Advanced Holistic Herbalist Training Program

Advanced Holistic Herbalist Certificate Program Overview

The Advanced Holistic Herbalist Program at Vital Ways provides students all the training, skills, and experience necessary to be able to help themselves and others heal, using an an integration of Herbalism, Nutrition and Mind-Body Medicine. Advanced Students learn how to work with complex presentations effectively, to address even multi-system level chronic conditions. The method learned can be applied in practice or for personal and family focused healing.

Successful graduates of the Advanced Holistic Herbalist Training Program are eligible to attend the 3rd year Holistic Herbalist Clinic Practicum at Vital Ways Free Clinic.

About the School:

Vital Ways Institute is a leader in Holistic Herbalism Education. Our progressive 1-4 year Holistic Herbalism Certificate Training School and Education Center. We are honored to have trained more than 700 people over the past 10 years on how to effectively use traditional herbalism, nutrition and progressive holistic health for a one of kind healing approach.

Our highly experienced and passionate faculty are some of the most sought after educators in the country. Our programs have flexible schedules to fit modern people’s busy lives, and are priced to fit most budgets with several payment options available.

Vital Ways Institute is much more than just a School, Store and Free Clinic, its a healing community of like-minded students, faculty, staff, and alumni who all share a love of healing, and learning trustworthy and effective holistic herbalism to help ourselves, our loved ones and the community heal. If you feel the call, then invite you to join our community on this amazing journey.

Specific Topics of study:

Medicinal Plants: Traditional and time honored European, Asian and Native American herbal medicine combined with cutting edge modern scientific and state of the art clinical understanding of medicinal plants.
Holistic Approaches to Chronic Conditions: Herbal and Nutritional protocols for the most commonly seen conditions.
Clinical Nutrition: Advanced applied Food as Medicine for the modern practitioner; nutrition for specific conditions, individual requirements, and advanced health optimization.
Clinical Practitioner Skills: Complete practice skills, techniques and process from first contact to follow-up.
Mind-Body Medicine: Techniques and strategies for deep and lasting mental-emotional healing, to balance mind, body and spirit.
Holistic evaluation skills: Tongue, pulse, reading the body, interview technique and understanding labs for the holistic clinical herbalist.
Business Skills: Developing an herbal business, branding, attracting, and retaining clients, and business collaboration.

Vital Ways is a Proud Member School
of the American Herbalist Guild

The only professional organization of Herbalists in the United States. All of our students can become student members of the Guild and all of our coursework counts towards the requirements for professional membership which confers upon its members the ability to use AHG after their names.

“My time at Vital Ways deepened my understanding of holistic health and nutrition,gave me a sense of connection and fostered deep personal growth.”

Laurie, Herbalist

2020 SCHEDULE

1 weekend per month for 9 months

SPECIAL COVID -19 Update: Our Classes Are Always Available Online and Recorded. We will also be live at the school when the situation allows.

We have Radically Evolved, and Upgraded our Holistic Herbalist Training Courses to Be Hands-On, Interactive and Experiential Even While We’re Online.

SEE MORE ON OUR BLOG HERE

From April-December
Friday 2:30PM-6:00PM
Saturday and Sunday 10:00AM-5:00PM

2020 Dates

Apr 24-26
May 22-24
Jun 12-14
Jul 10-12
Aug 14-16
Sep 18-21
Oct 23-25
Nov 20-22
Dec 18, 19

PREREQUISITES

Foundation or Roots Holistic Herbalist Training Programs or Equivalent.

INVESTMENT

$2900 All Inclusive.

Includes All Materials, Handouts and Herbs

Speak with an advisor or apply now.

Click here to apply.

For questions or to make an appointment to stop by for a tour, please click here Contact us, or email us at info@portlandherbalschool.com or call 503-914-7908.

Don’t hesitate to reach out. We are here to support you!

Frequently Asked Questions

I feel drawn to be a holistic health practitioner who uses herbs. Does your program teach a person how to be a practitioner?

Yes, At Vital Ways, we prepare students to help others heal themselves, their loved ones and if they want, their community. The skills we teach work in professional and non-professional settings alike. So if you want to be a person who facilitates transformative health changes in others, whether personally or professionally we give you all the skills, techniques and strategies that empower you to achieve your goal.

Is the Advanced program a class I can start with or is it for students with prior experience?

The Advanced Holistic Herbalist Program builds on the extensive skills learned in the first year of the program. The advanced herbalism, nutrition, mental emotional health, and clinical skills taught in year 2 prepare students to work with people who have complicated conditions, so the Advanced Program students must already have a very good working understanding of the fundamental of holistic herbalism at the time of entry into the program.

I can’t sit through a long day of class taking notes. What’s a typical day in class like?

We created our classes to be a diverse, engaging and balanced educational experience so that our students were constantly learning, and evolving their abilities and skills. Our dynamic classes engage our herbal students in many different activities to ensure that learning is maximized, and students are never bored. We place significant emphasis on learning things first hand so that our herbal students acquire a significant amount of real world experience with herbs, nutrition, tongue and pulse evaluation, medicine making, and more.

Class meets 3 days per month, what happens for the rest of the month?

Between classes students continue to grow and develop their skills on their own schedule with a guided homework assignment that reinforces what was learned in class and prepares them for the upcoming class. In addition, for those with extra time, there are many opportunities to do more, by participating in our online message board, attending events at the school, apprenticing in the Apothecary, and having a clinic appointment. Students also regularly organize study groups, go on plant walks outside of class, and get together for medicine making gatherings or library usage at the school. Though all that is necessary is covered in class and in homework, there are lots of opportunities for more involvement for those interested.

I want to learn effective and safe herbalism and feel like a lot of information out there is untrustworthy or of questionable safety. What is your program’s opinion on this?

We completely agree that holistic health’s lack of oversight has created an environment where it can be hard to know what to trust. We take the responsibility of providing trustworthy, efficacious and safe holistic health information extremely seriously. Our faculty only teach things that we’ve learned and vetted from our own in depth research, and training, and our extensive clinical experiences. Our student’s safety, and that of those they help, is always top priority. To that end, we feature herbal safety classes including toxic plant ID, pharmaceuticals-herb interactions, and research methodologies.

The Foundation and Roots programs seem similar, how are they different?

Both programs cover very similar content but the Foundation Program has more months and days per month and more educators. Both programs offer students a dynamic and extensive introduction to all the fundamental aspects of holistic herbalism.

I’ve attended program before that didn’t have a sense of community and really didn’t feel like I got to know anyone. Do your programs have a sense of community or are they more just a come and go kind of program?

Our vibrant and inspiring school community is a great place to meet and connect with amazing like-minded people. Many friendships are fostered and connections are made in the school that continue to last after graduation. We believe that support and inspiration from connection to like-minded health conscious individuals is another of the transformative aspects of Vital Ways. For people wanting to develop friendships and benefit from community there are ample opportunities in the school, center and apothecary.

Nutrition seems very important to helping people, how much is covered and what do we learn in class?

At Vital Ways, we’ve seen that proper nutrition is an essential part of holistic health. Herbalists trained at Vital Ways are given an extensive nutrition skillset and toolkit, that is based on the most useful and latest information that has been tested in our clinics and practices.

I’ve attended program before that didn’t have a sense of community and really didn’t feel like I got to know anyone. Do your programs have a sense of community or are they more just a come and go kind of program?

Our vibrant and inspiring school community is a great place to meet and connect with amazing like-minded people. Many friendships are fostered and connections are made in the school that continue to last after graduation. We believe that support and inspiration from connection to like-minded health conscious individuals is another of the transformative aspects of Vital Ways. For people wanting to develop friendships and benefit from community there are ample opportunities in the school, center and apothecary.

Our Location

We are located in the very lively NE Alberta Arts district at 2714 NE Alberta Street, surrounded by food, art galleries, cute unique shops, coffee houses and true Portland culture.

Phone: 503.914.7908

Email: info@portlandherbalschool.com

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