Advanced Clinical Practicum – Putting Theory into Practice
July 31 - August 2
Making the leap from herbal studies to clinical practice can be both challenging and rewarding. In this three-day intensive, you’ll acquire the necessary tools to navigate this transition while exploring complex herbal medicine concepts such as integrating western medical physiology and holistic/energetic assessment, advanced materia medica, and exploring the myriad ways that herbs bring about healing. Gain valuable insights into patient care and herbal prescribing from two of North America’s most experienced herbal clinicians and educators and prepare yourself for an enriching career as a clinical herbalist.
Who is this course for?
This is a clinical training in holistic thinking. It will be useful to people studying or practicing herbal medicine, naturopathy, nutrition, nursing or pharmacy.
Certificate of attendance provided upon completion (22 hours)
Dates and Times:
July 31st – Aug. 2nd
Fees: $375 plus GST
Includes a $75.00 non-refundable deposit
RECEIVE A 10% EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT IF YOU REGISTER BY MAY 30TH
To Register
- Fill out your registration form here
- Purchase tickets here (Your spot will be reserved once both of these steps are completed)
- (optional) If you would like to camp on the property, please select this option on your registration form. You will need to purchase camping here for the number of nights you wish to camp for.
Successful registrants for this course will receive a discount code for $65 off the August 3rd and 4th weekend workshop: Energetic Herbalism: Reading the pattern language of our landscapes and ourselves.
Course objectives
After completion of this program the participant will
- 1) Understand the foundation role personal and professional values play in creating a meaningful and sustainable practice
- 2) Gain a better idea of how to work with various forms and templates as tools for organization and how to set up effective apothecary and office procedures
- 3) Gain a greater understanding of patient care, clinical assessment, and therapeutic planning through the review and discussion of actual case studies.
DRAFT TIMETABLE (subject to change)
Day one: Clinical assessments with an energetic lens
Morning : 9 am – 12.30 pm
- Pattern Language of the World – Heart of Energetic Herbalism
- Our role as herbalists and healers. What patterns do we reinforce/support
- How do we become the pattern that brings healing/change/nature
- Setting the intention for the weekend – Clinical applications with an energetic template
- Gift of working Constitutionally – Prakruti or Dosha/Temperment
- Ayurvedic Doshas – Our Elemental Selves
- Self-evaluation and review of qualities and tendencies
- Clinical applications
- Herbal considerations
Lunch 12:30 – 2 pm
Afternoon 2 – 5 pm
- Vitalism – Intro to Tissue states
- Herb Walk to meet the Temperaments
Day two: Energetics of creating the container for a professional intake
Morning : 9 am – 12.30 pm
- Values driven business
- Discussion of values as a key criteria of business success
- How do we create the business and attract the clientele that reflects our values
- What is the vision and mission
Choosing our Focus
- Time management and resource management
- Choosing a clinical specialty
- Learning to say “no”
Centering and Remembering
- What can we do to sustain our own relationship to the plants ?
- Self care and personal kindness
Creating the Container
- Who is your clientele? Special needs?
- Appointment duration and frequency
- Bringing nature into the consulting room
- Creating a healing environment for emotional and physical safety
- Maintaining confidentiality – the sacred trust
Forms and documentation
- Intake forms
- SOAP notes and privacy issues
- Client Instruction forms
- Apothecary QC, inventory and production tracking
12.30 pm – 2 pm Lunch
2 pm – 5 pm
Intake, case review and sharing
Demo intake and case workup, group discussion
Day three Case study Presentations
- Students carry out an interview and assessment on each other
- Presenting cases and discussion of assessments and recommendations
- Treatment planning and clinical formulating
- Principles and practice of prescribing
- Dosing guidelines and safety in herbal formulas
- Closing circle and reflections
Food & Accommodation
Registration fees include use of the herbal tea bar and a vegetarian lunch each day.
Camping is available on site for a fee $35 per person per night including breakfast.
Campers are required to supply their own tent, mattress and bedding. There are toilets and a hot shower on site. There are very limited cooking facilities for campers and evening meals are not provided. The property is close to Cumberland (10 minutes) or Courtenay (15 minutes) for various stores and restaurants.
No camp stoves or fires allowed (extreme fire hazard). For non-campers there are numerous AirBnB or VRBO properties within a few minutes of the gardens. Look for Royston, Cumberland or south Courtenay as a location guide.
Meet your Instructors
Chanchal Cabrera MSc, FNIMH, RH(AHG), RHT
Chanchal is a medical herbalist with 35 years of clinical practice. She has a Masters of Science degree in Herbal Medicine and runs a private herbal medicine clinic with a specialty in holistic oncology. She is the author of Holistic Cancer Care (Storey Books). Chanchal teaches herbal medicine worldwide, including being a senior member of faculty at Heartwood (UK), a sessional lecturer at Wild Rose College and at Pacific Rim College, and adjunct faculty at Boucher Naturopathic College. Chanchal is also a certified ShinrinYoku (forest bathing) practitioner, a certified Master Gardener and a certified Horticulture Therapist.
Kat Maier RH (AHG)
Kat Maier RH, (AHG) is the founder and director of Sacred Plant Traditions, a center for herbal studies in Charlottesville, Virginia. One of her greatest accomplishments has been to train many clinical herbalists who have gone onto to begin other schools, apothecaries or open their own practices. In clinical practice for over 30 years, Kat teaches internationally at universities, conferences, and herbal schools. She is a founding member of Botanica Mobile Clinic, a nonprofit dedicated to providing accessible herbal medicine to local communities. The Botanica clinic arose out of her school’s free clinic which was one of the first on the East Coast and served as a template for other herbalism schools. She began her study of plants as a Peace Corps volunteer, and her training as a Physician’s Assistant allows her to weave the language of biomedicine into her practice of traditional energetic herbalism. She is coauthor of Bush Medicine of San Salvador Island, Bahamas. As a passionate steward of the plants, Kat also served as president of United Plant Savers and was the recipient of the organization’s first Medicinal Plant Conservation Award.