0:00

<silence>

0:14

Hi, I'm Ryn here at Commonwealth Holistic

0:17

Urbanism in Boston, Massachusetts, and

0:19

on the internet everywhere. Thanks to the power of

0:21

the podcast. In this episode, we

0:24

are continuing with Katya's series on herbal

0:26

businesses. If you missed the earlier episodes,

0:28

just scroll back in our podcast feed.

0:31

This time, the focus is on the clinical practice

0:34

of herbalism. So as always,

0:36

the questions are, what do you do in that job? What

0:38

do you need to learn to do it? Well, listen

0:41

on, and you're gonna hear all of Katya's thoughts about it. We

0:43

hope you like it. And by the way, if

0:46

you're dreaming of an herbal practice of your own, we

0:48

can help you build it. We have a whole herbal

0:50

business program to guide you through from start to finish,

0:53

even if you have no experience in running a

0:55

business at all. And of course, we can

0:57

teach you all of the herbal skills you're gonna need as

0:59

well. You'll find [email protected].

1:06

All right , well, it's been a minute since I made

1:08

a podcast episode. Um, in

1:11

this series of jobs

1:14

you can do as an herbalist , uh,

1:17

and what you will need to

1:19

be able to do them and what those jobs are like. Uh,

1:22

so today I wanna talk about working

1:24

as a clinical herbalist or , um,

1:27

integrating herbalism into your existing

1:31

clinical practice, whatever that might be. Um,

1:34

maybe it's , uh,

1:36

mental health care. Maybe , maybe

1:38

it is a personal trainer, maybe it's massage

1:40

therapy, like whatever. Um, and

1:44

<laugh> , part of the reason that , uh,

1:46

this episode is so late in

1:48

coming is because we have been

1:51

filming a bunch of new videos

1:53

for the clinical skills course, which is part

1:55

of our clinical herbalist program. And

1:58

I'm really excited about the updates that

2:00

we're making to that course. And they're

2:03

really topical with this , uh,

2:05

with what we're talking about today , uh,

2:08

working as a clinical herbalist. So

2:11

let's jump in , uh, and

2:13

talk about what it's like to

2:16

be a clinical herbalist, what kind

2:18

of work you will do, what kind of training

2:20

you need to get there, all that good stuff. So

2:24

let's start off with what you will do in

2:27

the job. Like what will your work

2:29

life be like? And

2:32

honestly, I think that the most important part

2:34

of your job as a clinical herbalist is

2:36

, um, teaching and being

2:39

a really effective teacher. But

2:42

I'm gonna come back to that because that

2:44

is incorporated in my advice

2:46

for people who want to go into clinical

2:49

practice. So I will spend a lot of time talking about

2:51

that in the next section. Um,

2:54

first I wanna just talk about nitty

2:56

gritty details about all the different

2:58

parts of the job of being a clinical herbalist.

3:01

So obviously we'll start with

3:03

seeing clients like the actual consultations,

3:06

because I think when people think about

3:08

clinical herbalism, obviously that's the thing

3:10

that comes to mind most is sitting down

3:13

with a client and talking to

3:15

them and counseling them, getting

3:17

information from them, collaborating

3:20

with them. And this , uh,

3:22

might happen in person or

3:25

it might happen online, like over Zoom.

3:28

Um, and there are pros and cons

3:30

to both, both are very

3:33

common, both are really

3:35

effective ways to do the work. Um,

3:38

and, and usually what

3:41

I counsel people is

3:43

that even if you plan to

3:45

work in person and

3:47

have a physical office that

3:49

people come to for consultations, it

3:52

is still really smart to

3:55

be able to offer sessions

3:57

over Zoom. Um, because

4:00

even local people sometimes need

4:03

that. Maybe they can't get childcare

4:06

and they really need to have a session, but

4:08

they are not able to take the

4:10

time to get there because there's nobody

4:12

watch to watch the kids. Or

4:15

maybe they are immune compromised

4:17

and they're trying to limit their exposure

4:19

of going out into the world , um,

4:22

or maybe they're disabled and that

4:24

, uh, your space that

4:26

you have is not accessible for whatever particular

4:29

reason. Um, so there are lots of

4:31

reasons more than

4:33

that, even <laugh> , lots of reasons that

4:35

, um, being comfortable

4:39

and good at working over Zoom

4:41

is really worth developing,

4:44

even if you intend an in-person practice.

4:47

But either way, that is like sitting

4:50

with the person, talking with them, working

4:52

through their health history and

4:54

their health goals, and together

4:57

with them coming up with a plan that's gonna

4:59

help them feel better in their lives. So

5:03

that is of course, like , um,

5:06

a big, a big part of the job, but

5:09

there's also a lot of support work for

5:12

each consultation. Um,

5:14

so there might be research

5:17

time that you do before the session , um,

5:20

based on what you see in the intake form.

5:23

And , uh, so you may just do like

5:25

preparation work to get

5:27

ready so that you're ready to speak. Maybe the

5:29

person takes pharmaceuticals that

5:31

you're not familiar with, and so you spend time researching

5:34

those. Um, maybe they

5:36

wanna talk about some kind

5:39

of health situation that you are

5:41

not familiar with, you haven't worked with before. So

5:43

you wanna do a little research before that.

5:46

Um, and a lot of times research happens afterwards

5:49

too, because things come up in

5:51

the session. Even if you go in really prepared

5:53

, um, things come up in

5:55

the session that maybe you didn't

5:57

think about or have never heard of before.

5:59

And so you realize like, oh, okay, there's more research

6:02

to do. Um, I think that research

6:06

time is certainly equal

6:08

to the amount of time you spend talking to

6:10

clients, but honestly, I think it's probably more , um,

6:13

I think like just hour

6:15

for hour, you probably spend more time researching

6:18

even than you spend actually talking

6:21

to clients. It is just a really big part

6:23

of the job. And honestly,

6:26

I think that's great. Like you, you

6:28

can't possibly know everything. And we're gonna talk

6:31

a lot about training and the importance

6:33

of being very well trained to

6:35

do this work. But no

6:38

matter how well trained you are, there's a lot of stuff you

6:41

just can't know either because it's brand new.

6:43

Like, you know, when Covid happened,

6:45

nobody knew anything about Covid because

6:48

it was brand new. Like literally it was impossible

6:50

to have known about it. Well,

6:53

you could know about the old sars

6:55

uh, virus , um, but like,

6:57

there was nothing to, you couldn't have known

7:00

. You would've had to do a lot of research, right? So

7:03

I think that Covid is a great example

7:05

because a lot of times people feel like

7:08

I have to know everything. The

7:11

pressure is on me to know everything. And

7:14

it's hard to imagine that

7:17

it's okay to not know everything just

7:20

because the pressure that we get from society and

7:24

the role models in the medical system all

7:26

say like, you should know everything, but come on, you

7:28

know that doctors don't know everything. Um,

7:31

and the ones who are willing to research what

7:33

you need are the good ones, right?

7:35

But some doctors aren't willing to take that time to research.

7:38

We don't have that luxury . I

7:40

don't think doctors have that luxury either. We have

7:42

to research, but just, you

7:44

know, if you are sitting there thinking like,

7:46

well, no, I have to know everything. I think

7:49

Covid is a great example because it was impossible

7:51

to know about Covid before Covid

7:54

happened. And if you realize that

7:56

like, oh, well, yeah, of course, that I would, I

7:58

would not be able to have known. That

8:01

opens up for you

8:03

a way to take the pressure off that there . It's

8:05

okay that there are other things that you don't know. Um,

8:08

the important part is not that you know

8:11

every single thing, the

8:13

important part is that you don't pretend

8:15

that you know every single thing. Clients

8:18

are going to come in with things you've

8:21

never heard of, experiences you've never had. And

8:25

I think this is fantastic. If

8:27

you, if you are in

8:29

a place of believing that you have to know everything,

8:32

it's gonna make you very uncomfortable. And you're gonna have

8:34

imposter syndrome basically all the time. But

8:37

if you're in a place of like, Hey, I'm solid

8:39

in my training. I know what I know, I know there

8:41

are things I don't know, that puts

8:44

you in this beautiful place of collaboration

8:46

because a client comes in with

8:48

tons of experience of what it is that

8:50

they're trying to work on. And

8:53

you have a lot of experience too, on

8:55

whatever the things are that you have

8:57

worked on in your life. And

9:00

if you just acknowledge that, like you

9:02

don't know everything, that opens you up

9:04

to acknowledging that there are things your client

9:06

knows that you don't know. And it

9:08

puts you immediately into a collaboration

9:11

space with your client. So

9:15

right off the bat, just acknowledging

9:17

that research is important and

9:19

you cannot know everything, not

9:22

only is good for our clients because

9:24

it will serve them if

9:26

we are researching in service for

9:28

them. Um, but also it

9:31

is good for you because that

9:33

is the thing that protects you from

9:35

imposter syndrome. That is the thing that keeps

9:37

you out of that space of like thinking

9:40

you have to know everything and puts

9:42

you into that collaborative space with your client.

9:45

So research, yes, yes, yes, yes.

9:49

All right . And then you've done all that research, you've

9:52

talked to your client, and now it

9:54

is time for your like, aftercare

9:57

support for your client, right? So that

9:59

might be your follow up emails. It

10:01

might be information sheets that

10:04

you write, like PDFs

10:06

or pages on your website or whatever that

10:08

you write to help them through

10:10

different strategies that are common. So

10:13

for example , um, we

10:15

often recommend for our

10:17

clients that they do

10:20

some assessment around food sensitivities.

10:24

And so often we will recommend a

10:26

whole 30 or , um,

10:29

like a gluten and dairy elimination for

10:31

a month, or it , you

10:33

know, if we think it's egg, then we'll say, okay, well let's

10:35

do an egg elimination for a month or whatever. And

10:38

so it's really helpful if you have

10:41

already written up , um, as

10:44

a PDF or as a page on your website

10:46

support for people who are gonna

10:48

do a whole 30 or who are going to eliminate

10:51

gluten and what are the, what

10:53

are your favorite substitute products and you

10:55

know, all that kind of stuff. So

10:58

when you write follow up emails to a specific

11:00

client like that is , is very targeted

11:03

to that particular client. But you

11:05

also have this like support time where

11:07

you may be producing materials

11:10

that will help lots of clients that you will use over

11:12

and over again. Uh

11:15

, so all of that is support

11:18

work and then all the future correspondence

11:20

that you have with a client. Um, and

11:22

however everybody sets that up in their practice

11:24

a little bit differently. Um, but

11:27

that correspondence that happens in between

11:29

the , the session and the next session , um,

11:32

you know, that's all support time too. So

11:35

you see the clients, you do the research, you

11:37

have the support time, and then of course

11:39

there's administrative work, which maybe

11:43

that's not the most thing, but every

11:45

job has administrative work and it has

11:47

to happen. Um, so this is

11:50

your marketing and advertising and

11:52

building your client base, all the

11:54

regular business stuff, maintaining

11:56

your website, your social media presence.

12:00

Also your legal due diligence falls

12:02

into this administrative category.

12:05

Um, if herbalists were

12:07

licensed, that would be called maintaining

12:09

your licensure. Um, and

12:13

there are things that licensed professionals have

12:15

to do to maintain their license, but we

12:18

are not licensed , um, herbalists

12:20

are not licensed in the United States. Uh,

12:22

so our work there

12:25

falls on falls not just on doing

12:28

the continuing education credits that

12:30

all licensed professionals have to do to

12:32

maintain their license. Well, of course we're gonna do continuing ed

12:34

education too, 'cause it's just a really good idea. But

12:38

also like making sure that you're

12:40

not practicing medicine without a license, making

12:43

sure that you're staying within the scope of practice , um,

12:46

that is legal in your state

12:48

and also federally , um,

12:51

the definition of the practice of medicine

12:53

is state mandated. So wherever

12:56

you live, you will , um, check

12:58

those laws and just make sure that

13:00

your practice is staying in its scope.

13:03

That's our legal due diligence that, that

13:05

we are , um, you

13:08

know, it's important to do. Um,

13:11

and if you are a licensed professional

13:14

and you are incorporating herbalism

13:16

into your business, then you

13:18

will be maintaining your license on one hand,

13:20

but also , um, maintaining

13:23

your unlicensed work and making sure

13:26

that the laws in your state , um,

13:29

that, that you are abiding

13:32

by the laws between your license

13:34

and your unlicensed work. And in some

13:36

states that means that you need to separate them. In

13:38

some states you can mush them together and

13:40

that's fine. Um, so all of

13:42

that kind of legal stuff

13:46

falls under administrative work and

13:50

like, you know, accounting and paying your taxes and

13:52

all that good stuff. Okay, so we'll

13:54

get a little bit more into all that administrative

13:56

stuff when we talk about training. And

13:59

, um, you don't have to just magically

14:01

know how to do all that by yourself

14:04

ahead of time. Uh , you should be well

14:06

trained on how to do all of the administrative

14:09

work and all the legal stuff

14:11

that you have to do. So don't worry, you don't have

14:13

to just magically know that. We'll

14:15

get to that. All right ? But I wanted

14:18

to talk about , um, I

14:20

wanted to come back to that idea of teaching

14:23

and talk about , um, like

14:25

a piece of advice for people

14:27

who are working as clinical herbalists.

14:29

And my

14:31

piece of advice here, or my awareness,

14:35

my piece of awareness is that the most

14:37

important part of your job as a

14:39

clinical herbalist is teaching. And I

14:41

could say that a few more

14:43

times, <laugh> just for you to like hear it

14:46

because it's really, really important. And

14:50

you might be thinking, well, yeah, but

14:52

isn't the most important part of the job, like

14:54

staying up to date and being well

14:57

educated. And yes,

15:00

that stuff is super important and

15:02

you definitely should do that. But

15:05

, um, if

15:09

you are like the most well-educated

15:11

and the most up-to-date person, but

15:14

you can't teach it to your

15:16

client, then you,

15:19

you won't be effective. Like all

15:22

of the education that we do as

15:26

clinical herbalist, all of the learning,

15:29

all of the studying, all of the

15:31

mentorship, all of everything that we put

15:33

into developing our skills, the

15:35

purpose of all of that is so that we can

15:38

communicate it to another human. Um,

15:41

and so every clinical herbalist is

15:43

a teacher. It's just that

15:45

, um, instead of teaching

15:47

in front of a whole room full of people, you're

15:50

teaching one-on-one in a very personalized

15:53

way. You are finding all

15:56

of the information in your head , um,

15:59

that is relevant to this

16:01

one person you're sitting with in the moment and

16:05

thinking about how to organize

16:08

that information, how to order

16:10

it and prioritize it, and

16:13

then how to share it with the

16:15

person that you're working with so that

16:17

they can effectively make it a part

16:19

of their lives. And the thing

16:21

is that the clients that you're working with, they're

16:25

not full-time herbalists, they're

16:27

not necessarily even part-time herbalists.

16:30

They have a day job. They probably are taking care

16:32

of kids or a household or a family or

16:34

elder parents or whatever else. And

16:37

, um, they have just

16:39

things going on in their lives and they don't

16:41

necessarily already know how to make a long

16:44

infusion and they don't necessarily already know

16:46

about this and that herb and

16:48

what the , what they'll do in the body.

16:50

And they don't necessarily already understand

16:54

the ties between the types of food that they're

16:56

eating and their baseline inflammation levels

16:58

and like all the other things, all

17:00

the, all the million,

17:03

billion things that are relevant to their health.

17:06

A lot of clients come

17:08

in and maybe they've tried a lot of things and

17:11

their attempts haven't worked because

17:14

also nobody, like outright teaches people

17:16

how to experiment. And so maybe they've

17:18

tried things, but the way that they set

17:20

up their personal experimentation wasn't,

17:24

wasn't like set up in the way to guarantee

17:27

them success. And so some of the

17:29

things that they tried may be worth trying again,

17:32

but all of this, we

17:34

have to explain it to them in a way that's relevant

17:36

to their lives and

17:39

their understanding and their goals and

17:41

their priorities and their needs. And

17:46

that is a skill like

17:48

that is not

17:50

something that you're necessarily born

17:52

with, but it is

17:54

something that, I mean, some people I guess are just

17:56

natural communicators, sure. But

17:59

it is something that you can develop and

18:01

that you can develop the ability to do it

18:03

on your feet, right? Because when you're sitting with

18:05

someone, you're hearing information,

18:08

you're, you're getting their story, ideas

18:10

are coming into your head, you're starting

18:12

to like synthesize those ideas into

18:15

a plan. All that is great and

18:17

it can be the best plan in the world, but

18:20

now it is. Now how am I going to explain it to

18:22

this person using

18:24

what I know about this person? Which

18:26

might only be 45 minutes of conversation

18:29

by the time that you start explaining it might be a person

18:31

that you've just met for the very first time. Um,

18:34

and so that skill of

18:36

like taking

18:39

in everything you can about the person and then

18:42

teaching everything that you want them to

18:44

know in

18:46

the context of their

18:49

habits and their life and their styles

18:51

and what things will be motivating to

18:53

them, that

18:55

if you spend time developing

18:57

that skill, you are going to be a

19:00

very successful clinical herbalist.

19:03

Very, very successful. And

19:06

if not, if you're just like, okay, well I've listened

19:08

to everything and here's my list of things you should do,

19:11

that's not going to be as helpful. Some

19:13

people will do the things on the list, but

19:17

it's if a person understands

19:19

why they're doing things and what

19:22

that will get them, like, Hey, if

19:24

I drink a quart of this tea every day

19:26

, it's gonna get me this result. Uh,

19:29

I am a person who is super, super dry

19:31

and I , um, I'm not, but

19:33

like I'm imagining being this person, I'm actually,

19:35

I run pretty damp, but okay,

19:38

let's just imagine this person, they run super dry,

19:40

they're having trouble with constipation, but also

19:43

lots of other dryness symptoms

19:45

like their mucosa

19:47

in general is uncomfortably dry

19:49

and whatever else. And you just tell

19:51

them they need to drink marshmallow root, cold infusion,

19:53

that's fine. But if you really

19:55

explain to them about the, the

19:58

mucilaginous action of the marshmallow

20:00

root, and it's gonna be a cold infusion

20:02

and it's gonna get kind of slimy and and

20:05

velvety, and they're gonna drink that and it's gonna help

20:07

the water stay in their

20:09

body better, it's gonna hydrate them.

20:11

It's gonna bring in some mineral content along

20:14

with the water and some electrolyte content

20:16

along with the water and, and

20:18

really be soothing to all of the mucus

20:21

membranes. And so if they make this quarter

20:24

day and they drink it throughout

20:26

the day, within a week, they're gonna

20:28

start feeling like their eyes aren't so dry anymore

20:30

and it's gonna really start moisturizing

20:33

and nourishing the digestive tract. So it's gonna make

20:35

the constipation reduce . And you know, all

20:37

those things, if you can get

20:39

across to them, here's what this is gonna

20:42

get for you, they're gonna be so

20:44

much more motivated to actually do

20:46

the stuff that might seem

20:48

a little weird to them . You know, I mean, marshmallow

20:51

root, cold infusion, the first time you drink

20:53

that, especially if it's a really viscous one,

20:55

like a really thick one, it's kind

20:57

of weird at like, listen, I'm an herbalist,

21:00

but I'll say it, it's kind of weird. And

21:02

, um, herbalists

21:04

are pretty, you know, usually used

21:06

to weird bitter things and weird just

21:09

things that are outside of like normal,

21:13

normal, everyday modern cuisine I

21:15

suppose. But for a

21:17

lot of people, it'll be the first time they've ever consumed

21:19

something like that. If

21:22

they know what it will get them, if they know

21:24

what it will do for them , uh,

21:26

that's so much more motivating. And

21:30

one other factor that I think is really important

21:32

when we think about teaching as

21:35

clinical herbalists , um,

21:39

is that that is a transfer

21:41

of power. When

21:44

we teach clients

21:47

things, they now know

21:49

what we know and

21:51

okay, it would take a really long time for, for

21:53

you to teach a client every single thing that you know, but

21:56

the stuff that's relevant to what's going on for them right now, yes,

21:59

that gives them power. That

22:02

gives them long-term

22:05

motivation. If they understand

22:08

what's going on in their body and how

22:11

the strategies that you're recommending are going

22:13

to help, as opposed to just

22:15

saying, here, do this, it will help you, but

22:18

they really understand how

22:20

it all, how it all started, how it all

22:23

got there, and how we're going to resolve

22:26

it with the strategies that you're recommending,

22:29

then that's something that they can keep

22:31

for the rest of their lives. And

22:34

anytime that they get back into this sort of situation,

22:37

they have the knowledge now to,

22:39

to work on that on their own. Okay?

22:41

They might need a reminder, but, but

22:44

they have that knowledge it is going

22:46

to help them so much to

22:49

stick with it and not like fall off the wagon

22:52

if a client does something just 'cause Katya says

22:54

so, or whoever you are, just because

22:57

you say so. Like that

22:59

motivation doesn't last very long,

23:02

but if they do it because they really understand

23:05

what it will get them, they're

23:07

doing it because they say so they're

23:09

doing it because they're bought in and

23:13

everything for me about working with

23:15

clients is that

23:18

power shift. You

23:20

know, I think that when so many people go to

23:22

see conventional medical

23:24

practitioners, there

23:27

is a power imbalance where

23:29

the practitioner has all the power and

23:31

the patient is just like , uh, I

23:33

don't know. Can you just tell me what to do? And

23:38

that's some like that we

23:41

are trained into that sort of scenario

23:45

bec because we grow up in this system, and

23:47

so we're trained to see them as experts

23:50

and as authorities and that we

23:52

need to do what they tell us. And even in

23:54

our speech that comes across like, oh,

23:56

my doctor has me on satin drugs or

23:58

like, whatever. People say that all

24:01

the time. And

24:03

I always wanna challenge that because your

24:06

doctor isn't showing up in the morning and

24:08

putting that in your mouth and then making you swallow

24:10

it. I mean, you know, if you're in the hospital, they

24:12

do come and give it to you and whatever, but like, you

24:15

know, you're just a person, you're going through your day, your doctor doesn't

24:17

have you on that, you have you on that, you're

24:19

the one who's taking it. And,

24:23

but we just, we've, we've internalized

24:26

that subjugation so

24:29

much that it's even just in our speech about how

24:31

we talk about conventional medicine. And

24:33

it doesn't have to be, not every doctor

24:36

likes that set up , but it is

24:38

just the way the system is is kind

24:40

of built. And that goes back to the

24:42

history of the system and , uh,

24:45

class structure and uh,

24:48

you know, all kinds of stuff. But , um,

24:51

who was allowed to be a doctor and who wasn't

24:53

allowed to be a doctor? And, and yeah, okay,

24:55

well anyway, that's like a whole separate history lesson, but

24:58

, um, but

25:01

as herbalist, first

25:03

off, we are not licensed and we are not doctors and

25:05

we don't wanna act like we're licensed or like we're

25:07

doctors. Um, but also

25:12

it isn't just like, well, I'm supposed to preach , I'm

25:14

supposed to tell you that I'm not a doctor, but I can cure

25:17

you, I can heal you, I can whatever. Like,

25:19

no, that is not what we're doing. I

25:23

joyously am not a doctor. I

25:25

joyously am not practicing medicine.

25:28

I joyously am collaborating

25:31

with my clients on experimenting

25:34

to find what works best for their body

25:37

and how they can be most comfortable

25:39

in their lives and even how

25:41

we can collaborate with their medical professionals

25:43

so that if they are , um,

25:46

taking pharmaceuticals that are helping

25:48

them, that we can support them in

25:50

that. Like it doesn't have to be all or nothing.

25:53

Um, and so that

25:56

collaboration is what I

25:58

really wanna foster. And that is

26:00

an equalizing of power that

26:03

is like at all times

26:06

trying to, trying to give back

26:08

to the client the power that is actually

26:10

theirs, the autonomy that is actually theirs

26:13

in regard to their health and

26:15

what they do about it. Um, and

26:18

so I I

26:21

I just think that that whole aspect

26:23

of teaching, just putting some stuff out on

26:26

the table and hey, okay, you have

26:28

told me what your experience is like, and I'm

26:30

gonna talk to you about everything I know that

26:33

could be helpful, and now you know

26:35

that stuff too. And so now it's all here

26:37

on the table and we can put it all together

26:40

like a puzzle and we can come up with a plan

26:42

and then we try the plan and see if it works, and

26:45

then we make adjustments and in whatever,

26:47

you know, needs to be adjusted to get it to be just

26:49

right for you. But it is

26:51

that like collaboration that

26:54

is the equalizer of power. And

26:56

, um, so yeah,

26:58

so for , for all of these reasons , um,

27:02

I really think that teaching

27:04

and developing your skill as

27:06

a teacher , um, is

27:10

the most important part of

27:13

your skill development

27:15

as a clinical herbalist. So every other

27:17

thing that you learn is

27:20

like all of the background stuff

27:23

so that you can then learn to be a good

27:25

teacher and, and collaborate well

27:27

and have a lot of success with your clients. Whew

27:31

. All right . Well

27:33

then let's talk about all

27:35

of the training that you should get

27:38

to be a clinical herbalist. Um,

27:41

I, that kind of sounds intimidating

27:44

when I say it like that. Um, but

27:46

also I don't think that's inappropriate. I

27:49

mean, you shouldn't be intimidated. Um, but

27:52

it's, this is not like a weekend workshop.

27:54

This is not that you're gonna do like a nine month apprenticeship

27:57

and you're gonna be ready to be a clinical herbalist.

27:59

This is years and years of training. Um,

28:02

and I think it's important to, to

28:04

just have that at the outset. If,

28:07

if you are really gonna help

28:09

people with who knows what is gonna walk

28:11

through your door, it it

28:14

just takes a lot of training. Um, so

28:16

you can help your neighbors and help your friends

28:18

and help in, in smaller

28:21

ways, much earlier in

28:23

your training when

28:25

you really wanna be a clinical herbalist, then

28:27

that's, it is , it is a lot of training.

28:29

So I think just setting yourself up for that right

28:31

in the beginning and just acknowledging that, like, you

28:34

know, doctors go to school for a kabillion,

28:36

gillion years and nurses go to school for all those years

28:38

and like all these different practitioners go to school

28:41

for all these years, and it's

28:43

reasonable for us to also do that. Like, sure,

28:46

herbs might not be totally hard,

28:48

but human health is very challenging. Um,

28:52

so, so yeah, so well

28:55

trained it is important. Um, and

28:57

you, so you're gonna need training in all the

28:59

herbal skills as well as training

29:02

in how to do a consultation , um,

29:06

and all the support work and all the

29:08

follow up and everything, training in

29:11

practice management, so how to be legal,

29:13

how to do marketing, how to, like, everything

29:15

in between. Um, you

29:18

will need a very strong focus

29:20

in herb drug interactions, and

29:25

that is really intimidating for a lot of people.

29:28

Um, some people feel pretty

29:30

nervous about pharmaceuticals, and so they just

29:32

think, well, I just will avoid it. You know, I

29:34

just kind of won't go there. But

29:36

listen, training is the answer. Um,

29:39

actually training is the answer anytime that you're

29:41

thinking like, oh man, that makes me really uncomfortable,

29:44

or that makes me really nervous. Training always

29:46

is the answer because it takes away that nervousness,

29:49

but especially with herb drug interactions these

29:51

days , um, most

29:55

people are taking pharmaceuticals

29:58

and it's very hard

30:00

to run a practice and

30:03

not encounter pharmaceuticals.

30:06

So it just really, and also I

30:08

think that it's important to recognize

30:10

that if you're working with whole herbs

30:13

and just like tea and stuff, okay,

30:15

that's one thing. But as soon as you

30:17

start recommending any kind of like

30:19

, um, uh,

30:22

like super potent extract of something

30:25

now that also has a higher likelihood

30:28

of interaction or adverse

30:30

effects or whatever else , um,

30:32

I think like a good example is these really

30:35

super high powered turmeric capsules

30:37

with black pepper, or even not

30:39

with black pepper, but just with the piperine in it.

30:42

And , um, and

30:44

they're like so much

30:46

more powerful than what you would

30:48

just eat naturally , um,

30:51

naturally, like what you would just eat if you were having

30:53

like turmeric and pepper and

30:56

other herbs in curry or something like

30:58

that. Um, and

31:01

we're starting to develop a pretty strong body

31:03

of evidence that those high

31:06

powered supplements , um, can cause

31:08

liver damage. And so

31:10

just recognizing that like

31:12

it's the , the herb drug interactions

31:15

and the herb safety aspect of things,

31:18

it's really inescapable now. It,

31:20

you know, back in the eighties and, and maybe even

31:22

in the nineties, you could practice

31:25

and just be like, well, I probably

31:27

won't have to work with anybody who's taking medications,

31:29

but that's just not, it's, it's not possible

31:31

anymore. Everybody who comes for

31:34

help will be taking something.

31:36

Um, it'll, it'll be lovely but rare when

31:39

you work with a client who doesn't take a pharmaceutical.

31:41

So , um, don't

31:44

be nervous about it, don't be scared about it. Don't

31:46

be out there thinking like, I don't know, pharmacology

31:49

is really scary and all that other stuff. Doctors

31:52

don't know much about herb drug interactions,

31:54

and it's really on us as herbalists

31:57

to pick up the slack because they're, they're

32:00

not doing it. Pharmacists don't know

32:02

much about herb drug interactions. So

32:04

in order to keep our clients safe, we

32:07

have to be the ones who really

32:09

know and who make safe

32:11

recommendations. Um, and

32:14

often we have to be the ones educating

32:16

medical practitioners who our

32:18

clients are working with. Um, so

32:21

that, that's also important. Like you don't have to

32:23

be afraid of your client's doctor. You can

32:26

collaborate with your client's doctor, and when

32:29

you have the training, then you

32:31

won't feel nervous about that. You won't be like, oh

32:33

my goodness, imposter syndrome or like any of those other

32:35

things, you'll just communicate to them as a professional,

32:37

one professional to another. Um, or

32:40

you will give your client the appropriate information

32:42

so that they can advocate for themselves , um,

32:46

in a professional manner, in a way that the

32:48

doctor will recognize and understand and,

32:51

okay, well anyway, for all of these reasons, don't

32:54

neglect your herb drug interaction and herb safety

32:56

training, even though it's

32:59

like, I know you got

33:01

into herbalism because you don't like that stuff.

33:03

But , um, training is the answer yes.

33:07

And then your training really

33:11

needs to include mentorship, live,

33:14

personal mentorship , um,

33:17

because it's not just about learning

33:19

each individual skill. There

33:22

also is just so much guidance

33:24

about how to put that into practice. And

33:26

every single client that you work with is different,

33:28

every body is different. And

33:31

so having guidance as

33:34

you take everything you've learned and

33:36

apply it this way for that client and

33:38

this other way for this client over here , and

33:40

then yet another way for the next client, that's

33:44

challenging. And so having

33:47

a mentor who can help you through that process is key.

33:49

Now, when you look for a mentor , um,

33:53

you may not find one

33:55

in your area to work with in

33:58

person . That's not a problem. Um, mentors

34:00

will work online. We have a mentorship

34:02

program and that's done online. It's

34:04

still live . We work with each of our students

34:07

personally. Um, but we just

34:09

do it over zoom so it doesn't really matter

34:11

where you are. Um, and there

34:13

are other mentors who do that as well. Um,

34:16

so when you're looking for a mentor, look for

34:18

someone who will go over all of

34:20

your clients with you, who

34:22

will answer any questions that you have about

34:25

every case that you're taking , um,

34:27

who gives you time to like talk

34:29

about all your cases and,

34:32

and really hear all your questions

34:34

about like, okay, well I worked with this person, I'm

34:37

really not sure where to take this case from here.

34:40

Um, and then also

34:43

someone who will encourage you to review

34:45

all of your own client files regularly

34:48

, uh, and

34:50

even go through that process with you. This

34:52

is really important when

34:55

you work with clients, that's

34:58

just one moment in time that's just

35:00

like, okay, well last Tuesday I

35:02

worked with this person and this is what I came

35:04

up with for them. But a

35:06

month from now , or two

35:08

months from now at the end of the quarter or

35:11

whatever else, you might have different

35:13

ideas. You might have different thoughts

35:15

about what you could have done for that person. So

35:19

set up time and preferably

35:21

with your mentor that you can

35:24

on a regular basis go back

35:26

through your client files and

35:28

say like, oh, I could have done this differently. Or

35:31

What could I have done differently for this client

35:33

because I, they never came back for a

35:35

follow up . I think I didn't really serve them well. What

35:37

could I have done differently? How could I have come

35:39

up with some other kind of idea that would

35:42

have helped them better? Okay.

35:45

So all that kind of stuff. Um,

35:47

and even just, you know, not

35:50

just launching into practice

35:52

without seeing it first, you

35:54

should be able to observe other

35:58

clinical herbalists working with clients

36:00

and seeing what that looks

36:02

like and how that process plays

36:05

out and how it goes through multiple

36:08

follow ups . Um, all of that

36:10

is stuff that if you watch it first, it

36:13

gives you that

36:15

context of how do you set up

36:18

a consultation? How , what is the flow

36:20

of the session? How does it change and

36:22

shift from person to person that you work

36:24

with? Um, and so

36:26

being able to observe all of that and

36:28

then try it out while they're observing

36:31

you and able to tell you like,

36:33

okay, make this change. Oh, okay, you could

36:35

have done this differently. Or, Hey, how did it

36:37

feel when you said this? Did that feel better than last

36:39

time? And, you know, all that kind of stuff, whatever it

36:41

happens to be. Um, and

36:45

then, right, and then that they'll go through all of your cases

36:47

with you. So that's what you're looking for when you're looking for

36:49

a mentor. All

36:52

right , so, and just, you know, another

36:54

reminder that , um, herbalism

36:57

is unregulated because herbalism

37:00

is unregulated. It is up to us to

37:02

keep our clients and ourselves

37:05

and each other safe. Or

37:09

in other words, if you operate

37:12

outside the law, you

37:14

aren't just endangering yourself. That's not

37:16

just a risk that you take on yourself. That's a

37:18

risk for all of us as herbal

37:20

practitioners. Um, because if

37:23

somebody does something really egregious and

37:25

then there are big lawsuits about it and whatever else, that's

37:27

how , um, that's

37:30

how the need for regulation comes. And

37:34

although on one hand, regulation brings

37:37

with it a certain amount of legitimacy,

37:39

you know, like , um, and

37:42

recognition on the other hand, it

37:45

brings with it a great deal. More cost,

37:48

a lot , a loss of freedom. Uh,

37:51

like there's a

37:53

lot of cons with regulation.

37:56

So I personally think that

37:58

we are better off working unregulated

38:00

, um, because we

38:02

have more freedom. But also, I

38:05

like not being licensed,

38:08

I like communicating to my clients,

38:10

Hey, I'm an educator. I am not

38:13

a licensed medical professional. That

38:15

means that you need to be

38:17

engaged in what we're doing. You need

38:20

to be the one deciding if this is right for you. I'm

38:22

gonna tell you everything I know you're gonna tell me the

38:24

stuff that you're experiencing, we're gonna

38:26

put 'em together, but you're the one in the driver's

38:28

seat. You're the one who gets to say, that doesn't sound good

38:30

to me. That doesn't sound right to me. I

38:33

want you to do more research so that

38:35

I feel comfortable with this, or I want you to

38:37

do more research and find me a different way when

38:40

a client knows that I'm not licensed.

38:44

That is a call to engagement for them.

38:46

And it's also just a very overt

38:49

reminder for them that they can say

38:52

no anytime and they should

38:54

feel great. Like totally free to

38:56

exercise that. So, so,

38:58

okay. I don't think it is a drawback to be

39:00

unregulated, but

39:04

it does come with risk. And so it

39:06

is important to know the laws to operate

39:09

within the laws even if you don't like them. And

39:11

to not practice

39:14

medicine without a license. Do not give advice

39:16

about pharmaceuticals. Do not tell a

39:18

person not to take their pharmaceuticals. Do

39:20

not , um, tell a person they don't

39:22

need that surgery. You know, whatever. There's

39:25

so much work that falls

39:28

into our legal scope of practice

39:31

so much we can do that.

39:33

I don't find any need to be

39:35

reaching outside of that scope to do things that

39:37

aren't legal for me. Um,

39:40

and so I

39:43

, I like, I don't think it's bad we're unregulated

39:45

except that because we're unregulated, we

39:48

all have to really take our

39:50

work seriously. Not

39:52

just for ourselves, but for the whole community. And

39:56

the thing is , um,

40:01

PE clients will come to you and

40:03

ask you, they will say things like, I

40:05

wanna stop taking my drugs. Can you help me do that? Like,

40:08

I wanna stop taking statin drugs. Can you help? And

40:12

then we have to educate about why we

40:14

can't actually help with that. I mean, we

40:16

can support them through that process, but in terms

40:18

of like actually the getting off

40:20

the drug part, then that's

40:22

the work they're gonna have to do with their medical

40:25

provider, with their prescribing practitioner.

40:27

We can support them to

40:30

be their healthiest selves and to make

40:32

some really great choices that can support their

40:35

cardiovascular health. But, and

40:37

that's, I , it's so important. That is such

40:39

important work. It's also work

40:41

that doctors don't have time to do. They don't

40:43

have time to do a ton of education. They

40:45

just, in this example that I'm making up

40:48

here, okay, well, statin drugs must

40:50

be the answer. 'cause they don't have time to explain

40:52

about canola oil versus olive oil

40:54

versus, you know, like whatever. They

40:56

have too many patients that they have to see every day . 'cause

40:58

there just aren't enough primary care physicians. Um,

41:01

so you know, those like education

41:05

about how Hawthorne helps

41:07

provide anthocyanins that , um,

41:10

support the, the

41:12

vasculature and the health of the actual

41:14

muscles of the arterial

41:17

walls and all that kinda stuff. That's

41:19

stuff that we can do. And

41:21

we don't have to really drop

41:25

into that place of practicing

41:28

medicine without a license. But we do often have

41:30

to explain that to our clients about where those

41:32

boundaries are. The

41:36

other thing is that when people find out that

41:39

you are prac , that you are studying clinical

41:41

herbalism, they

41:44

want to be your client already. Like

41:46

before you're ready, they want to pressure you to

41:48

jump right into practice. Um,

41:52

and that's awesome. That's enthusiasm

41:54

that they want answers. Now that is great.

41:57

Don't do it. Um , really

41:59

resist that urge. You can

42:01

still help people, but

42:05

do it under the guise of being a student. Like

42:07

stay in that student place while

42:11

you are a student. Don't rush yourself

42:14

into practice. First off, you don't

42:16

need that pressure. Like, you

42:18

don't have to put the cart before the horse. You

42:20

don't have to run before you walk or you know, I don't

42:22

know, whatever, whatever. Um,

42:25

like metaphor is appropriate

42:28

here. All

42:30

of society is pressuring everyone to go

42:33

faster, produce more, like do more with less,

42:35

all that stuff. You don't

42:37

have to put that pressure on yourself and

42:40

telling people, no, I'm not seeing clients

42:43

yet. I'm still a student. Does not

42:45

mean that you can't help them because the

42:47

next set sentence can be. But

42:49

I'm happy to work with you with what

42:51

I know and talk to my teachers

42:54

and like see if we

42:56

can collaborate and come up with something

42:59

based on the information that I have so far. Like

43:02

we can do some experiments together. You could even be

43:04

helping me learn actually, if you're willing to be a Guinea

43:06

pig, there's a lot of

43:10

really excellent benefit

43:12

and interaction that can happen with

43:15

people who want you to do this work

43:17

for them without

43:20

feeling the need to just go ahead and jump

43:22

into clinical practice before you're ready. That

43:25

part, that's where you get imposter

43:28

syndrome and where it's uncomfortable and,

43:30

and all like always those creeping

43:32

feelings coming in. But

43:35

when you're talking, when you're like, Hey, well

43:38

, uh, no, I can't work with you as a client 'cause

43:40

I am not a clinical herbalist yet. I'm

43:42

a student. I , you

43:44

know, I have been studying about that thing you

43:47

just asked me about and I can't

43:49

give you all the answers, but I'm happy to tell you what

43:51

I know and we can do some experiments

43:53

and that's gonna help me learn more and it

43:55

might help you too. So, you

43:57

know, I'm helping happy to help you at

43:59

the student level and let's just

44:02

try that for now and see what happens.

44:05

It's cool because that takes all the

44:07

pressure off you, it leaves you open

44:10

to always be able to say, okay, well that's actually

44:12

the end of what I know I told you I was still

44:14

a student. Um, but hey,

44:16

I'll ask my teachers and I'll

44:18

see if I can find out more. And also my school runs

44:20

a free clinic. Like you could also come

44:23

and talk to my teachers about that

44:25

or work in free clinic or , um,

44:27

you know, something like that. If, if your herb

44:29

school does that. Ours we do. Um,

44:32

and we also have a student clinic, but , um,

44:35

but it just takes all the pressure

44:37

off you. And the other thing about that

44:40

is that if

44:42

you jump into clinical practice too early, not

44:45

only are you feeling like all this pressure and

44:47

uncertainty and imposter

44:49

syndrome, but that's a risk

44:51

for you as a business person as well

44:54

because what

44:56

if then it like, you're

44:58

not able to help that person. And word gets

45:00

around that like, oh, I don't

45:02

know , they're studying but they're not very good at it and

45:06

um, or I saw this person and

45:09

they're not good at it. And then like two years

45:11

from now, you are ready to, or however

45:13

long from now you are ready to start your

45:15

practice. But there are people

45:18

who worked with you when you weren't really ready

45:20

yet, and they have negative opinions

45:22

about the work that you do that's

45:26

going to impact your ability to build a strong client

45:28

base. But if

45:31

you're a student and you're learning and people

45:33

in your life are pressuring you to go ahead and take clients

45:36

now, and you hold that boundary and say, I'm

45:38

not taking clients yet because I'm still learning, but

45:40

I will tell

45:43

you what I know and we can

45:45

learn together, that

45:49

is like pre-marketing because

45:52

they're seeing the experimentation

45:54

and they're learning the process and

45:56

they're learning about what

45:58

this work is like. And it's

46:01

okay that you maybe come to the end

46:03

of your knowledge at some point, maybe even

46:05

before all their questions are answered, because you've

46:07

already announced that you're a student. And

46:10

if they will continue to work with you and

46:12

you continue to like, have a good relationship

46:14

with them and say like, Hey, you know, I'm learning this other

46:16

cool thing now I wonder if you'd be willing to be a Guinea pig

46:19

for me. They're seeing you grow,

46:22

their confidence in you is building as

46:24

your skillset is building. And

46:27

so when you set it up that way, you're

46:30

actually setting yourself up for success

46:33

because they have seen your skills develop

46:35

over time instead of them

46:38

seeing your skills in their not

46:40

fully developed state and thinking that's all you've

46:42

got. And then thinking that

46:44

your practice isn't really very valuable. So

46:48

, um, both

46:51

from the perspective of let

46:53

things be comfortable for you, don't put

46:55

that pressure on yourself, but also from the perspective

46:58

of building your clinical practice, just

47:01

giving yourself the space to be a

47:03

student while you're a student and not have

47:06

to jump right into practice , um,

47:08

is a luxurious gift

47:11

that you can give yourself that will also

47:13

really help build your practice when

47:15

you are to that point. Okay?

47:17

So also let's think

47:20

about if you already have a practice,

47:22

you are a nutritionist, you are a

47:25

personal trainer, you're a massage therapist, you

47:27

are a talk therapist, you're , you

47:29

know, like whatever. Um, and

47:32

you want to start incorporating herbalism

47:35

into your work educationally,

47:38

it's still basically

47:40

the same just because you are some kind

47:42

of a licensed practitioner already or like

47:44

even you might be a nurse or a pharmacist or a doctor,

47:48

you don't really get to skip any steps. You

47:50

still need the full herbal training

47:52

because if you're gonna incorporate herbalism, you

47:55

can't just, you can't

47:57

just pick like one little thing to plug

47:59

in there. You really need to understand the system.

48:02

It's sort of, it's sort of like how

48:05

absurd the opposite is like, well, I'm

48:07

a clinical herbalist, but I'm just gonna include a

48:09

few little surgical procedures

48:12

like that. That's absurd, right? Like you,

48:14

that just sounds so silly. Um,

48:17

and so it needs it , we need to recognize

48:19

that it's also silly in the other direction. Um,

48:22

so, so you don't try to skip

48:24

any steps, start at the beginning and,

48:27

and learn everything that you

48:29

need to learn so that you are a competent

48:32

clinical herbalist in your own right and

48:35

as well as a competent, skilled like

48:38

talk therapist or whatever else. Like,

48:41

it's kind of like becoming an interpreter

48:45

before you can be an interpreter. You

48:47

have to be fluent in two languages

48:49

at least you could have more. You

48:52

need to know the whole of the language that you're

48:54

translating into and the whole of

48:56

the language that you're translating out of. You

48:59

can't just know a little bit

49:01

about the language that you're

49:03

translating from as long as you

49:05

know a lot about the language that you're translating to , that

49:08

doesn't make any sense, right? You need to know both

49:10

languages fluently so

49:12

that you can mush them together and do your

49:14

work as an interpreter. The

49:16

same thing here as

49:20

a licensed practitioner who

49:22

wants to add clinical herbalism to their practice,

49:24

you need to know both systems, whatever

49:27

your license is, and clinical herbalism

49:30

in their entirety as freestanding

49:33

disciplines so that you can then join

49:35

them together effectively, fluidly

49:38

, um, and be able to

49:40

serve your clients in the best way possible. So

49:43

don't, don't skip any steps, is

49:45

what I'm saying. Um,

49:48

and then the other thing here is that

49:51

to just remember, I, I said this at the top, but

49:53

just to emphasize it, again, if you are a licensed

49:55

practitioner , um, your

49:58

license might come

50:01

with some restrictions. And

50:03

this is gonna depend on the state

50:06

that you are licensed in , um,

50:09

and the type of practitioner you are. Some

50:12

licenses are very, very broad and

50:14

there is no problem whatsoever with integrating

50:17

herbalism at all . Some

50:20

licenses are rather

50:23

strict. And there , there are some

50:25

problems with integrating herbalism with

50:27

that license, which does not mean that you cannot work

50:30

as an herbalist. It just means that you

50:32

may have to keep the two license or

50:34

the two practices separate to

50:36

protect your license. Um,

50:39

and again, that is not

50:41

based on what kind of license you have,

50:44

it is based on the state you live in. So

50:46

if you're an RN in Idaho

50:49

or New Hampshire or Massachusetts or

50:53

wherever your

50:55

laws may be, one thing, if you're an RN in Florida,

50:57

your laws may be another thing. Florida is a state

50:59

that actually has pretty strict laws for , um,

51:02

nurses. Uh, and

51:05

so whatever, like

51:07

it isn't about the license level,

51:10

the license type, it's about the state.

51:13

And so , um, your,

51:16

your board of licensure

51:18

is also in your state and you

51:20

may have , um, as part

51:22

of your board, like a holistic association,

51:25

like Holistic Nurses Association or holistic

51:28

therapist Association, whatever. Um,

51:30

and you may not, but you might. And

51:33

so you can talk to them. Uh,

51:35

you can also ask wherever you're

51:37

getting your training, wherever you're, you are being

51:39

trained , um, both

51:42

as an herbalist and wherever you got your

51:44

training for your license, you can ask them and

51:48

of course, just read the law as

51:50

well and that will help you. But

51:52

that is something that you should be

51:54

taught in your clinical herbalist training at

51:57

least. Um, they

51:59

may not think to teach that to you in

52:01

the training that you got for your license, but

52:03

your herbal training should cover that. All

52:07

right , let's talk about what kind of training you need. We've

52:09

spent all this time just saying training, training. Let's talk

52:11

about what kind of training that you need. Um,

52:14

so you need the

52:17

full spectrum of training in herbalism

52:20

at our school. That is the

52:22

Family herbalist program, the community

52:24

herbalist program, the clinical

52:26

herbalist program, and then clinical mentorship.

52:30

And, you know, when we started our school, we

52:33

named them that way because , um,

52:36

we originally had it with like numbers like

52:39

herbalism one, herbalism two, like

52:42

whatever that , that , that just wasn't very

52:44

awesome. And so we were trying

52:46

to find a set

52:48

of names that showed that it like built that

52:51

everything built on itself. And I'm

52:53

not sure that we really succeeded in that. Um,

52:56

because in , in our school,

52:59

like everything that is in

53:01

community, you need the family knowledge

53:03

to be able to do it. And everything that is in clinical,

53:05

you need the community knowledge to be able to do it. Like

53:08

it all builds on itself. Um

53:10

, and the reason that I'm saying this

53:12

is because there are lots of different herb schools

53:14

out there, and lots

53:16

of herb schools have like a community

53:18

herbalist program or a family herbalist

53:21

program. Um, or lots

53:23

of herb schools might use the words beginner,

53:26

advanced, oh, beginner, intermediate, advanced.

53:30

Um, and even there are some schools that are running

53:32

clinical programs, but it's important to

53:34

recognize that they are not equal, they are

53:36

not the same. Um, they're not teaching

53:39

the same material and they don't provide

53:41

the same level of preparation.

53:44

So don't just go

53:46

on the name, talk to

53:48

the school, talk to them a

53:51

lot. Um, they should be

53:53

very happy to answer your questions in a very straightforward

53:56

way. They should not be hiding information. I

53:58

mean, it's one thing if they don't understand the question and it

54:00

takes 'em a a minute to like get the answer

54:03

right? I'm not, I'm not like , uh,

54:06

being too critical here, but like, if

54:08

you feel like you're getting a runaround, that's

54:10

a red flag before you

54:13

consider a school, you should also check

54:15

their free material so

54:17

that you see if the way that they teach is

54:20

actually good for your learning skills. Um,

54:23

you see if you're actually aligned with

54:25

the priorities of that school and the values

54:27

of that school so that you can see

54:30

if you just like the sound of their voice,

54:32

you know, <laugh> , like whatever. If you're

54:34

gonna be listening or watch listening to material

54:37

as an, as a video , as an

54:39

audio file, or watching it as a video file , um,

54:42

you know, do, do you find the

54:44

voice grading? Like that's a silly thing, but

54:46

like all these things are part of how you

54:48

learn or if it's a, a like

54:51

reading based curriculum. Do

54:54

you , do you find the writing style, you

54:56

know, comfortable to learn from? It

54:58

should not. How like, like a serious program

55:01

should not be a reading

55:03

based program. There are some schools

55:06

that do like a, like here's a giant PDF

55:08

and you can learn all the stuff from the PDF and

55:10

that's fine, but that's not education. That's like

55:12

books. Um, that's supplemental

55:15

you when you really wanna do clinical

55:18

work. You're, you need , um,

55:21

ultimately in the end you need that personal

55:23

attention, that personal mentorship , um,

55:27

in the end to make sure that you really do

55:29

actually have all the knowledge and that it's all integrated.

55:32

Well, the

55:34

other thing to really recognize is

55:36

that schools practice different styles

55:38

of urbanism and they're not necessarily

55:40

, um, interchangeable. So

55:43

you may have started your

55:46

practice in a school that focuses heavily

55:49

on Ayurvedic inspired herbalism

55:52

, um, and then you

55:54

may want to go and do some clinical

55:56

training, but the school that you wanna

55:58

do clinical training at , um, does

56:01

not practice Ayurvedic style

56:03

herbalism. And so that, that won't

56:06

be a compatibility , um, in

56:08

our school , uh, clinic,

56:11

and I think probably most clinics feel this

56:13

, schools who run clinics feel this way. We

56:15

wanna make sure that all of our , um,

56:20

clients are receiving compatible

56:23

recommendations, compatible information

56:25

from all of our student practitioners

56:28

because they bring family members,

56:31

they bring their friends, they, you

56:33

know, like a , a

56:35

person and her sister may

56:37

both sign up for a free clinic session. And

56:40

if they get drastically different advice

56:43

that doesn't inspire confidence in them,

56:45

and also it makes it hard for them

56:47

to , um, like collaborate

56:52

in their lives together. Um,

56:55

or often people will have a session

56:57

with one student and then they will choose

56:59

to have a session with another student. But

57:02

if they get drastically different advice, like

57:04

one of them is coming from a vitalism

57:07

perspective and one of them is coming from an Ayurvedic

57:09

perspective, then it's sort

57:11

of, it's, it can be just really confusing for

57:13

people who don't know very much about herbalism and don't

57:16

understand that there are these different schools of

57:18

practice, these different , um, like philosophies

57:21

of practice. Um, so

57:24

all, what all of that means is that when

57:27

you go to get your clinical training,

57:29

you may find that just because you have

57:31

done your lower level training

57:33

at another school, that doesn't necessarily translate

57:37

into a clinical program in

57:40

the same way. And , um,

57:42

there's no need to be disappointed about that.

57:45

Um, and you don't need to feel like, oh, now

57:48

I have to throw all that out and start over. Actually,

57:51

it's the opposite of that. The

57:54

more that you know, the

57:56

better because every client is

57:58

different and different things will work for every client

58:01

and they're gonna have different experiences

58:04

and you are gonna be trying to speak to

58:07

them and explain things

58:09

to them in a way that is motivating and

58:11

comfortable for them. And so the

58:14

more experiences you can draw on to

58:16

do that kind of knowledge transfer,

58:19

the better actually. So

58:21

if you have come from a school that

58:23

does not have a clinical program and you

58:26

want to transfer to a school that does,

58:28

and you find that you have to like start

58:32

at a level that feels like a step

58:34

back for you, that's

58:37

not actually necessarily a step

58:39

back, it is a step broadening, right?

58:41

It is just broadening all of your

58:43

experience. Um, and

58:45

if you know that ahead of time and

58:47

kind of expect that that is likely

58:50

, um, then instead

58:53

of feeling disappointed that like, oh, this

58:55

is gonna take me longer than I thought. Um,

58:58

instead you can realize like, oh,

59:00

this is gonna take however long it takes and

59:02

when I get to the end of it, I'm actually gonna

59:04

be able to explain things across a multitude

59:07

of systems and that's actually gonna be a

59:09

real benefit for my practice. Um,

59:12

so looking at it that way I find is

59:15

both accurate and also

59:17

less frustrating , um, as well.

59:20

And, and then , uh,

59:22

the other thing that is important

59:25

in terms of training is that , um, running

59:28

a clinical practice is a business.

59:30

And so if you don't have any business

59:33

training, if you've never run your own business before

59:36

or you don't have any , um,

59:39

like skills at that, that's

59:41

fine. There , there's no problem with that. That's not

59:43

like, like they don't teach it in school. It's

59:45

not like you should just magically know how to do that,

59:47

but you should get training for that. Um,

59:50

so a business program will be really

59:52

important and it's best if you

59:54

take a business program that is specifically

59:56

for herbalists. Um, like

59:59

the small businesses administration or

1:00:01

your local chamber of commerce or whatever. They

1:00:04

often run like little

1:00:06

business programs to help people

1:00:08

who are starting businesses, but they're very oriented

1:00:10

towards , um, like retail

1:00:13

or, you know, service or whatever. And,

1:00:16

and the thing is that they don't know the

1:00:18

laws about running an

1:00:20

herbal business. So sometimes their

1:00:24

counsel about how you should market or how

1:00:26

you should this or how you should, that it

1:00:29

is not entirely translatable into

1:00:32

our legal landscape. Um,

1:00:35

and so it is ideal

1:00:37

if you take a business program yeah

1:00:40

, at an herb school that is

1:00:42

a well-developed business program, but also

1:00:44

is operating within the herbal laws

1:00:46

already, or the laws that regulate herbalism

1:00:48

or don't already. All

1:00:51

right ? So that is , uh,

1:00:54

running a clinical herbalism practice

1:00:56

in a nutshell. Um, certainly

1:00:59

there are questions that you have or things that

1:01:01

I left out because they just seem pop into my mind

1:01:03

in the moment. And if that is the

1:01:05

case, just ask, it's totally fine. You

1:01:07

can always email us at [email protected].

1:01:12

We are always happy to answer your questions.

1:01:15

You'll find links in the show

1:01:17

notes. Um , and if

1:01:19

there's anything that we can do to help you and

1:01:21

support you in this journey, then let

1:01:23

us know. Because this world needs

1:01:26

more clinical herbalists. People need

1:01:28

care and they need people who

1:01:30

are trained to provide it . And

1:01:34

the care that we provide as herbalists

1:01:36

is not the same as conventional

1:01:38

medical care. It is unique

1:01:41

and really, really needed in

1:01:43

this world. So , um, if

1:01:46

this kind of work appeals to you, if you already

1:01:48

kind have the the drive

1:01:51

to do it, then yes,

1:01:53

okay, it's gonna take a minute to get all the training you need,

1:01:55

but really jump in because it is such a

1:01:57

necessary thing for our entire society.

1:02:01

Um , we just , we need, we

1:02:03

need more clinical herbalist.

1:02:06

That's it for this episode of the Holistic

1:02:08

Herbalism Podcast. This show

1:02:10

is produced and edited by us, Rin and

1:02:13

Katya . If you like what you hear, check out our

1:02:15

online herbalism school. All of our

1:02:17

courses are taught primarily by video lesson,

1:02:19

so you can watch at your own pace. Each

1:02:21

has an accompanying MP three, so you can

1:02:24

take your learning on the go . There are PDF

1:02:26

files with quick guides and key information.

1:02:29

Every lesson has an integrated discussion

1:02:31

thread where you can ask your questions and get a faculty response

1:02:34

within a day. Uh , courses

1:02:37

come with access to a lively

1:02:39

community space, kind of like social media,

1:02:41

but herbal and therefore better. Plus

1:02:44

access to twice weekly live q and

1:02:46

a sessions. And all of this is yours for

1:02:49

lifetime access. There's no ticking

1:02:51

time limit for you to take in all the material so

1:02:54

you can take your time. Instead, you'll

1:02:56

find everything we [email protected].