In my herb school, I teach my students that there is more to herbal medicine than learning the properties of plants (which I love, but properties aren't everything). There is a grading system, so to speak, that helps us prioritize what really matters when we are taking care of someone's health:

Healing Priority 1: Respect the Person

First, you’ll notice that our healing priorities do NOT begin with “fix the problem.” Instead, we start with respecting the person.

So often, we visit doctors when we are sick only to find ourselves waiting at length in a waiting room filled with other sick people for a physician who treats us like a number, a unit, or a disease. By bringing respect into the clinic, the physician will find he or she has a willing patient who shares relevant information, opens up about physical, mental and emotional issues, asks pertinent questions, and embarks on a course of treatment with curiosity and a sense of purpose. Engaging in respectful communication with the person is the first and foremost way for a doctor or healing arts professional to ensure that the goal is truly to heal the person, not the disease.

Healing Priority 2: Bring in the Support Team

Many allopathic doctors are specialists—they are trained in one narrow segment of health care and they have little interaction with other specialists. It is often up to the patient to relay information and diagnoses to other doctors and labs, a slow and confusing process.

The successful healing arts practitioner will recognize that he or she is not the only solution to this person’s health issue—in fact, the practitioner will invite others to participate in a support team so that all avenues of knowledge are available and accessible. For instance, it is up to us—the nurses, doctors, herbalists—to suggest calling in the person’s teachers, family, friends, ministers, counselors, chiropractor, coworkers, and community members who may be relevant and supportive connections during this process. Healing comes from opening up, not narrowing down.

Healing Priority 3: Work Toward Fixing the Problem

Unless you work in an emergency room, we should recognize that healing is a process with twists and turns, and it is not a linear, straight line. “Working toward” a goal emphasizes that it is the journey, not the outcome, that may matter most—a concept that could positively change our culture’s draconian “the end justifies the means” attitude and ultimately abolish animal testing, end lobby-driven legislation, reform the insurance industry, invent more relevant employee benefit packages, and reshape our ideas of community and individual health.

Healing is both a sensitive and deep topic. It can be very heartening and uplifting when we come together as a community to talk about what it means to heal and where healing might come from. To explore these concepts with resilience and warmth will inevitably lead us toward healing individually and collectively—and especially, it will lead us toward a deeper faith in the enduring power of human connection.

To deepen your understanding of herbal medicine, explore my herb school courses and curriculum here.