The mission of the Herbal Academy of New England is to teach the art and science of plant medicine honoring our intrinsic connection to nature. We are dedicated to teaching and promoting a lifestyle of wellness and vitality through the use of herbs, sound nutrition, and optimal health practices. We offer high quality, affordable herbal studies programs to empower our students, and celebrate the community-centered spirit of herbalism by collaborating with a wide diversity of herbalists to create an herbal school that presents many herbal traditions and points of view. We hold sustainability and stewardship dear, and these are guiding principles for us. So, too is our commitment to not only providing a path for herbal studies, but also supporting our students all along their way.
Sustainability
We are committed to educating our community about the importance of sustainability in herbalism – from the ethics of sustainable wildcrafting to the critical need to protect threatened and endangered plants and trees and find sustainable ways of production or alternative plants to use. In our opinion, responsible production and gathering of our plant allies is part and parcel to the study of herbal medicine. As gardeners, wildcrafters, and herbal consumers, our choices can send an important message and advocate for a truly sustainable approach to procuring the plants we use for healing. After all, if we cause harm in our ecosystem, how can we heal ourselves?
Stewardship
It is through understanding that we come to appreciate what is before us. Through herbal education in our online classes we help build a bridge between uncertainty about the natural world to a place of knowing. We begin to recognize not only the beauty of this world, but also of it’s complexities. A rose may be just a rose to some, but a rose to an herbalist is quite something else. An herbalist knows how to use the rose in all it’s stages from bud to bloom to rose hips. How much greater is it’s beauty when seen through the knowing eyes? Can you imagine understanding the plant world to such an extraordinary measure?  Your herbal studies will get you there!
Herbal Education with an Online Format
By providing our herbal studies programs through an online format, we can work together at a pace that allows you the freedom to get hands-on experience in fields and forests as well as study at your computer. Online herbal education has many benefits besides independent study and flexibility. In our online courses we can provide you with a world of herbal education by linking you to many resources and trusted mentors and teachers. In our online herbal studies courses you will have access to beautiful images and comprehensive herbal educational materials, and you will listen to honored and revered herbalists as they provide the most provocative and inspiring talks and lectures. You will meet other herbalists, both teachers and students, as we connect in the forums. Our online  social media platforms were created to serve as herbal educational resources, providing in-depth articles to support and teach all aspiring students and budding herbalists. This is a community of herbalists at all levels of learning, sharing and growing together. We are educating one another.
Support
We offer support during your online herbal studies journey through printed materials, live forums, and social media platforms. We are here to take your emails and phone calls and respond in a timely manner; in fact, we enjoy being able to make those connections with our students. We also suggest to all of our online students that they partner up with a friend or family member. Study buddies can serve as springboards and reflection pools to encourage and mentor you in studies, discussions, and in some cases, hands-on lab time. When we support one another, we also support the larger community.
Through this work at the Herbal Academy, we are provided many opportunities to work in the community to help raise awareness, reach out to those that are in need, and provide quality herbal education globally. As an herbalist school, we believe it’s important to give back to organizations and communities that help spread herbal education. As a member of Partners in Education with United Plant Savers, we are not only able to support sustainability with our annual contribution, we are also able to provide UpS membership discounts to our Herbarium members and students, who can choose to support UpS as well. We are always looking for collaborative relationships such as these that support groups doing important work in the field of herbalism.
Affordability
At the Herbal Academy we have made a very conscious decision to keep our programs affordable. As an herbalist school, it is our mission to provide as many people possible the gift of Earth’s medicine. Herbalism is not something to hold onto for ourselves; it’s something we want to share widely with all. We offer our herbal studies courses online so we can reach an international audience and enrich so many more lives through herbal education. The HANE blog is free and open to everyone to begin or continue their herbal studies, and we share many free herbal resources on our Facebook page. We understand the role herbal education has played in our lives and want to empower as many people as possible with a foundational herbal education at an affordable price. We want to support your dreams and goals by being a partner with which you study herbal medicine.
Join us in our Herbal Studies Programs!
What could be more natural than learning to use the plants, flowers and trees that grow around us? Herbs are second nature. They are here to heal and nourish us if we endeavour into relationship with them. Our herbal school is here to help you on your way. We invite you to come join us at the Herbal Academy, on our blog, in one of our herbal studies programs, or in The Herbarium, a membership website for herbalists. If you have a desire to study herbal medicine and learn the many ways plants can enrich your life, just start where you are and join us on what promises to be a beautiful journey!
