Herbal Medicine

Herbal medicine has developed from the traditional use of plants and plant extracts from many parts of the world, confirmed and updated by scientific understanding and research. However, it maintains a holistic approach to treatment, focusing on illness in the person rather than symptoms of disease. This course provides a practice-oriented education in herbal medicine, which includes both the theoretical and clinical development necessary for working with patients, and the preparation and dispensing of remedies. The course also includes fieldwork, growing and gathering herbs within approved organic sites, and visiting herb collections and conservation habitats. Your development as a scholar practitioner comes together in our innovative Polyclinic where, under the guidance of experienced tutors, your learning from the various aspects of the course is integrated. The course is structured to support your intellectual, professional and practical skills development. Much of this is achieved through the use of themes that run through the modules and across levels. So in addition to the specific knowledge and skills required in herbal medicine the course integrates clinical skills development, health sciences, personal and professional development, and research skills. The course learning environment is practice led, and contact time is used to develop practice skills and to make sense of theory through its application in clinical practice and its emergence from practice. The emphasis in the classroom is to apply materials that you will have been introduced to through recommended reading presented online. The course offers a variety of assessments appropriate to the material assessed and to the situation in which the knowledge, skills and attitudes are eventually to be used.