Curriculum
Crafting Your Herbal Practice 2025
Crafting Your Herbal Practices is a virtual course.
Classes are streamed live on Tuesday evenings from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. (EST) from January 7 to March 25, 2025.
All classes are recorded and accessible through our Online Classroom, which includes many downloadable handouts and other class resource materials.
Patricia Kyritsi Howell and Kat Maier are the primary teachers.
They are joined by guest teachers Camille Freeman, Mimi Hernandez and Emily Ruff. See teacher bios.
The Crafting Your Herbal Practice 2025 Curriculum is subject to minor content changes.
January 7
Welcome to Crafting Your Herbal Practice with Emily, Kat & Patricia
Creating the Container with Emily: We begin by asking you to define your practice vision as you reflect on why you want to be a practitioner, your goals, and your sense of self-worth. We’ll reflect on our stories as we examine the limited beliefs that may hold us back. Emily shares ideas for strengthening and grounding your sense of self with intention and ceremony to create a safe space for you, your clients and the work you will do together.
January 14
Safety, Ethics and Healthy Boundaries in Your Practice with Emily
Safety creates a container where healing is possible. In this class, Emily introduces practice basics that ensure confidentiality, set healthy boundaries and highlight the importance of being present and bearing witness to your client’s story. She’ll also explain why devoting energy to your personal growth is essential for a successful practice.
January 21
Integrating Social Justice into Your Practice and Finding Your Community with Emily
Your practice serves your community. What does community mean? Who is your community? Who are you in the context of your community? Emily provides prompts and suggestions for answering these questions as an essential step toward creating your practice vision. We’ll also examine how social justice issues like privilege, power, gender, and race play a role in decolonizing herbalism and creating an equitable practice.
January 28
Your Practice and Lens of Assessment with Kat
Kat covers basic practice skills and shares ideas for creating your practice's physical setting, whether at home, in a shared space or in an office. Learn how to set realistic expectations with your clients, establish practice policies for payments, cancelations, etc., establish office hours and more. She’ll also share suggestions for finding your language based on the mode of practice or lens you have been trained to use in your consultations.
The Realities of Time and Money with Patricia
We dive into the financial realities of clinical practice with some straight talk about how much time and money is required to start a practice, onboard a new client, research and create protocols, and stock an apothecary. She’ll present considerations for setting your fee structures, sliding scale options, and the pros and cons of offering consultation packages.
February 4
Intake Forms with Kat
Your intake form organizes and informs many aspects of your herbal practice. Kat explains the role of the intake form in shaping a consultation, shares clinical pearls from her years of practice and provides tips for creating an intake form that works for you.
The Art of the Intake with Patricia
An intake is motivated by your client’s desire for support and hope that you can help them. You bring your ability to listen to their story, discern patterns and establish realistic expectations. Together, you create a therapeutic relationship that benefits both of you. Patricia shares language you can use to guide the intake, acknowledge your client’s struggles, and create a healing place. And we’ll also discuss how to use an intake to prepare for and conduct a follow-up consultation.
February 11
Healthy Boundaries for Herbalists with Patricia
Herbalists serve their communities, which is a blessing and a challenge. In this class, we’ll examine issues that arise in a community-based practice, such as how to maintain confidentiality, the differences between personal and professional relationships, and tips for communicating your practice policies.
There are many reasons to establish a business entity for your herbal practice. In this session, you’ll learn about the benefits and challenges of being a Sole Proprietor and setting up a Limited Liability Corporation or Corporation. Patricia helps you understand the tax considerations for each entity, including liability protections, resale taxes, and allowable tax deductions.
Business and Tax Considerations with Patricia
February 18
Growing and Tending Your Apothecary with Patricia
What herbs do you need in your apothecary? We’ll show you how to determine the herbs you need, how to build your apothecary and creative ways to get herbs for your clients without a huge financial investment. Learn about wholesale accounts and how to price herbs, collect sales tax, and keep accurate apothecary records. And we’ll show you how to use Herbalista’s “Good Herbalist Practices” to document your medicine-making practices.
February 25
Crafting Client Files with Kat
Whether digital or hard copy, client files tell the story of your interactions and track your client’s progress. Kat shares her tips for keeping SOAP notes (Subjective, Objective, Assessment, and Plan) and working with other documents to create a comprehensive record of your practice.
Understanding and Using Bloodwork and Other Lab Reports with Kat
When do we need bloodwork and other laboratory tests to make an accurate assessment of a client? Kat walks you through some of the most common tests and what they reveal and shares tips for interacting with other licensed medical providers.
March 4
An Overview of Online Practice Platforms and Creating a Newsletter to Build Your Practice with Camille Freeman
Online practice platforms provide herbal practitioners with many tools to streamline their practice and keep them organized. Camille gives you an overview of several platforms and how to use them for SOAP notes, booking appointments, sharing resources, filling herb orders, collecting payments, etcC.
Herbalist as Educator and Marketer with Kat and Patricia
Herbalists constantly educate about herbalism through newsletters, social media posts, websites, and one-to-one client interactions. You’ll learn how to hone your “elevator pitch,” write a dynamic bio and create resources to support your practice. We’ll also give tips for writing for the web and explore the joys and challenges of public speaking and teaching.
March 11
Research Resources for Herbalists and Understanding Herb-Drug Interactions
with Mimi Hernandez
Mimi demystifies the world of herbal research studies and shows you how to access and understand reputable research data. She’ll also present detailed information about navigating the challenge of herb-drug interactions by identifying common interactions, known contraindications and resources for tracking updates.
March 25
Practice Visions with Everyone
For our final class, you’ll present your practice vision and share your intentions for continuing to build and grow your practice. Each student will make a short presentation (five minutes) to the class. An evening of inspiration and celebration!
