has had experience with herbal consultations or search with the suggestions I’ve relying above [hyperlink] so you can begin to tap into a chain or web of people who may know someone who can connect you.

This is partially about match.

We (herbalism practitioners) like to match plants with humans, based on connecting several of the plant’s qualities to various needs the person has. Similarly, you want to consider two to three priorities in finding an herbal practitioner match for you. Those priotirities may change through time.

I invite you to embrace this modality with other ways you care for yourself. Wish you sweet sleep and wellbeing in general!