National Institute of Medical Herbalists

23/07/2026

🌿 SAVE THE DATE 🌿
POWER OF PLANTS FESTIVAL
A joyful, herb-filled weekend

📅 8th - 11th July 2027
📍 Hopton Court, Shropshire

Immerse yourself in a weekend celebrating the power of plants with inspiring talks, hands-on workshops, herb walks, crafts, wellbeing activities, delicious food, camping, live music, and so much more.

Whether you're a herbal practitioner, plant enthusiast, or simply curious, there's something for everyone.

Tickets on sale soon!

🌱 More details coming soon.

13/07/2026

🌿 SAVE THE DATE 🌿

HERBAL MEDICINE CONFERENCE 2026

Herbal Medicine and the Gut
Exploring herbal approaches to gastrointestinal health

📅 20–21 November 2026
📍 St Martin's House, Leicester & Online

Join practitioners, students, researchers, and herbal medicine enthusiasts for two inspiring days of learning, discussion, and the latest insights into supporting gastrointestinal health with herbal medicine.

More details and registration coming soon.

21/06/2026

08/05/2026

We have more plant knowledge to share from open days last weekend, where we were showcasing the benefits of seeing a registered medical herbalist. This time , of and grow_cook_inspire share some of their favourite herbs.

What would your choice be?

06/05/2026

The Spring edition of our Power of Plants magazine is out now! 🌸 📖

This edition includes:
🌿The Sustainability of Pau d'arco by Ann Armrecht
🌿Forest Bathing by Janine Gerhardt
🌿Blossoming Tree Communication by Christina Stapley
🌿The Medicine Tree Women by Anne Stobart
🌿Clinic tour with Cath Couzens

PoP Magazine gives you a quarterly dose of articles, opinion, research and updates, showcasing all of the amazing ways that plants, practitioners and people interact. 🪴 😀

Full Members of the Institute receive a free copy of our magazine.
Not a member? You can buy an issue, or subscribe, on our website (link in bio)

Happy herbal reading!

05/05/2026

After a lovely weekend at , talking to people about how a registered herbalist could help them with their health, we wanted to share some of the plants that people involved in the open days want more people to know about. The first suggestions come from .mcvicar .food

What plants would you recommend to others?

06/03/2026

✨ MONTHLY HERBAL SERIES ✨
March: A cooling, cleansing climber
aka Cleavers, goosegrass, sticky willie, sticky w**d (Galium aparine)

This long-legged ‘sticky’ plant is not sticky; rather, it is covered in tiny hooked hairs that help it clamber over hedges to reach the light. Although a source of frustration for gardeners, it has long been treasured by dairy farmers and herbalists alike.

Have you heard the folk saying that states ‘if you drink cleavers for nine weeks, you will be so beautiful everyone will fall in love with you’? This is because cleavers has a lymphatic action, which supports the body’s immune defense system with an action on cleaning and clearing the body’s tissues from waste products and infection. It is also high in nutrients such as silica, which is useful for maintaining skin health.

Herbalists use these actions for improving skin conditions such as acne and eczema, which is what the folk saying refers to: who wouldn’t love a glowing skin? ✨

🐮What about those dairy farmers? A thick, tangled ball of cleavers was once used as a milk strainer, the hooks effectively sieved out any impurities leaving the milk cow hair and straw-free.

To consult a herbalist about the conditions discussed, please use 'Find a Herbalist' https://nimh.org.uk/find-a-herbalist/ to locate one near you.

26/02/2026

Get involved with an exciting herbal research project

Meet Nicholas Edwards , a practitioner who blends research and herbalism into his work. He qualified at Lincoln University in 2009 and later completed a Master’s in Ethnobotany at the University of Kent.

Nicholas works part-time at his Bristol-based herbal practice, while completing a PhD at Durham University. His doctoral research examines how herbalists approach complex syndromes, including:
CFS/ME
Fibromyalgia
Post-COVID syndromes
Lyme disease
Several herbalists are involved in his research, but he is interested in talking to more.

Are you a practitioner with insights into treating patients with any of the above conditions?

Know someone who is? Please tag them below.

Please contact Nicholas directly for a link to a short survey, to arrange an interview or practice visit.

📧 Email: [email protected]

20/02/2026

As a herbalist, are you looking for ways to make your clinic more sustainable? The spring edition of our Power of Plants magazine offers insights into how you can lower the footprint of your practice.

From the bottles and herbs you use to the alcohol in your tincture, Sabrina Gonçalves Krebsbach () and Jonas Brab take us through the challenges and choices of sustainable herbal practice. Both their articles invite us to make changes together as a professional community.

Sabrina reminds us that as herbalists, we can ‘share not just remedies but also a vision of herbal medicine that cares for the living world.’ For example, when it comes to packaging, we can opt to reduce, recycle and reuse where possible.

You can read more in this month's POP magazine which is available from our shop (https://nimh.org.uk/shop/8187/).

With thanks to .reality for the republication of Jonas Brab’s guide to sustainable herbalism.

We’d love to hear any tips you have for helping to look after planetary health alongside patient health. What steps are you taking towards sustainability in your clinic?

Image credit:

10/02/2026

🌿 Sustainable Foraging 🌿
“Successfully foraging … on a regular basis – be it for personal or economic reasons – requires an intimacy with nature and a loving stewardship of natural resources way beyond the average nature-lover.”

Our latest issue of The Power of Plants (POP) Magazine features the words of forager and wild food specialist, Mark Williams , co-founder of the Association of Foragers (). Mark discusses how habitat destruction through unsustainable farming practices, pollution and urbanisation puts serious pressure on nature’s resources, and explores how foraging for wild food and medicine can sustainably fit into this system.

Swipe the images above to see the ‘Good Forager’s Checklist’ taken from his recent book The Coastal Forager (available from 🔗link in bio at )

More of Mark’s thoughts and sustainable foraging practices are further discussed in our POP magazine, get your copy on our shop (🔗link in bio).

Mark encourages any person or organisation with concerns about foraging to contact the for discussion and guidance.