My Profile

I have always had a great love for plants and enormous respect for their healing power. I was brought up being given herbs by my Austrian mother; Peppermint drops on sugar lumps for tummy aches and Chamomile tea for period pains. My grandparents had a farm in rural Norfolk where I spent idyllic long school holidays and most weekends throughout my childhood. I was left totally free to wander about the farm, spend time with the animals and explore the woods. I learnt to rub in dock leaves when stung with nettle stings and climbed the two huge trees planted by my great-grandmother to pick and eat fresh walnuts. From the lane next to the farm each year I would collect snowdrops for my grandmother in winter, and primroses in the spring.

I have been a practising medical herbalist for over 30 years since qualifying as a Member of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists after an in depth four year training. As well as being a consultant herbalist I have run short courses on herbal medicine in colleges, given many hundreds of talks to any organisation who is interested, given radio interviews and written numerous articles some of which you can read on this website. I was previously a lecturer at Lincoln University on the BSc (Hons) course in Herbal Medicine. Prior to training to be a herbalist I gained an honours degree from Imperial College University of London in Zoology and Applied Parasitology and taught biology both in schools and sixth form colleges.

I am now a clinical supervisor with Heartwood, the newly launched NIMH educational initiative. Heartwood training is either a one year correspondence course for anyone who has a general interest in herbal medicine.  This can then be followed up by a three year, in depth training for someone wanting to become a professional medical herbalist. The latter requires 500 hours of clinical training with a NIMH practising herbalist like myself.

I regularly open my practice for ‘herb days’ for anyone who wants to know more about herbs, identify them and how to use them for everyday ailments.

My main practice for the last twelve years has been in Bilston, Wolverhampton. Before that I was based in Erdington, Birmingham.