As 2023 wound down to a close, I reached out to an old friend, Mary Bove, ND, a visionary and trailblazer in clinical herbalism. We had a conversation about what 2024 may bring to our community of practitioners, including what she’s thinking about, and what she’s planning for. She obliged by reflecting on the evolving tapestry of holistic health as she sees it: growth mindset, the importance of nature, connecting with plants, and forgotten inner wisdom, illuminating the path forward for the coming year.
Herbal Conferences
Holistic Sleep Wellness with Lise Alschuler, ND: Integrative Approaches for Healthcare Practitioners
Sleep may be the foundation on which all aspects of health are built, and in the clinic it has become an increasingly important topic. When practitioners help patients sleep better, it strengthens all areas of patients’ physical and mental health. As global sleep expert, Matthew Walker, PhD, Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, famously said: “Nearly every disease killing us later in life has a causal link to lack of sleep.”
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Scholarship Program for 2024 Southwest Conference on Botanical Medicine
At Herbal Educational Services we Cultivate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
We recognize the need for increased diversity in the fields of clinical herbalism and natural medicine and are committed to creating a welcoming environment at our events that affords dignity to all.
The conference is offering a limited number of full scholarships to persons of color (Black, Indigenous, Asian American, Hispanic/Latino) who would like to further their education in the clinical uses of botanical medicine.
If you would like to apply for a scholarship to attend the online Southwest Conference on Botanical Medicine, March 22 – 24, 2024, please fill out and return this application form. We will notify you of acceptance within two weeks of submission. Scholarship includes basic registration fee. The pre-conference intensive and CE fee are extra.
Questions? Contact us and we’ll be happy to help.
Thank you for your interest, and we hope this initiative will further our goal of bringing more diversity to our events, and to the field of botanical medicine in general.
2024 Herbal Conferences
These events have been completed. Please see the 2025 herbal medicine conferences »
Southwest Conference on Botanical Medicine
March 22 – 24, 2024
Location: Streaming online
Pre-conference Intensive with Lise Alschuler, ND, FABNO: Restorative Sleep: Integrative Strategies for Remediating Sleep Disorders
Panel Discussions: Prevention of Viral Infections: Building Immunity with Botanicals and Botanical Therapies for Recovery from Myocardial Infarction
Speakers: Lise Alschuler, Ann Armbrecht, Lydia Bartholow, Paul Bergner, Todd Caldecott, Renèe Camila, Kristin Gilmour, Naturopath (Australia), Julianne Grant, Naturopath (Australia), Marianne Marchese, Brianna Pichè, Kenneth Proefrock, Mary Rondeau, Katie Stage, Jillian Stansbury and Christina Veselak
Medicines from the Earth Herb Symposium
May 17 – 19, 2024
Location: Blue Ridge Assembly in Black Mountain, NC or join us online!
Pre-conference Intensive with Donald Yance, CN, RH (AHG): Optimizing Physical Performance and Recovery with Botanicals
Keynote Address with Mary Bove, ND: Inspired by Herbs: A Herbal Journey of a Modern Day Herbalist
Post-symposium Online Intensive with Eric Yarnell, ND, RH (AHG): Natural Treatment of Prostate Conditions: Blending Western Herbal Practice, Traditional Chinese Medicine
Speakers: 7Song, Rebecca Beyer, Teresa Boardwine, Mary Bove, Doug and Todd Elliott, Kat Maier, Jason Miller, Kenneth Proefrock, Vickie Shufer, Jillian Stansbury, Lucretia VanDyke, Marc Williams, David Winston, Donald Yance, and Eric Yarnell.
These events have been completed. Please see the 2025 herbal medicine conferences »
2023 Herbal Conferences Recordings
It was another wonderful year of herbal conferences! Many thanks to all the attendees, speakers, exhibitors, and sponsors. We could not do it without you!
If you were unable to join us this year for Southwest Conference on Botanical Medicine or Medicines from the Earth Herb Symposium in North Carolina, you can now enjoy the recordings from home.
Continuing education is available for naturopathic physicians and nursing professionals for the recordings.
Videos:
- Southwest Conference videos
- Intensive with Eric Yarnell, ND — Reclaiming Self: Herbs to Correct Autoimmunity
- Medicines from the Earth videos
- Intensive with Jason Miller, DACM, LAc — Management of Complex Chronic Disease: Combining Traditional Chinese Medicine Concepts with Modern Biomedical Analysis
- Intensive with Jillian Stansbury, ND — Botanical Influences on Cell Membranes
Audio Recordings:
Continuing Education for ND, RN, FNP, etc:
For visual learners, you will love our videos and digital books (a PDF of speakers’ lecture notes and PowerPoints). You can follow along while you listen and/or watch the presentations.
Happy herbal learning!
2023 Herbal Conferences
Medicines from the Earth Herb Symposium
Past conference — Videos and audio from this conference are now available! For CE information, please visit the 2023 Medicines from the Earth Recordings CE page.
Dates: June 2 – 4, 2023
Location: University of North Carolina, Asheville
We’re excited to share the beautiful UNC Asheville area with you. Tucked away in a beautiful location with on-site lodging next to the local botanical garden, attendees have the option of spending quiet time in nature or exploring downtown Asheville just minutes away while attending the 2023 symposium.
Speakers: Lise Alschuler, Rebecca Beyer, Teresa Boardwine, Mary Bove, Doug and Todd Elliott, Joe Hollis, Chris Kilham, Kat Maier, Jason Miller, Kenneth Proefrock, Katie Stage, Jillian Stansbury, Marc Williams, David Winston and Donald Yance
Continuing education for health professionals.
Southwest Conference on Botanical Medicine
Past conference — Videos and audio from this conference are now available! For CE information, please visit the 2023 SW Recordings CE page.
Dates: March 24 – 26, 2023
Location: Streaming online, with extended video access
Pre-Conference Intensive: Reclaiming Self: Herbs to Correct Autoimmunity with Eric Yarnell, ND
Speakers: Dee Atkinson, Paul Bergner, Chanchal Cabrera, Deborah Frances, Lillea Hartwell, Jack Lambert, Brianna Piche, Kenneth Proefrock, Katie Stage, Jillian Stansbury, Jen Stovall, David Winston, and Eric Yarnell
Continuing Education for health professionals.
At Herbal Educational Services, we cultivate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
We recognize the need for increased diversity in the fields of clinical herbalism and natural medicine and are committed to creating a welcoming environment at our events that affords dignity to all.
To stay up to date on the conferences, join our email list and check back here for updates.
Topical Applications for Pain
March’s Featured Recording:
Topical Applications for Pain with Jillian Stansbury, ND
With the opiate epidemic being a glaring example of how NOT to manage chronic and acute pain, this session explores what tools herbalists possess to help comfort and soothe acutely painful conditions. Drawing from both folklore and modern research, Jillian Stansbury, ND offers a variety of liniments, soaks, poultices and pastes for a wide range of conditions.
She describes compresses for headache, capsaicin cream for arthritic and other pain, fennel oil for smooth muscle spasm, castor oil packs, lobelia vinegar compress for vascular, bronchial and uterine smooth muscle pain, to mention just a few. The PowerPoint accompanying this lecture offers a great resource by giving details for many more preparations than she was able to cover in her live presentation.
Jillian Stansbury will be presenting the pre-conference intensive in person at Medicines from the Earth in June in Asheville, NC. Registration is still open for that event.
And if you are interested in more information on botanicals and other natural medicine for pain, take a look at our series on management of pain and inflammation. Continuing education credits available for naturopathic physicians.
Preview: Restoring Mitochondrial Function through Botanicals and other Naturopathic Therapies
Presenter: Mary Rondeau, ND, RH (AHG)
Summary: Mitochondrial dysfunction is characterized by the reduction of energy output from the electron transport chain. Research confirms that reduced mitochondrial function is associated with nearly all chronic conditions, including neurodegenerative, psychiatric, cardiovascular, metabolic, autoimmune, cancer, chronic immune disorders and musculoskeletal. This lecture covers symptoms that are suggestive of mitochondrial concerns and testing methods to determine treatment strategies. These include botanicals specific to organ systems, nutrients and nutritional protocols to increase efficiency and restore function to mitochondria.
Excerpt from the Medicines from the Earth Symposium June 4 – 7, 2021.
2021 Herbal Conferences
If you missed our 2021 conferences, all the materials are now offered online:
Medicines from the Earth Herb Symposium
Online June 4 – 7, 2021, Past event
Southwest Conference on Botanical Medicine
March 26 – 28, 2021: Past event
videos, audio recordings, and the digital book are now available!
Questions? Contact us and we’ll be happy to help.
Join Doug Elliott at Herb Mountain Farm
Join Doug Elliott at Herb Mountain Farm in Weaversville, NC on Saturday 6/5 for a one-of-a-kind herb walk for Medicines from the Earth Herb Symposium! This beloved herbalist, author, and storyteller will delight and amaze you with his practical, scientific and cultural knowledge of many useful wild plants.
As a naturalist, herbalist and storyteller, Doug Elliot knows ancient plant lore, plant riddles and even sings songs about weeds and berries. His lively, informative plant walks and storytelling sessions create special memories for attendees of the Medicines from the Earth Symposium.
Doug Elliott is a naturalist, herbalist, storyteller, basket maker, philosopher, and harmonica wizard who has performed at festivals, museums and schools from Canada to the Caribbean. He has been a featured storyteller at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN and has conducted workshops and programs at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto and the Smithsonian Institution. He has trained rangers for the National Park Service and guided people on wilderness experiences from Down-east Maine to the Florida Everglades. He was named harmonica champion at Fiddler’s Grove Festival in N.C.
Doug regularly writes articles for regional and national magazines. He has authored five books, produced a number of award winning recordings of stories and songs, and is occasionally seen on PBS-TV and the History Channel.
Whether he’s singing about catfish, pontificating on possums, extolling the virtues of dandelions, cawing with crows, pondering the “nature” in human nature, telling wild snake tales or wailing out a jivey harmonica tune, storyteller, Doug Elliott will take you on an unforgettable, multifaceted cultural tour celebrating North America’s back country. He performs a lively concert of amazing tales, lively tunes, traditional lore, outrageous personal narratives, and fact stranger than fiction. He flavors it all with regional dialects, lively harmonica riffs, and more than a few belly laughs.
2020 Herbal Conferences
Past Herbal Medicine Conference:
Medicines from the Earth Herb Symposium
- Location: In your living room! A virtual streaming conference. Video or audio recordings now available!
- Theme: Restoring Immunological Balance with Botanicals
- Features 37 clinical presentations, virtual herb walks and medicine-making demonstrations
- Friday pre-symposium clinical intensive with Donald Yance, RH (AHG)
- Three panel discussions and Keynote address with Chanchal Cabrera, RH (AHG)
- Continuing Education Credits for recordings — Nurses and Naturopathic Physicians. Audio or Video:
- Nurses: Approved for maximum 41.5 CNE contact hours*.
- Naturopathic Physicians: Live event approved for maximum 21.5 CME hours of which 9 hours can be pharmacy. (Pending: Application submitted for up to 56.5 CME including 9.5 pharmacy hours for audio and video recordings.)
Speakers: Teresa Boardwine, Mary Bove, Chanchal Cabrera, David Crow, Doug Elliott, Christopher Hobbs, Robin McGee, Jason Miller, Kenneth Proefrock, CoreyPine Shane, Vickie Shufer, Katie Stage, Marc Williams, Jennifer Williams, David Winston and Donald Yance
* This activity has been approved by the North Carolina Nurses Association for 31.5 contact hours. North Carolina Nurses Association is accredited as an approver of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. (Note: $35 charge for nursing CNE due to high cost of new application.)
Past Herbal Medicine Conference:
Southwest Conference on Botanical Medicine
- Location: In your living room! A virtual streaming conference. Video or audio recordings now available!
- Features clinical lectures on the applications of botanical medicine in chronic health conditions, an herb walk in the desert and a garden lecture.
- Pre-conference Clinical intensive on Herb-Drug Interactions with Glen Nagel, ND
- Continuing Education Credits for recordings — Naturopathic Physicians. Audio or Video:
- Arizona: Approved by SCNM CE reviewers for up to 50.5 general hours of which 13.5 can be pharmacy and 3 opioid addiction credits.
- Oregon: Approved by OBNM for up to 49 general hours of which 14 can be pharmacy and 1.5 ethics (for Addiction Part A).
- California: Approved by CNDA for up to 20.5 general hours of which 13 can be pharmacy.
- All ND CE details on this page.
Speaker list: Lydia Bartholow, Paul Bergner, Sam Coffman, Glen Nagel, Marianne Marchese, Heath McAllister, Andrea Purcell, Kenneth Proefrock, Mary Rondeau, JoAnn Sanchez, Yalda Shokoohinia, John Slattery, Katie Stage, David Winston, Donnie Yance and Eric Yarnell.
Gastrointestinal Health Series for the Clinician
An audio series for health care providers – with continuing education for naturopathic physicians – bundled together in one discounted package:
- Nine (9) audio lectures (1.5 – 2 hours each)
- Digital book of notes (137 page PDF)
- Order with one click for $75 ($105 value)
Note: The information in this series is provided as a research resource for health professionals and is not intended to replace diagnosis and treatment by a qualified health care practitioner.
Details: These nine audio recordings offer a wealth of advanced clinical information on the relationship of the gastrointestinal system to physical and mental health. Presented by experienced practitioners, the series covers botanicals for basic gut health and a review of herbal and nutritional gastroenterology. The first four recordings listed below include clinical recommendations for healing the gut-brain axis with botanicals, treating intestinal permeability and managing small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). The final two recordings present the latest information on the vagus nerve and the brain’s effect on the gut and overall immunity. (See more detailed descriptions below.) Includes a digital book of lecture notes with complete references (137-page pdf). Continue reading
Pain and Inflammation Education for Clinicians
Pain and Inflammation series
An audio series for health care providers – bundled together in one discounted package:
- Eight (8) audio lectures (1.5 hours each)
- Digital book of notes (90 page PDF)
- Order with one click for $65 ($90 value)
Continuing education for naturopathic physicians
Note: The information in this series is provided as a research resource for health professionals and is not intended to replace diagnosis and treatment by a qualified health care practitioner.
Details: These eight audio recordings offer the clinician valuable information to help reduce opioid use, over-use and addiction. Presented by experienced practitioners, they address botanical therapies for dampening the inflammatory response and managing types of pain (i.e. neuralgia, acute renal colic, vascular pain, fibromyalgia, arthritis and radiation-induced oral mucositis). Features up-to-date information on the uses of cannabis for pain management and discusses the underlying causes of chronic pain syndrome. Includes digital book of lecture notes with complete references (85 page PDF). Continue reading
2016 Herbal Conferences
Medicines from the Earth Herb Symposium, 2016
Dates: Friday June 3 – Monday, June 6
Place: Blue Ridge Assembly, Black Mountain, North Carolina
Over 40 presentations on the integration of botanicals with the latest medical discoveries along with medicine making demonstrations, herb walks and intensives.
Pre-conference Events: Friday, June 3:
Ethnobotanical and Native Plant Field Study with herbalist and ethnobotanist David Winston.
Healing the Gut-Brain Axis with Botanicals with Jason Miller, Master of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine.
Continuing education at Medicines from the Earth approved for nurses, naturopathic physicians, acupuncturists and pharmacists licensed in North Carolina.. All approvals now definite.
Looking forward to seeing you again in the mountains of North Carolina!
Southwest Conference on Botanical Medicine, 2016 (Past Event – Thanks for making it such a great weekend! )
Dates: Friday April 8 – Sunday, April 10, 2016
Recordings: Now available for download. Purchase full set of audio (mp3) recordings and speaker lecture notes in pdf.
Continuing education approved for recordings for NDs including 10 pharmacy hours.
Photo report on the conference on Facebook
We look forward to seeing you all again next year (April 7 – 9, 2017).
We hope you will join us for an herbal conference! These events are a great way to meet like-minded people and learn the latest information on botanical therapies for a variety of conditions.
Questions? Email us and we’ll be happy to help.
Herbal Educational Services
Ashland, Oregon
(541) 482-3016
Blue Ridge Assembly–more than just a hotel
What keeps us coming back (since 1996!) to Blue Ridge Assembly for Medicines from the Earth?
The answers are easy: a peaceful oasis on 1200 mountainside acres, the rushing streams and the wild plants and trails so near at hand. Being able to leave our car behind and walk everywhere. You won’t find a TV in your room, or a cocktail lounge here, but you will enjoy fragrant nights with fireflies! Ahhh.
We asked some of our regular attendees what they appreciate about Blue Ridge and thought you’d enjoy their answers. (Photos courtesy 7Song were all taken at Blue Ridge Assembly)
Blue Ridge Assembly has a special ambiance that keeps me coming back. I like the beauty, especially the creek with its soothing sound and the boulders where you can sit and put your feet in the cool running water and meditate. The whole place just has a special feeling. — S.M.
SCNM – A great place to hold an herbal conference
Back in 1996, the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine (SCNM) occupied a small building in Scottsdale. The school had recently opened its doors and the first Southwest Conference on Botanical Medicine was held that April. We had an enthusiastic crowd of naturopathic students, health professionals, local herbalists and volunteers. Some of you may remember that first panel discussion on Saturday night, under the stars in the inner courtyard–since there was no central meeting hall large enough!
SCNM has since moved to Tempe, and is now one of the top schools in the US for training naturopathic physicians. It is also one of the first colleges in the country to qualify for LEED certification, a green building certification program that recognizes best-in-class building strategies and practices. The herbal conference is an annual event here, and the profits help support the botanical medicine program at the school.
The two photos above illustrate why SCNM is such a special place: the commitment to the environment through sustainable… Continue reading
Past Conferences
Recordings and Books available from past Herbal Conferences:
2019
Southwest Conference on Botanical Medicine 2019
Medicines from the Earth Herb Symposium 2019
2018
Southwest Conference on Botanical Medicine 2018
Medicines from the Earth Herb Symposium 2018
2017
Southwest Conference on Botanical Medicine 2017
Medicines from the Earth Herb Symposium 2017
2016
Southwest Conference on Botanical Medicine 2016
Medicines from the Earth Herb Symposium 2016
2015
Southwest Conference on Botanical Medicine, 2015
Medicines from the Earth Herb Symposium, 2015
For more herbal education resources, browse our audio and book library.
