Bsc (Hons) Herbal Medicine, MNIMH

Clare is an experienced, qualified Medical Herbalist in the Western herbal medicine tradition. She is based in the West Highlands of Scotland, home to deer, livestock, ticks, and Lyme disease. She works for the Napiers CLAID Clinic on a Thursday morning. Clare is passionate about plants, people, food, nutrition and health. She believes that leading a healthy and happy life equates to preventative medicine and contributes towards optimum health.

Following a short career in catering and hospitality, she decided to pursue a more fulfilling path combining her interest in nutrition with working with plant medicine. She began her degree in Herbal Medicine at the Scottish School of Herbal Medicine in Glasgow. During this time she qualified with a diploma in Holistic Massage and a Diploma in Clinical Aromatherapy. She also studied nutrition, organic growing, practical pharmacy and plant identification. Following the School’s closure in 2010, she transferred to the University of East London where she graduated in 2011 with a BSc (Hons) in Herbal Medicine.

Everyone is different, so Clare takes a patient centred approach, with the treatment and advice tailored to the individual. By using herbs, nutrition and lifestyle advice, Clare combines her empathetic approach with encouraging her patients to take responsibility for their own health while supporting them in this process. This leads to lasting changes and all-round better health and well-being. She has a keen interest in cooking and nutrition, growing plants, raising animals naturally and making herbal medicines.

Bsc (Hons) Herbal Medicine, MNIMH Clare is an experienced, qualified Medical Herbalist in the We... Read More

BSc (Hons) Herbal Medicine, MNIMH, AOF

Natasha is an experienced and qualified medical herbalist in Western herbal medicine, a forager and mycotherapist. She practises remotely at Napiers CLAID (Covid, Lyme and Infectious Diseases) clinic and the Napiers Edinburgh clinic within Herbal Medicine general practice.

Natasha qualified from University of East London after the course was transferred from the School of Phytotherapy in Battle.

Based in the heart of the Cairngorms where deer are plentiful as are ticks.Mountains and beautiful surroundings for walking and all outdoor pursuits. Natasha has been practicing here since she qualified in 2013.

Her passions are plants, people, food, nutrition and foraging.

Having grown up learning herbs from her Mum, their family allotment and a well thumbed copy of A Modern Herbal. It felt a natural progression to study herbs to an academic level. During her studies she was working and living on a croft, later a small holding. Now finds herself rather than cultivating plants she is to found be out foraging with her dog for plants and mushrooms for food, and medicine. As well as teaching through walks and workshops as the in house forager for The Fife Arms in Braemar.

BSc (Hons) Herbal Medicine, MNIMH, AOF Natasha is an experienced and qualified medical herbalist... Read More

Angela studied with the College of Naturopathic Medicine (CNM) qualifying as a Naturopath, Naturopathic Nutritionist and Herbalist in 2015. She is now a CNM lecturer in Biomedicine, herbal medicine and nutrition and mentors CNM students.

Prior to this Angela gained qualifications and experience over 19 years in massage forms, reiki and energy therapies. Her philosophy is wellness of the whole person (mind-body-spirit), and these all need to be addressed for long term health change to take place. Her clinic is very varied, but focuses mainly on Lyme disease and chronic illness patients.

Angela is a passionate advocate for nutrition as a way to promote optimal health. Having experienced the healing power of nature connection and ecotherapy, Angela is a certified Forest Bathing Guide and Nature Therapy Practitioner.

Angela has worked at Napiers ever since she qualified and also has clinical experience working for Dr. Sarah Myhill. She practices at the Napiers Claid Clinic, Napiers Edinburgh and at Napiers Glasgow. She has many years of experience supporting patients with Lyme and co-infections.

Angela studied with the College of Naturopathic Medicine (CNM) qualifying as a Naturopath, Naturo... Read More

BSc (Hons) Herbal Medicine, MNIMH

Audrey lives just outside of Edinburgh in Midlothian, with her family all up and grown, she is finding more time to devote to her passion for all things herbal and medicinal and can often be found rambling the local countryside in search of beautiful herbs and mushrooms.

Her passion has always been herbal medicine, offering support and guidance to people with their health and wellbeing in a natural holistic way. Graduating from Edinburgh’s Napier University in 2007 with a BSc (Hons) in Herbal Medicine and Phytotherapy the first beginnings of Ellwyn Herbal Practice was born.

Such is her love of herbal medicine, Audrey can also be found practicing Herbal Medicine at Napiers Bathgate clinic and is a member of Napiers CLAID (Covid Lyme And Infectious Disease) Herbal Clinic, a non-profit making Cooperative Society. She has also been working with the lovely folk from Grass Roots Remedies and has been working with them at the Wester Hailes Community Herbal Clinic, a low-cost community clinic offered to residents of Wester Hailes since 2017, also helping with workshops and herb walks around Edinburgh and the Lothians.

The core of Audrey’s belief and vision for Ellwyn Herbal Practice is to give time for an individual to be heard and to work in partnership together to obtain the best possible health and wellness achievable. Looking at not only a tailored herbal approach but also diet, nutrition and lifestyle as well as emotional wellbeing.

To gain in her nutritional knowledge, Audrey is studying Nutritional Medicine at Surrey University.

BSc (Hons) Herbal Medicine, MNIMH Audrey lives just outside of Edinburgh in Midlothian, with her... Read More

BSc (Hons) Herbal Medicine, FNIMH

Melissa qualified from Middlesex University in 2000. She runs a general herbal practice from her boat, The Herbal Barge, which is based on the river Lea in North London. Melissa joined the CLAID Clinic Co-operative to work collaboratively in an integrated and specialised context to support patients with long covid.

About Melissa

It is my deep privilege to have experienced a long and varied practice in herbal medicine. I have worked as a herbalist in a mental health project in Hackney; traditional medicine projects in south America; first aid posts at music festivals such as Glastonbury; from my boat in and around the waterways of London; and in the refugee camps in Northern France.

I have been lucky enough to teach about herbs and medicine in primary schools, in undergraduate and in adult education, in community spaces and afloat the Herbal Barge along the River Lea. I currently run an online training clinic for students from various herbal medicine schools and devised and teach the counselling skills for herbalists module for Heartwood professional course.

It is my experience that herbal medicine can contribute to positive health outcomes across the board from self-help and domestic acute medicine strategies, right through to complex multi-pharmacy scenarios.

Long covid appears to be the latest in a line of health conditions and infectious diseases that challenge what we have previously understood in relation to pathology and germ theory. We are currently in a situation in which we need to work hard to find solutions for the many people for whom covid did not turn out to be an acute transitory infection. We need draw on the experience of patients, clinicians and research scientists, as well as traditional knowledge to create treatment strategies that are individualised, holistic and joined up.

My own personal experience of long covid was not devastating, but was from early on, lasted a long time and delivered a steep learning curve. It informs how I now work with patients who are experiencing both acute and chronic episodes of the infection. Herbalists often find themselves working in isolation and I am grateful for the opportunity to be part of the CLAID Clinic where we are able to pool resources, share knowledge and work together to offer the best service possible.

BSc (Hons) Herbal Medicine, FNIMH Melissa qualified from Middlesex University in 2000. She runs ... Read More

BSc (Hons) Herbal Medicine

BSc (Hons) Herbal Medicine degree at Napier University, Edinburgh - completing her studies in 2007. She stopped practicing and massage to have a family in 2010 continuing to work as an experienced lead Dental Nurse. Kim returned to herbal medicine practice in 2020. She is passionate about herbal medicine, therapeutics, plants and people.

Kim also works as Medical Secretary for the CLAID Clinic. Her research skills make her a valuable member of the Lyme disease team - a much under-documented condition which affects many people across the U.K.

Kim consults with patients who have a wide variety of needs.

BSc (Hons) Herbal Medicine BSc (Hons) Herbal Medicine degree at Napier University, Edinburgh - c... Read More

MSc Herbal Medicine (UCLAN), FLS

Monica has a Masters degree in herbal medicine from the University of Central Lancashire. She is the research herbalist heading up the CLAID Clinic. The CLAID Clinic specialism is Lyme disease Borrelia burgdorferi and co-infections - crypto-infections Bartonella, Babesia, Rickettsia, Erlichia, Anaplasma, Mycoplasma, etc. A research herbalist is not the same as a medical herbalist and Monica does not run a general clinical practice. This allows her to focus on Lyme disease and bacterial and viral infections.

About Monica

Monica’s Masters dissertation was on the concomitant prescribing of the proton-pump inhibitor drug, omeprazole, with herbs and micronutrients. She has a particular interest in beneficial concomitant prescribing and in Integrative Medicine, committed to research for patients who need to take chemical (allopathic) drugs but wish to also take herbal medicine as part of a holistic healthcare plan. Experience has taught her that a holistic approach can reduce chemical drug side effects in an extremely beneficial way for the patient while still ensuring the treatment that they need.

Previous specialist fields include the study of chelated iodine in seaweed and its effect on iodine insufficiency and thyroid function. She has designed, and currently seeking funding for, a clinical trial to monitor the consumption of seaweed in the form of Napiers Organic Hebridean Kelp capsules by people also taking levothyroxine for underactive thyroid to improve their baseline health. She is a member of the Academy of Integrative Health Medicine, following the development of the field of integrative medicine with great interest. She has also researched the cosmetic uses of native species for use in cosmetics.

Monica is also a guest lecturer on the Royal Botanic Gardens of Edinburgh Diploma in Herbology course teaching the medicinal uses of seaweeds, fungi, tree saps and resins.

Monica has a deep passion for plants, fungi and the natural world. Meeting a Kikuyu herbalist on the Kenyan farm of her childhood, inspired a lifetime of interest and studying of herbal medicine. She is a Fellow of the Linnean Society, a founding Member of the Association of Foragers and a foraging teacher of wild food and wild plant medicine. More about these aspects of her life can be found on her blog www.monicawilde.com

MSc Herbal Medicine (UCLAN), FLS Monica has a Masters degree in herbal medicine from the Univers... Read More