Rooted in a lifetime of intimate relationship with plants, I’ve spent 30 years as an herbalist, 20 of which have focused on clinical work, teaching clinical herbalists, and studying mental health, trauma, and politicized relational somatics.

I believe that illness is not a personal failing, but a collective responsibility. My work is ultimately about building networks of reciprocal relationships among humans and our more-than-human kin.

I’ve loved plants since my earliest memory and feel called by them to bring their gifts to as many people as possible. I was raised by folk herbalists who called themselves other things—mostly Storyteller, Carpenter and Cook. These other identities further shaped the way I relate to plants and the earth, understanding them as both keepers of our stories and homes that offer shelter, sustenance and belonging.

I believe the earth and plants are sentient and wise in ways we lack the capacity to comprehend, or at least to describe. I know that there is a great deal that cannot be known by my small human mind and plenty that has been forgotten under the spells of separation and human supremacy. Nonetheless, I strive to share some of the gratitude and beauty that I find in relationship with plants and this earth.

Ultimately, my work is guided by the belief that the heart of healing lies in remembering that we belong to each other and to the land.

Current Work and Inspiration

I am a clinical herbalist, educator, somatic coach, gardener, writer, and photographer deeply inspired by a life-long love affair with plants. Since 1994, I’ve studied traditional views of health and nature in tandem with scientific understandings of plants and people, exploring our innate capacities of resilience and the profound impact of synchronizing our lives with the rhythms of the natural world.

I am currently executive director and faculty at Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism (VCIH). In addition to working with clients in our sliding-scale community clinic, my passion is sharing my craft through education. As a co-founder of VCIH, I developed the comprehensive 1300+ hour curriculum together with Guido Masé and Betzy Bancroft in 2007 and continue to think about and experiment with new methods to inspire the combination of rigorous critical inquiry and joyful exploration that herbalism calls for.

My teaching interests lie where herbalism intersects with radical ecopsychology, relational somatics, trauma studies, and collective liberation. I’m passionate about offering accessible and inclusive care, bridging traditional medical systems with biomedical sciences, and strategizing what it might look like to restore nature to culture through herbal medicine.

Currently, I teach year-long courses in Practitioner Skills, Applied Energetics, Justice in Herbalism, and Relational Culture and supervise interns in our student clinic. Teaching affords me the privilege and opportunity to learn with an ever-changing community of humans whose wisdom and perspectives humble me and continually shape my work.

My teaching and perspective are also rooted in my experiences as a white, able-bodied, queer, cisgender woman from a class-straddling background (i.e. a rural and working class upbringing coupled with higher education). I honor my ancestors and carry some of their rich spiritual and medicine traditions, hailing from England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Germany, France, Russia, Poland and Lithuania. My work with trauma also necessarily acknowledges and seeks to address my inheritance of intergenerational harm, both borne by and caused by my people. It’s complex and messy work and I make mistakes and stay committed.

I also love supporting new and experienced clinicians in developing and deepening their skills, finding more ease and joy in their work, and showing up more effectively and purpose-fully in their practice. I work with students and practicing clinicians alike through clinical mentorship and ecosomatic coaching, which weaves politicized somatics with radical ecopsychology in a relational coaching framework.

Past Work

For many years, I appeared as guest faculty in programs offered by various long-term herbal training schools, including The School of Traditional Western Herbalism, in Portland, Oregon, and Farmacy Herbs, in Providence, Rhode Island. I also lectured in the graduate nursing programs at the University of Vermont and taught nationally at conferences, including the International Herb Symposium, New England Women’s Herbal Conference, Traditions in Western Herbalism/Good Medicine, RadHerb, Herbstalk, the American Herbalists Guild Symposium, and Integrative Medicine for the Underserved. Since 2020, I have not returned to the conference and teaching “circuit”, but hope to travel to teach again in the future when it is safer and more accessible to do so.

For seven years, I served as core faculty in the Health Arts and Sciences program at Goddard College, where I worked with undergraduate and graduate students passionate about various herbal traditions, nutrition, agriculture, social and environmental justice, deep ecology and radical public health.

I served as the Education Coordinator for PlantMedicine, an international non-profit dedicated to disseminating evidence-based and traditionally-supported herbal information to the healthcare community. With PlantMedicine, I collated and analyzed research data to develop herbal monographs and co-authored (with Simon Mills & Jillian Borchard) a graduate-level learning module on herbal safety and herb-drug interactions.

I’ve written articles for various publications and was previously a regular columnist for UnifiedHealth, a practitioner’s journal devoted to renewing consciousness in medicine, published by Innate Response. Many of these articles can be found in the Writing section of this site.

Education

My education includes a Master of Science in Clinical Herbal Medicine from the Maryland University of Integrative Health (formerly Tai Sophia Institute for the Healing Arts) and a Bachelor of Arts in Sustainable Health from Goddard College. I hold certificates in Zen Shiatsu and Swedish/Esalen Massage from the Heartwood Institute and in using Teishin (acupressure) for pain and stress from the Teishin Institute. I’m also trained in the 5-point protocol for stress, trauma and addiction developed by National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA).

I have studied mind-body skills at the Center for Mind-Body Medicine in Washington, DC and am trained as an integrative mind-body (somatic) coach through the Embody Lab, with core teachers Staci Haines, Rae Johnson, Manuela Mischke Reeds, Kai Cheng Thom, and Scott Lyons. I completed the 3-year Somatic Experiencing practitioner training program, based on the trauma healing work of Peter Levine, and completed relational culture training and continue to work collaboratively with Cedar Landsman and Lucien Demaris of Relational Uprising. Finally, I have completed an Advanced Training Certificate in Ecopsychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute, with Andy Fisher, Linda Buzzell, Jeanine Kanty and Garrett Barnwell.

My herbal mentors–those with whom I’ve spent intensive time studying or working–include Deb Soule, with whom I lived and worked for a year in her biodynamic gardens at Avena Botanicals; Paul Pitchford, from whom I first learned shiatsu and Chinese medical theory; Dianne Connelly and Bob Duggan, founders of Tai Sophia who deepened my passion for Chinese medicine; Matthew Wood, whose 14-month course in Western Herbal Diagnosis taught me the art of simpling; and James Snow, Kevin Spelman and Simon Mills, the founding faculty of the graduate program at Tai Sophia, who modeled what stellar collaborative teaching and integrative herbal practice can be. I am so grateful to each of these individuals and hope my work does justice to their efforts and care on my behalf.

As is true for most herbalists, however, my most profound learning has occurred through partnership with clients, students, colleagues, and the plants themselves. Through the continuation of such learning exchanges, I envision the eventual reawakening and dissemination of traditional healing knowledge in each home in every community.

Final Words

Here’s a sweet interview I did with Juliette Blankespoor for her Herbal Livelihoods series at Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine in 2014. In it, you can hear about the different herbal work I’ve done, my personal history and some of my philosophy around becoming an herbalist. Enjoy!