Biography

Erika is a Clinical Herbalist and an ITEC certified Clinical Aromatherapist consulting from Sovereignty Herbs, Athens, OH. She holds a degree in Herbal Medicine from the University of Wales, Cardiff, UK and Scottish School of Herbal Medicine, Glasgow, UK. She is a professional member of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists (UK) and the American Herbalists Guild (USA). She is also a proud member of Pi Alpha Xi National Honor Society in Horticulture (USA). A decade of clinical practice has provided a platform for a deep and influential understanding of the efficacy of medicinal plants within a clinical environment. It is through this clinical practice that Erika is able encourage positive, learned relationships between plants and people. She is a firm believer in celebrating the role humanity plays in the ecology of our landscapes and that our relationships with the natural world should be based upon reciprocity and exchange. In addition to clinical practice, Erika is both a student and teacher of horticulture and native medicinal plant conservation and ecology. Erika is also deeply passionate about the history of botanical medicine in the United States as depicted by the American Botanical Movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and has built her clinical philosophy around the principles and practice of Physiomedical and Eclectic traditions. With her dedication to medicinal plants native to Ohio and the Greater Appalachian region, Erika teaches, lectures and writes on native medicinal plant conservation and applied ecology, propagation, herbalism, and clinical efficacy. She is visiting Faculty at Ohio Herb Education Center, Gahanna, Ohio, Faculty at the Eclectic School of Herbal Medicine, Lowgap, NC, and Course Contributor for the School of Aromatic Studies. She also participates as a member of the Stewardship Committee for Appalachia Ohio Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of land and water in Southeast Ohio.