If you want to register your intent to pursue this certificate program you can do so here.
The Pennsylvania School for Herbalism offers a 25 hour Foundations of Holistic herbalism certificate course as well as a 50-hour Holistic Herbalism Certificate. In the future, we will offer more advanced certificates as well. Our Holistic Herbalism Certificate is designed to provide a thorough introduction to the major areas of herbalism and allow students to gain confidence in their growing herbalism practice. We teach holistic herbalism which emphasizes the mind-body-spirit connections of health and healing. Our certificate also teaches methods of honoring and working with your beautiful, local landscape including sustainable harvesting, wild tending, and reverent growing practices. We emphasize locally-based herbalism that focuses on the plants, trees, and mushrooms that grow in the wild or can be grown in gardens in Pennsylvania and northeastern North America more broadly. Individuals who are interested in the certificate program can contact us for more information and to discuss their specific interests.
The Holistic Herbalism Certificate is designed to be completed on a flexible timeline. Students may begin with any classes but all should plan on taking our Foundations of Holistic Herbalism sequence of courses at some point during their studies, which offers a thorough introduction to the five areas that we teach. Opportunities for one-on-one mentoring and apprenticeship are also available on a limited basis. Our certificate program is flexible and allows you to take classes with us in areas that you are interested in while also allowing you to receive a foundation in holistic herbalism.
The certificate requires that each person have instruction in five areas. Each area has a minimum number of hours. The certificate is completed once you’ve completed 50 instructional hours with the Pennsylvania School for Herbalism.
Energetics and Body Systems (5-15 hours). The first foundation of herbalism is understanding the human body as a system and providing a systematic way for making observations about the human body. Students learn the traditional Western herbalism system of energetics which includes a person’s broader constitution and the the energetic qualities of a condition or imbalance.
Materia Medica and Herbal Actions (10-15 hours). Materia Medica refers to the study of specific plants and their healing and interaction with the human body, mind, and spirit. Students learn a wide range of plants and their healing properties, including the ways that plants act upon the body.
Medicine Making (10-15 hours). Holistic Herbalism includes a wide range of preparations of plants, including making salves, tisanes, tinctures, infusions, decoctions, floral waters, essential oils, infused oils, herbal steams, compresses, and many others. Students learn a wide range of plant preparations and how to choose appropriate preparations for their needs.
Stewardship and Identification (10-15 hours). As our Holistic Herbalism Certificate includes a specific emphasis on plants local to Pennsylvania and building reciprocal plant walks, our certificate includes multiple opportunities to get out in our local ecosystem and learn about plant identification, sustainable harvesting, wildcrafting, rewilding and spreading seeds, and planting and growing herbs.
Formulation & Clinical approaches (5-10 hours). A final area our Holistic Herbalism Certificate covers is how to holistically evaluate a person and their needs and create specific herbal blends of herbs for healing and well-being.
