Herbal Education in the 21st Century
Every year, I order recordings of lectures by clinical herbalists delivered at the various herbal conventions. Recently, I had the great joy of re-listening to one of these by Rosemary Gladstar, one of the herbal forerunners of our modern Herbal Renaissance (as many of us call that span of time from the 1980s to the early 2000s when herbal healing grew in popularity). Her lively lecture was entitled “Voices of Our Herbal Elders.” It was quite a thrill for me to listen once again to Rosemary relate her stories about personal heroes of mine such as Dr. John Raymond Christopher, Norma Myers, Juliette de Bairacli Levy, and many other herbal elders who dynamically shared their love of plant healing during what has aptly been named The Herbal Dark Ages, that period of time from the 1930s to the 1970s when herbalists were ridiculed and persecuted because their noble profession—the oldest and most widespread form of healing on our planet—was out of favor with society’s bastions. (Dr. Christopher was even jailed on five different occasions for “practicing medicine without a license.”)
Such antipathy was greatly disseminated in the media as well. I’m sure that some of my readers may remember the Cherry Ames children’s books—those junior novels starring that cute, dark-haired nurse Cherry Ames, who undoubtedly inspired many young girls to take up a nursing career. When I owned a used-book store, these were popular items with gals in their 30s and 40s. But, in stocking these titles one day, I noted with interest that one of them dealt with herbalism. It revolved around how Ames, as a die-hard devotee of the medical establishment, sought to dissuade some “foolish” country folk from using American ginseng as a healing aid, urging them instead to put their trust, as she did, in ‘the wisdom of modern medicine.’ (Of course, modern science has since come to substantiate powerful therapeutic activity in this much beloved herb.) In a similar vein, I also remember an episode of the 1960s TV series The Fugitive, in which Dr. Richard Kimble, the physician hunted by the law for allegedly killing his wife, encountered an old naturopath who was using elderberry to try to heal people, including a woman with an ailing heart. The thrust of this episode was that the elderberry was worthless and that those individuals whom the naturopath was seeking to aid should have been strictly in the hands of orthodox medical doctors. (Modern science has since established that elderberry contains heart-healthy anthocyanin flavonoids as well as powerful immunosupportive chemicals.)
All throughout this time, courageous souls such as those chronicled by Ms. Gladstar were struggling to keep herbalism alive. Their teaching methods, it is true, were often quite simple and assuredly un-high-tech. (One of my own teachers is fond of relating how he used to sit with Dr. Christopher on his living-room floor and draw pictures of eyes on paper pie plates to illustrate points about iridology.) But, while simple, O how effective their loving, soulful methods were, for they inspired an army of present-day clinical herbalists that has at least somewhat succeeded in awakening the present generation to the wonders of an ancient and most effective healing art.
Unfortunately, with such an abundance of information about herbs available today, a lot of misinformation has also crept in. This has come about mainly owing to journalists who think they can expound upon herbs based upon a single study or report. Or it has arisen because columns or articles by M.D.s have chosen to extrapolate upon herbal healing based upon the same limited information. Then, too, some pharmacists are attending weekend workshops—or other short courses at colleges—about herbs today, often with the same sort of limited understanding that invariably ensues when one does not personally use herbs to help people to heal. How true the old adage: “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing!”
All of this begs the question: Where can one get a good herbal education today? Herbal schools in North America, numbering a mere handful as little as 25 years ago, now abound (with over 60 in the U.S. alone!). But how can one tell which one is best for him/her? One good source of information is the American Herbalist Guild’s compilation and description of schools, available online at www.americanherbalistsguild.com. Some of these modern schools offer specialized diplomas or certificates based upon two or three years of study. A few colleges and universities are now even offering Bachelor’s or Master’s degrees in herbal studies, but these are typically residence-based programs. For those persons who are locked into their local residence for whatever reason, such programs are not possible. (Moreover, some of these schools even have immoral COVID vaccine mandates in place.) There are, of course, schools that provide distance-education courses in herbalism. Yet, while many of these may have an excellent curriculum, their students often lack a forum for hands-on instruction and student interaction that can be so enriching.
As a fervent herbal educator, I considered the even greater patchwork educational situation that existed here in the U.S. over two decades ago and asked myself: “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if a forum for herbal education could come into existence that would combine the written word with in-person workshops offering personal instruction and all wrapped around the framework of an integrated herbalism that encompassed a variety of herbal systems (American, European, Chinese, east-Indian, Arabic, etc.)? Wouldn’t it be another plus if such a program was economical (no more than $2,000) and largely self-pacing—not to mention a heck of a lot of fun?”
It was with these goals in mind that, in the late 1990s, I conceived and developed the groundwork for the Midwest School of Herbal Studies (MWSHS)(www.midwestherbalstudies.com) that was eventually birthed in 2003 , a school headquartered in the Midwest but serving students throughout the U.S. and Canada. Since our school’s inception, we have offered a Master-Herbalist program consisting of dozens of lessons based upon 2 textbooks and 5 huge, spiral-bound workbooks and have required students to participate in 60 hours of in-person workshops to observe and to practice holistic assessment skills, to make herbal remedies, and to identify healing plants in the wild.
Unlike many schools that offer their curriculum in the form of electronic files and/or videos, we offer our coursework by way of the time-honored method of printed materials. Why? Because two different studies have demonstrated the superior benefits of reading from the printed word as opposed to reading from a screen. The first of these was a 2014 trial of 50 graduate students that revealed that reading a physical book fostered better retention than reading an e-book. One of the chief trial researchers, Anne Mangen, PhD from Norway’s Stavanger University, found that the physical act of turning a page and of sensing the pile of pages to one’s right and one’s left somehow cemented the book’s information into a reader’s brain. (See https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/aug/19/readers-absorb-less-kindles-paper-study-plot-ereader-digitisation.) The second study was out of the Department of Physiology at Showa University School of Medicine in Tokyo, Japan and published in the journal Scientific Reports. The authors summarized their study as follows: “We found that, compared to reading on a paper medium, reading on a smartphone elicits fewer sighs, promoted brain overactivity in the prefrontal cortex, and results in reduced comprehension.” See https://www.rarebookhub.com/articles/3239/print?page_id=5312 )
For a certainty, these aspects of comprehension and retention and are why we, at the Midwest School of Herbal Studies, continue to offer our coursework in printed form. Indeed, we want out students to master herbalism (even as the word “master” in the “master-herbalist” diploma we offer indicates). No doubt, this is one reason why MWSHS graduates show themselves to be head-and-shoulders above the graduates of those schools offering digital coursework. This is especially so in the way of retention—for example, in knowing the specific indications for particular herbs, the Latin names of herbs, and the contraindications for herbs. This is one of many reasons why we are so very proud of our talented and hard-working graduates.
Now in our 20th year of existence, one of my coordinators here at our School recently interviewed me for an upcoming Student Newsletter that I would like to share with you, my Substack readers, as I think you will find it of interest.
Birth of a Very Unique Herb School
Q. What Prompted You to Start an Herbalism School, Director Alfs, and How Did It Come About?
A. In the late 1990s, there were very, very few herbal educational schools in the United States, although some older ones had been running in Canada. The schools that were in existence in the USA at this time were primarily regional-oriented schools situated in small buildings on herb farms that were usually limited to offering classes on herb identification, herb gardening, and medicine making and not focused on providing a clinical-level education. Seeing this sorry state of clinical herbal education, I resolved to change it: I envisioned a distance-education School, with periodic "hands-on" workshops, in which the serious herbal student could achieve a world-class education in clinical herbalism. With that in mind, I began to write a curriculum revolving around what I was envisioning: The first volume, published in 2001, consisted of a field guide, historical monographs, and published scientific studies on the clinical uses of 100 wild plants in the Midwest. (This went out of print in 2008 in anticipation of an extensive revision and expansion that was eventually published in 2013 as Edible & Medicinal Wild Plants of the Midwest and then revised and updated again in 2020). The next volume, 300 Herbs: Their Indications & Contraindications, was published in 2003. This consisted of both a materia medica and a repertory of 300 different herbs from the Western, Chinese, and Ayurvedic traditions. It remains the chief textbook for MWSHS students to this day and is also an assigned text at several other herbal-educational schools throughout the U.S. Finally, and also in 2003, a Master-Herbalist Diploma program of over 1,200 pages was completed and published! This program focused on the clinical uses of herbs per body system, but also provided an education in the development of Western and Asian herbal systems, botany, nutrition, holistic-assessment skills, herb-drug interactions, and the "ins" and "outs" of analyzing a case and developing healing strategies for such. Once we found a site for our office and clarified our exempt status with our State, we began distributing our educational materials to eager students at that time, preparing and guiding these students to become world-class herbalists—to our great satisfaction and delight!
Establishment of the MWSHS Clinic
Q: What Occurred in 2004 that Enabled the School's Educational Program to Find a Real-life Outplay?
A: That was the year in which we established the MWSHS clinic (the Midwest Herbs & Healing center), an integrative, natural-therapies center that we attached to the School offices. Since that time, this center grew to serve the public with, not only my own services as a clinical herbalist, but also the services of a naturopath, an acupuncturist, a homeopath, a massage therapist, a shiatsu therapist, an aromatherapist, and a holistic psychologist. Since the founding of the Midwest Herbs & Healing center, those of us who work in the clinic have witnessed an amazing confirmation of the healing properties of herbs as outlined in the School program: Indeed, many thousands of sufferers of a variety of different maladies have embarked on a journey of genuine healing by means of the skillful application of herbs and other natural therapies by our seasoned clinicians.
Vital Role of the MWSHS Coordinators
Q. What Role Have the MWSHS Coordinators Played in the Success of the School and of its Students?
A: They have played a vital, irreplaceable role! MWSHS coordinators grade student lessons, prepare the students' grade documents, assemble programs for mailing to new or progressing students, contribute to the MWSHS Student Newsletter, answer phone calls and emails from students and from inquirers of our programs, market our programs via phone calls to inquirers, coordinate our workshops, manage student files, and perform countless other functions.
Our original student coordinator, Deborah L., worked with me from 2000-2002 as a clinic assistant in an integrative, natural-therapies clinic owned by a university in which I was practicing (this was in Woodbury, MN), during which time we became fast friends. In 2003, she was kind enough to accept a position as a part-time coordinator with the School despite working full-time at another job. Deb and I still have fond memories of doing a skit at the School's very first workshop for the students demonstrating the proper and improper ways of developing a rapport with clients who seek one's services as an herbal counselor. Some of the lines in that skit were so humorous that we almost broke down laughing while we were doing it!
Succeeding Deborah in that position (as she moved on to greater responsibilities in her full-time employment) was Sara R., who had also worked with me at the natural-therapies clinic in Woodbury. Sara came on as student coordinator in 2004 and served ably in that position until the last part of 2005, when she moved on to focus on finishing her schooling to become a dietitian, in which capacity she now serves in the community. We introduced the students to Sara in the Summer, 2004 issue of our MWSHS Student Newsletter, in which I wrote: "Those of you who attended the June herb walk got the opportunity to meet Sara: Clever, hardworking, good-humored, and soft-spoken, she has already demonstrated herself to be a tremendous asset to MWSHS, and we are very happy to have her on our team. Thanks, Sara, for the 'go-getter' spirit you bring to MWSHS!"
Succeeding Sara was Laurie S., who served most capably as Senior Student Coordinator from late 2005 onward. Laurie also served as office manager for our clinic until 2012 and was responsible for much of the clinic's growth and success. Our debt to Laurie is tremendous, indeed.
Kara C. came on as Assistant Student Coordinator in January of 2007, as the School was growing in leaps and bounds and additional help was needed to effectively serve our students. Kara did a lot for the School in our outreach to inquirers, as well as in grading student lessons, preparing many of the course completion documents for the students, and maintaining student records. Smart, capable, and possessed of a very pleasant personality, Kara was a wonderful addition to the team here at MWSHS. Sadly for us, she had to leave the School in 2012 to raise her newborn daughter.
Joining MWSHS as assistant student coordinators over the next couple of years were Deborah G. (in 2008) and, eventually, Annika C. (in 2011)—both of whom worked diligently as assistant coordinators for the School, as well as served as clinic assistants in our natural-therapies clinic. While Deborah had to leave the School to raise newborn twins and to finish her schooling, Annika remained with us into the 2020s. Her pleasant personality and resourcefulness have been a blessing to both our staff here and to our many students. In truth, the School would not have been able to function as well as it has without our dedicated, hard-working coordinators! Thank you so very much, ladies!
Western-Herbalism Certificate Program Added in 2007
Q. How Did the School's Educational Efforts Diversify in 2007?
A. By 2007, we had been deluged with requests on the part of health-care professionals for a shorter version of the program that emphasized simply the herbs used in the USA and Canada and excluded lesser-known herbs from other countries. Realizing that this was a reasonable request, we spun off the Western-Herbalism module of the Master-Herbalist Diploma program into a separate "Western-Herbalism Certificate Program" later in that year, which we designed to be able to be completed in about a year. This was gratefully received by healthcare professionals as well as by many other busy persons who wished to focus strictly on Western herbs. Since this shorter program's inception, a goodly number of medical doctors, pharmacists, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, and massage therapists have studied herbal therapy by means of it, finding that they have benefited greatly by what they have learned. I want to shout out here a special "thank you" to all such healthcare professionals for making this program such a huge success.
Later in that same year, we re-arranged the Master-Herbalist Diploma program so that students would proceed to study the various streams of herbalism separately and successively instead of all at one time as had been done in the program. This adjustment allowed for greater focus and fewer distractions and was warmly received by our student body.
Thriving in a Tight Economy
Q. What Do You Think Has Enabled the School to Grow and to Thrive in This Tight Economy While So Many Other Natural-Healing Schools Have Bit the Dust?
A. While the Great Recession and its aftermath have been responsible for the demise of a number of natural healing schools (e.g., Clayton College of Natural Health and the Global College of Natural Medicine), the Midwest School of Herbal Studies has registered a greater amount of students each and every year that we have been in existence! I believe that our integrity and our transparency have been major factors in our success as a School: For example, we've stated on our website from Day One that the reward that we offer is a master-herbalist's diploma (similar to a master-gardener's or master-chef's diploma) and not a master's-level degree, clarifying the difference in detail. Contrast this to some other natural-healing schools who claim to offer accredited master's-level "degrees" when in reality their "accreditation" lacks government recognition and comes only from "accreditation" mills that have been set up simply to offer such an empty backing to schools such as these! While we could have gone the latter route, we made the firm decision not to do so right from the beginning, feeling that it would have been deceptive and disingenuous. The schools to which I've just referred are typically not listed on the educational resources page of the American Herbalists Guild (AHG) (www.americanherbalistsguild.com)—the first and major association of practicing herbalists in the USA—and understandably so. However, we have been listed on the AHG's educational page since our inception and have been for quite some time a member school of this prestigious organization.
I think that the quality of our course materials has also played a major role in our success as a School. All of these materials are original to our School, as mentioned in the first part of this interview, rather than being a mishmash of herbal books from a variety of authors that lack any real cohesion but which has composed he curriculum of so many other natural-healing schools. Students of ours who have taken coursework from other schools have consistently informed us that our section on holistic assessment skills is the most extensive and most well presented that they have ever seen. Unlike many other schools, too, we offer extensive material on nutrition, herbal formulation, the "ins" and "outs" of using herbs when pharmaceuticals are being utilized (a 100-page section!), and provide a good number of actual case histories from our clinic evincing the healing potential of herbs.
Recent Developments and Objectives for the Future
Q. What Objectives Do You Have in Mind for the School's Future?
One goal we have is to provide a greater number of short workshops in the place of the less-frequent and longer workshops that we have held in the past. Workshops need to be shorter, we have found, because people are more and more committed to work and to other responsibilities than ever before and cannot afford to spend a whole weekend—or even a whole day—at a workshop, as they used to be able to do before the Great Recession. Yet, we have also discovered, our workshops need to be more frequent in order to keep our fine students in regular touch with the School and with their fellow students and to enable them to practice more consistently the skills they are learning from the course materials. To supplement the workshops and to increase communication with our students, we have also begun doing Topic Sessions by Zoom on a bi-monthly basis. (We did one recently on Long-COVID Syndrome and we have one coming up on Migraines.) Finally, in our emphasis on increased contact with our students, we have been sending “interim” newsletters their way on a monthly basis to supplement our three-times-yearly regular newsletters of 8 to 12 pages and have been happy to learn of the positive reception there from.
On a personal level I'm hoping that the next twenty years will prove to be even more enjoyable for me than the previous twenty years have been!
MWSHS Coordinator: Thank you, Director Alfs, for Your Insights on the Birth and Growth of the Midwest School of Herbal Studies. This Has Been Really Interesting!
MWSHS Director: It's been my great pleasure.