My Story

My journey into herbalism began as a means to heal myself. I was in severe pain for a couple of years until an MRI was ordered and the doctors diagnosed me with degenerative disks, herniated discs, and sciatica. I had a laminectomy done on the L4 and L5 disks which did alleviate the pain on the sciatic nerve, but the surgery created another pain in my fascia. The pain specialist said I would be in pain for the rest of my life. I refused that diagnosis and went home to find more solutions. I have always loved plants, and I have been an avid gardener for the majority of my life; so therefore, it made sense to look into the medicinal uses of plants.

There weren’t any practicing herbalists near me that I could find, and I couldn’t find a school that was in my area or close by. I ended up finding a school in Utah that had correspondence courses and would let me pay for one class at a time. (This was prior to the numerous online schools that are available today) Since finances were an issue at that time, I chose to start with one class. Every time I could afford another class, I purchased one. I developed my own formulas while I was still attending that school, and those formulas ended up helping me to heal the connective tissue and relax the muscles. I haven’t seen that kind of progress or relief in years! I graduated after two years, but I didn’t feel that the course completed my training, and I began to self-study and look for other resources to learn.

I found some herbal conferences, but the one I wanted to go to was in New England. That is where I found my mentor, Margi Flint RH(AHG) of Earthsong Herbals, and I began taking some of her classes. Other teachers were involved in those classes such as Matthew Wood RH(AHG) and Kay Parent RH(AHG). I realized at that moment that I had a new direction in my studies—Clinical Herbalism. Since I wanted to be a Clinical Herbalist, I knew I needed more training in nutrition and dietary supplements. I chose Portland Community College and took their Nutritional Therapy program taught by K.P. Khalsa. This was a two- year program that I finished in 2016 and became certified in Nutritional Therapy. Along with mentoring with Margi, I chose to attend a roundtable clinical program with both Leslie Williams and Leslie Alexander. I loved learning from both of these women due to the differences in their philosophies and recommendations in herbalism. I felt it was a benefit to learn from multiple Clinical Herbalists and see the different techniques, questions, and recommendations that they each used. I was able to see different approaches in how a client can be helped and develop my own techniques. I trained for ten years taking individual classes, attending herbal conferences, watching webinars, and self-study before I applied to be a Registered Herbalist with the American Herbalists Guild where I was accepted in 2018. I opened Ancestral Herbology, LLC in 2017.