Herbal Medicine
Modern herbal medicine draws on many traditions of indigenous medicine that have utilised plants as medicihnal drugs for thousands of years. Plants are still the primary or only source of medicines for most of the worlds population.
Many of our 'conventional', pharmaceutical drugs are copies of plant chemicals or are extracted from plants.
In addition to being firmly rooted in the traditional use of plants, modern herbal medicine also draws on a wealth of scientific research on the medicinal benefits of plants. (See recently published research in 'The Lancet' regarding the benefits of Echinacea--it works...)

How does herbal medicine work?
Herbal Medicine works along similar lines as conventional medicine, herbs can act as antimicrobial agents, anti-inflammatories
hormonal regulators, sedatives, painkillers, laxatives and appetite stimulants.
Unlike pharmaceutical drugs that usually contain one or two chemical ingredients designed to target
particular symptoms, plants contain a complex mixture of ingredients which often act to enhance each others'
actions on the body even to the extent of one ingredient offsetting the side effects of another.
In this way plant medicines act in harmony with the body to promote healthful functioning and restore balance.

What are the benefits of seing a qualified herbalist?
A modern western medical herbalist has been trained for a minimum of 4 years (this includes a degree in herbal medicine and 500 hours of clinical training). The training includes both medical disciplines such as anatomy, physiology, pathology and clinical medicine and also botany and plant pharmacology.
In addition herbalists are also taught about nutrition and how lifestyle choices affect health. Thus a herbalist will look at a patient as a rounded person taking into account all the aspects of their life that have an impact on their health--a holistic approach.