Classes + Community Education
Upcoming Classes
Oxytocic Herbs
July 22 - 11:00am PT/2:00pm ET
This class is a deep dive into the use of oxytocic herbs for abortion and pregnancy release. We’ll focus on the pharmacologic, physiological and energetic impact of Cotton Root Bark and Blue Cohosh (and some kindred plants), exploring how dosage, timing and repetition can improve effectiveness for releasing a pregnancy.
$30 - 60 sliding scale
Herbs for Birth Workers Series
In this four-part series, join Certified Professional Midwife and clinical herbalist Tessa Micaela Landreau-Grasmuck in a deep dive into herbal medicine for birthworkers. We'll discuss herbal actions, strategies, and dosages for use in pregnancy, during labor, and in the postpartum period. In these 1.5-hour classes, we'll cover herbal use and differentiation for common pregnancy symptoms, labor and birth support, postpartum needs, as well as complementary care for complications and challenges in the childbearing years. In the fourth class, clinical herbalist Chesley Walsh will join us to discuss high-risk and complicated pregnancies, with an emphasis on post-partum recovery, post-partum mood, and traumatic births.
We’ll cover safety and shared decision-making tools for use of herbs with clients, including evidence-based research, cultural + historic use and knowledge, risk assessment, and energetic differentiation. With lots of space for case inquiries, questions, and collective wisdom sharing, you'll leave this class with confidence to use herbs with clients in the childbearing years.
These classes are taught from the midwifery perspective, rooted in the knowledge that pregnancy and birth are physiologic and somatic processes that call on the innate wisdom of the body. We also hold that sometimes pregnancy and birth become difficult and high-risk, and that birthworkers hold unique spaces to support the holistic physiology of pathologic complications. Designed specifically for birth attendants, doulas, midwives, care providers, and herbalists looking to support folks in childbearing cycles, but all levels of knowledge and curiosity are welcome. As always, these classes will be taught with a trauma-informed lens and with a commitment to bodily and collective autonomy; all genders and all bodies are welcome and celebrated.
Four Class Series: Monday, Sept. 15, Sept. 22, Sept. 29, Oct. 6, 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm ET
Recorded Classes
Care for Care Workers: Caring for Ourselves + Each Other When Our Work is Care
For all those who give care: paid and unpaid, seen and unseen.
Welcome parents, guardians, service and health care providers, mental health practitioners, domestic workers, organizers, educators, and all those who do the potent work of supporting the survival of others.
In this participatory herbal workshop on taking care of ourselves and each other, we’ll explore herbal allies, nourishment practices for inward listening, simple embodiment practices, and rituals for sustaining our energy for the long haul. Let’s spend 2 hours together, nourishing ourselves and receiving as much as we give. You'll take away a set of ideas and practices to help you keep refilling your cup, day after day.
Because in these times we need you; we need your care; we need you to be cared for.
$25 - $35 - benefits the VCIH scholarship fund.
Generative & Reproductive Care Series
Available as recordings on the Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism course portal!
The Childbearing Cycle
In this three-part series, join Certified Professional Midwife and clinical herbalist Tessa Micaela Landreau-Grasmuck in a discussion of herbal medicine and holistic support strategies for use during pregnancy, birth and the post-partum period.
Herbal Support for Labor and Birth
Herbal Support for Postpartum Care
These two hour classes offer a deep dive into each phase of the childbearing cycle. They are taught from the midwifery perspective, rooted in the knowledge that pregnancy and birth are physiologic and somatic (not pathological) processes that call on the innate wisdom of the body. Herbal and supportive strategies can support that wisdom, ease discomfort, and support challenges and complications should they arise. We’ll cover safety and shared decision making tools for use of herbs in the childbearing year, including evidence-based research, cultural and historic uses, risk assessment, dosing and formulation, as well as long-term strategies for perinatal and postpartum care.
Designed specifically for birth attendants, doulas, midwives, care providers, and herbalists looking to support folks in childbearing cycles, but all levels of knowledge and curiosity are welcome. These classes will be taught with a trauma-informed lens and with a commitment to bodily and collective autonomy; all genders and all bodies are welcome and celebrated. Participants are encouraged to register for all three courses together; class content is interrelated and will build through the series, and you’ll also receive the series discount! Individual session registration is also available, and recordings will be made available for all classes.
Gender Inclusive Generative Health
This three-class series covers menstrual health, fertility awareness and herbs for conception and contraception, and herbal support through pregnancy loss. All classes in this series are taught from a trauma-informed, gender-inclusive perspective that welcomes all bodies. Designed for practicing herbalists and other clinicians, these classes are appropriate for anyone with an intermediate level of herbal experience.
How We Bleed: Energetic Patterns of Menstruation
Herbs for Fertility Awareness: Conception and Contraception
Herbs for Pregnancy Loss, Miscarriage, and Clinical Abortion
Classes cover the following topics; please see individual class pages for more details!
- Menstrual cycle physiology, indicators, and common energetic patterns
- Influence of sleep, stress, diet, trauma and more on the menstrual cycle
- Herbal therapeutics for menstrual imbalances, using traditional assessment and patterns
- Herbal support for fertility and conception
- Using herbs as an adjunct to fertility awareness as a method of contraception
- Physiology and hormonal changes in early pregnancy
- Causes and symptoms of miscarriage
- Options for clinical abortion
- Herbs and formulas to support the body before, during, and after the ending of a pregnancy
PAST OFFERINGS
Your Body is a Wonderland: Herbs for Supporting Health and Vitality
Fall 2021, Spring 2020, Fall 2020
Want to know how your body works? In this six-week class, herbalists Kelly McCarthy and Tessa Micaela offer a user’s guide to the body and herbs to support balance. This class will cover an overview of the digestive, nervous, musculoskeletal, immune, generative/reproductive, eliminatory and cardiovascular systems, as well as how you use herbs for common issues. Every week we’ll dive deep into one herb and its related body system, as well as covering several supportive herbs. You’ll take home the herb of the week for continued exploration. Through embodiment activities, experiential herb tastings and small group sharing, you’ll leave with a better understanding of your body and how to support it with herbs.
Kelly McCarthy is a community herbalist with a clinical practice in West Philadelphia, offering affordable education about plants and health. Tessa Micaela is a clinical herbalist specializing in generative/reproductive care. We share an understanding that our bodies are wise and resilient and echo the natural world we are a part of. We teach this class from the perspective that how our bodies look, function and feel are complex and that there is no right or wrong way to be.