PROGRAM AND CURRICULUM

Living Earth School of Herbalism offers general interest, industry-related and professional courses and programs. These represent a balanced synthesis of traditional and scientific knowledge and experience. All Living Earth courses and programs are recognized by the Ontario Herbalists Association.

PLEASE NOTE: The Traditional Herbalist program is currently being revised. Some of the courses are being converted to an online distance learning format. These include general interest, Holistic Herbal Studies, and Traditional Herbalist courses, but not the Herbal Field Studies field workshops or The Spirit of Herbs workshops. Once the online versions of these courses are available, it will be possible to register for them at any time as long as you have taken the appropriate prerequisites, where applicable. For more information please visit the Scheduling, Current Courses, and Registration sections of our website.

The new online versions of the herbal courses that were formerly offered as in-class courses will be identical to the in-class version. They consist of streamed lectures recorded during the in-class version of the courses, including any questions that were asked by the attending students. All of the handouts from the courses will be available as PDF files. Online students will be able to ask questions and communicate with other students enrolled in a course via an online forum.



General Interest Courses

Most of our online courses as well as the Herbal Field Studies and Spirit of Herbs workshops can be taken as general interest courses as long as the applicant has taken and passed the appropriate prerequisites (when required). General interest students are not required to enroll in a certificate or diploma program.

General Interest students who wish to enroll in any certificate or diploma program may do so as long as they have met the academic requirements of the program in which they would like to enroll.

 

General interest courses include:



Holistic Herbal Studies Certificate Program

This is a 335-hour program that provides participants with a general knowledge of holistic healing with a special emphasis on herbalism. In addition to the herb-related content, this program includes an introduction to human anatomy and physiology and a number of related healing disciplines including nutrition, aromatherapy, homeopathy and Bach Flower therapy.

The Holistic Herbal Studies program is recommended for anyone who would like a general introduction to the field and to be able to use this knowledge for the benefit of themselves and their family and friends. It is also beneficial for anyone who wishes to complement another field of study or who works with natural health products and requires sound knowledge of their properties and application, such as employees of natural food and supplements stores, or manufacturers or distributors of herbs and other natural health products.


Students who do not wish to enroll in the entire program may take any number of individual courses as general interest courses.

All of the courses in the Holistic Herbal Studies program are also part of the Traditional Herbalist diploma program. Holistic Herbal Studies students who wish to enroll in the Traditional Herbalist program may do so as long as they have met the academic requirements of the Traditional Herbalist program.

Successful completion of this program is not a qualification for the practice of herbalism or any other field of natural healing.

Courses include:

  • GSCI 1019 Health and Wellness (George Brown College)
    Prerequisite: Grade 12 English.
    The following online distance learning course may be taken as an alternative:
    Stress, Wellness and Nutrition (Ontario Learn)
    Prerequisite: Grade 12 English.
  • GSCI 1120 Nutrition (George Brown College)
    The following online distance learning course may be taken as an alternative:
    Introduction to Nutrition (Ontario Learn)
    Prerequisite: Grade 12 English.



Traditional Herbalist


This is a 1,500 hour program for those who wish to pursue a career as a clinical holistic herbalist. It includes 1,150 hours of classroom study, 250 hours of supervised clinic, 100 hours of clinical apprenticeship, and several special projects.

Much of the science portion of the curriculum of the Traditional Herbalist program is offered at
George Brown College. Alternatives to most of these courses are available in an online distance format from various colleges through Ontario Learn. Students must enroll in these courses directly with George Brown College or through Ontario Learn. It is the students' responsibility to make sure that they enroll in the appropriate courses to meet the requirements of the Traditional Herbalist program. They will also be required to provide transcripts indicating their attendance at these courses and their final grades.

Students who live outside the Toronto area may apply to have courses from other community colleges and universities accepted as a substitution for any of the George Brown courses that are required for the Traditional Herbalist program. In order to be accepted as a substitution, the course must include a similar curriculum and be of a depth and length that is at least that of the George Brown course. Acceptance of any courses as equivalents to courses in Level 1b or 2b of the Traditional Herbalist program requires the approval of the program director. It is not possible for Living Earth to research all of the courses that might be acceptable substitutions from the many educational institutions outside of the Toronto area. It is the responsibility of the student to research courses and provide the information to the School.

With the conversion of part of the core curriculum of the program to an online format in late 2011, the program now consists of two distinct parts. The first part consists of the online portion of the program. This includes most of the level 1a courses (except the Herbal Field Studies field workshops and The Spirit of Herbs), all of the level 1b courses, some of the level 2a courses (the specifics have not been finalized yet), and all of the level 2b courses. The remaining courses, consisting of some of the advanced theoretical content of the program and all of the practical content, will be offered as a series of one week intensive workshops. The number of intensive workshops has not yet been finalized, but it will probably be six.

Students may complete the online part of the program at their own pace and are not required to officially enroll in the Traditional Herbalist program until they have completed the online portion of the program. However, they must fulfill the academic requirements of the Traditional Herbalist program for all of the online courses. Students who, upon completion of the online portion of the program have met the academic requirements of the Traditional Herbalist program will be eligible to attend the intensive workshops and complete the program.

Level 1a (Living Earth Courses)


(*) In addition to the five Herbal Field Studies field workshops that must be attended in order to fulfill the requirements of this course, Traditional Herbalist students are required to attend an additional five field workshops in order to meet the academic requirements of the program (i.e. the academic requirements of the Traditional Herbalist program requires students to attend a total of ten Herbal Field Studies field workshops, even though only five field workshops need to be attended to meet the requirements of the course). This must include all seven of regularly scheduled Herbal Field Studies workshops and three additional repeats. Students are expected to attend all ten Herbal Field Studies workshops in the first two years that they are enrolled in the program.

Level 1b (George Brown or Ontario Learn Courses)

The following courses may be taken before, at the same time, or after the completion of the Level 1a courses. However, they must be completed as a prerequisite for enrolment in Level 2a of the Traditional Herbalist program.

  • CHEM 9004 Chemistry for Health Sciences (George Brown College)
    This course is not currently offered by George Brown College and there is no distance equivalent available from Ontario Learn. The following alternative is therefore recommended:
    CHM198 Advanced Chemistry (Seneca College)
    Prerequisite: Grade 11U Chemistry or CHM 091
  • ANAT 1054 Anatomy and Physiology I (George Brown College)
    This course is not currently offered by George Brown College as part of their Continuing Education program. The following alternative is therefore recommended:
    Anatomy and Physiology I for RPN (Ontario Learn)
    Prerequisite: Grade 12 English.
  • ANAT 1056 Anatomy and Physiology II (George Brown College)
    This course is not currently offered by George Brown College as part of their Continuing Education program. The following alternative is therefore recommended:
    Anatomy and Physiology II for RPN (Ontario Learn)
    Prerequisite:Anatomy and Physiology I for RPN .
  • GSCI 1002 Basic Botany (George Brown College or Ontario Learn)
    Prerequisite: Grade 12 English.
  • GSCI 1019 Health and Wellness (George Brown College)
    Prerequisite: Grade 12 English.
    The following online distance learning course may be taken as an alternative:
    Stress, Wellness and Nutrition (Ontario Learn)
    Prerequisite: Grade 12 English.
  • GSCI 1120 Nutrition (George Brown College)
    The following online distance learning course may be taken as an alternative:
    Introduction to Nutrition (Ontario Learn)
    Prerequisite: Grade 12 English.

Level 2a (Living Earth Courses)

  • Diet and Nutrition
    Prerequisites: Herbal Therapeutics & Materia Medica, Health and Wellness, Nutrition. Changing to an online format.
  • Pharmacology
    Prerequisites: Herbal Therapeutics & Materia Medica, Chemistry for Health Sciences. Changing to an online format.
  • Advanced Herbal Therapeutics & Materia Medica
    Prerequisites: Herbal Materia Medica, Anatomy & Physiology II, Diet and Nutrition, Pharmacology.
  • Bach Flower Therapy
    Prerequisites: Complementary Herbal Therapies, The Spirit of Herbs.
    The lecture portion of this course is changing to an online format. The practical portion will be included in the intensive workshops.
  • Advanced Herbal Field Studies
    Prerequisites: Herbal Field Studies, Herbal Materia Medica, Basic Botany.
  • Case Studies
    Prerequisite: Advanced Herbal Therapeutics & Materia Medica.
  • Herbal Practice Issues
    Corequisite: Supervised Clinic. Changing to an online format.

Level 2b (George Brown or Ontario Learn Courses)

The following courses may be taken before, at the same time, or after the completion of the Level 2a courses. However, they must be completed as a prerequisite for enrolment in Level 3 of the Traditional Herbalist program.

  • PATH 1018 Pathology and Therapeutics I (George Brown College)
    This course is not currently offered by George Brown College as part of their Continuing Education program. The following alternative is therefore recommended:
    Pathophysiology I for RPN (Ontario Learn)
    Prerequisite: Anatomy and Physiology II for RPN.
  • PATH 1017 Pathology and Therapeutics II (George Brown College)
    This course is not currently offered by George Brown College as part of their Continuing Education program. The following alternative is therefore recommended:
    Pathophysiology II for RPN (Ontario Learn)
    Prerequisite: Pathophysiology I for RPN.
  • GSSC 1116 Interpersonal Psychology (George Brown College)
    Prerequisite: Grade 12 English.
    The following online distance learning course may be taken as an alternative:
    Dealing With Difficult People (Ontario Learn)
    Prerequisite: Grade 12 English.
  • GSSC 1117 Life Span Development (George Brown College)
    Prerequisite: Grade 12 English.
    The following online distance learning courses may be taken as an alternative:
    Developmental Psychology (Ontario Learn)
    Prerequisite: Grade 12 English.
    -or-
    Personality Psychology (Ontario Learn)
    Prerequisite: Grade 12 English.

Level 3 (Living Earth Courses)

  • Supervised Clinic
    Prerequisites: In order to be eligible to begin Supervised Clinic, students must have completed and received a passing grade on all of the level 1a, 1b, 2a and 2b courses.
  • Clinical Apprenticeship
    Corequisite: Supervised Clinic.


Intensive Workshops

The advanced and practical part of the Traditional Herbalist program will consist of a series of one week intensive workshops. The number of workshops has not yet been finalized, but it will probably be six. Three or four will be scheduled per year from April to October. For distance learning students who do not live in southern Ontario and are therefore not able to attend the Herbal Field Studies field workshops, these workshops will be offered as an extension of some of the intensive workshops.

Other Requirements

In addition to the above courses and clinic, Traditional Herbalist students must complete several major projects outside normal classroom time. These include, but are not limited to: two herbal monographs and wild-harvested fresh herb tincture preparation for the school dispensary.

Upon completion of their curriculum and clinic requirements, Traditional Herbalist students will be required to write and pass a written and an oral final exam.

Graduates of the Traditional Herbalist program will be able to use the Traditional Herbalist (T.H.). designation. In addition, the Traditional Herbalist program is recognized by the Ontario Herbalists Association (OHA). Graduates are eligible for professional membership in the OHA and to use the Registered Herbalist (R.H.) designation as long as they remain a member in good standing.

For individual descriptions of some of the courses offered as part of this program, see the Course Descriptions section.




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