Two years ago I qualified as a medical herbalist

How the time flies and I'm still learning every day...

Hello to my new subscribers, thank you for showing an interest in my herbal posts. I thought I’d share a milestone in my herb journey so far.

Two years ago last Friday (6th September will always be etched in my memory) I sat my final herbal medicine exams after four long years of full time study.

An awful lot of people think that I simply did a couple of days of training to become a medical herbalist, it doesn’t help when so many ‘courses’ are advertised on social media ‘be a herbalist in a weekend’. Trust me it was a slog! I have the title of a medical herbalist due to the combination of both herbal therapeutics and medical training on the course. Anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, nutrition, herb-drug interactions, botany, biophilia, counselling, herbal medicine making and that’s just naming a few of the core topics! It was over 4000 hours of study, plus over 500 hours of patient-facing consultations, clinical examination training (and exams). dispensing exams and then my final exam taking a patient’s consultation and creating a full treatment plan to include a herbal prescription, food and lifestyle suggestions and then a viva after the exam.

A lovely herbalist who I did some of my training with sat me down about six months before my finals and told me in serious tones that I’d need six months off after my exams to process the experience and to come down after the intensity of the lead up to my finals. That I’d be stuck in fight/flight with the adrenalin of the countdown and at the time I dismissed her suggestions as slightly ridiculous. Little did I know I was about to be diagnosed with Shingles during revision time (a sure sign of being run down!) and that yes, I would be utterly exhausted after my exams. Once I’d been told I’d passed and celebrations ensued I felt so discombobulated as there was suddenly a hug gaping hole where the study and revising had been - what was I supposed to do with all this time? For four years I had literally studied at every available moment, missing social catch ups with friends, not going out at weekends as I also had a full time job I was juggling too.

Way back on 6th October 2004 (another 6th!) I’d set up my own marketing and sales agency, predominantly working with luxury brands and the agency took off - I was lucky to experience a lot of international travel and work with some incredible clients but the stress of the job finally got to me. If you'd said to me aged 20, 30, 40 or even 45 that I'd be a medical herbalist, I probably, no, definitely, would have laughed. Little did I know life was going to change with a stay in hospital and a suspected gallstone at 45 and that it would turn my world upside down in so many ways.

That hospital stay really was life changing - morphine, tramadol, an MRI, CT scan, an ultrasound and the hospital couldn’t find anything wrong with me, even though I was not at all well. The pain in my stomach, just up and under my ribs was excruciating. I couldn’t eat, I was coughing up bile and I felt like I wouldn’t make the weekend. After a week I was discharged and sent back to my GP, promptly put on Omeprazole and referred for a colonoscopy and endoscopy. Again nothing was found apart from very very slight gastritis, the consultant said it wasn’t really worth putting on the report as the gastritis was so minimal. So the 2 stone I’d lost in weight, the excruciating pain, the inability to eat solid food was a complete mystery and that’s when it was suggested by a friend that I visit herbalist. To which I said ‘why would I visit a weirdo herbalist?’

Of course what happened? I say the herbalist and got better. I took a tincture, a powder and a herbal tea - I was totally committed and within two weeks felt so much better, the pain had eased and I felt a bit brighter in myself. I was 100% but I felt better than I had done in months. I kept taking the herbal prescription, went back for my follow up and kept taking the medicine. I was so inspired and it felt like the doors to a whole new world had opened that in time I ended up retraining, first starting with weekend workshops and leading to a professional four year degree-level course.

Little did I know that I actually had quite a strong herbal ancestry, as my Nana Ivy made remedies and her grandmother had a lovely old herbal book which is now in my care. You can read more about Nana Ivy here

I was brought up in the countryside and as a family we always had a deep connection with the land, including the family allotment which has been around for almost 100 years but more on that another day.

(Nana Ivy)

A lot has happened in the last two years since I qualified and I feel so grateful to be doing this work. Physical symptoms often come from emotional root causes and for me it’s important to treat the root cause and each individual as a person, rather than the ‘label’ of the illness of disease. It’s always a privilege to work with people and I know from my own personal experience that it’s a big decision choosing to work with a practitioner and hand yourself and your health over.

This work holding space for patients fills my cup and there have been many moments of realisation and a deep understanding of the path I'm on over the last year. It’s been a steep learning curve - every day I learn something new whether it’s about myself, the actions or energetics of a herb, growing and harvesting herbs, a rare health condition that I need to research or simply about the way I work.

I love my work with plants and people, introducing others to herbal medicine and seeing the difference it makes.

Getting that life work/balance is a work in progress for me. I could feel during August that having not had a proper holiday since before lockdown I was really needing some space to recharge and reset. I’m now in my perimenopause journey and know I need to rest more. Summer is always a busy time harvesting herbs and having just had a week off I'm feeling restored and ready for some exciting months ahead.

Here I am on holiday last week, rested and feeling a real sense of peace.

September is going to be full of lovely connections with my new Junior Herbalist Club classes starting at the end of the month, an autumn equinox Rose workshop and a new offering for fledging herbalists that I’m launching this week.

Thanks for reading this, there’ll be more about my personal herbal journey very soon and in the next few days a post all about a plant ally I work with every week.

Cath