advanced community herbalism

For more information about the elements of our 2-year Community Herbalism program see our program’s overview and curriculum pages.

Advanced Community Herbalism builds on the foundation laid in the Fundamentals course to enrich our practice of Vitalist healing. We go into more depth with all of the organ systems, study advanced medicine making techniques, discuss herbs that require a higher skill level for appropriate use, and cover clinical skills relevant to community care.

Like the Fundamentals of Community Herbalism course, our Advanced Community Herbalism program has specific start and end dates. Students should expect to be engaged with the program every week and to keep up with videos and assignments as we move through the curriculum.  The entire class will work through the material together, completing coursework on the same schedule. At our biweekly live sessions, we will follow up on the material from the previous two weeks using exercises, case studies, and group discussions. At our optional monthly sessions, we will review and integrate the material from the previous month. At least one of the core Terra Sylva instructors will be present to facilitate all live sessions. In addition to our Zoom sessions (every other week) students can expect approximately 4 hours of video lessons per week and another 4-5 hours on assignments and self-study.

Our Advanced Community Herbalism cohort will be primarily drawn from graduates of our Fundamentals of Community Herbalism program.  Class size is limited to ensure that we have a cohesive group and plenty of opportunity for student-teacher interaction. If there is any room left after drawing from that pool, we will consider graduates of previous Terra Sylva programs and then graduates of similar programs.

Prerequisites

To qualify for Terra Sylva’s Advanced Community Herbalism program, an applicant must be a graduate of a Terra Sylva program or a graduate of a program similar to our Fundamentals of Community Herbalism course that provides:

• a minimum of 150 hours of lecture content

• training and experience in multiple medicine-making techniques

• a basic understanding of the body’s organ systems

• working knowledge of at least three dozen medicinal herbs (preferably more)

• a solid foundational framework for holistic health

At Terra Sylva, throughout our curriculum, we acknowledge and frame herbalism within the reality of systemic obstacles to health. If you meet the prerequisites listed above and are considering applying for our Year 2 program, but are unfamiliar with our orientation to holistic herbal care, please read this essay before applying.

If you’ve studied herbalism outside of Terra Sylva but feel that you have fulfilled these prerequisites, then you are welcome to apply to Advanced Community Herbalism and we will happily consider your application.

Do note that if your foundation in herbalism is solid, but you are missing one or more key pieces of our Terra Sylva framework (such as the tissue states or introductory vitalism), then we may only admit you to the Advanced program on the condition that you complete our short courses in these topics before the school year begins.

Dates: Our 2025 online Advanced Community Herbalism Program runs from March 3rd to November 5th.

Format: The 2025 Advanced Community Herbalism Program will consist of approximately 175 hours of instructional content that will include weekly video lessons, materia medica, a 3-hour live video conference every other week, one live study hall session per month, homework assignments, and three collaborative group assignments. Our core faculty (Jen Stovall, Dave Meesters and Janet Kent) will review assignments, give feedback, and host biweekly live conference calls and monthly optional study groups. Students who meet our attendance, participation, assignment, and exam requirements will receive a certificate affirming successful completion of our Advanced Community Herbalism training program.

Live classes will be held via video conference every other Wednesday (beginning March 12th) starting at 3pm Eastern Time, for a total of 17 live sessions. 

Live study hall sessions will be held via video conference on one Monday per month (beginning March 17th) starting at 4 pm Eastern Time, for a total of 7 live sessions. These sessions will be an opportunity for students to explore questions and observations about course material and to generally improve their overall understanding by being in dialogue with their cohort and instructors. They are an important component of the course offering but will be optional for students to attend. 

Students will also be expected to engage in 3 group assignments over the course of the year. This assignment will be facilitated by the core faculty but will be done in small student groups. Each group will work together to schedule a time to meet and execute their assignment.

Class dates:  Live video conference classes will be held on the following dates: March 12th & 26th, April 9th & 23rd, May 7th & 21st, June 11th & 25th, July 9th & 23rd, August 13th & 27th, September 10th & 24th, October 8th & 29th, November 5th.  There will be a break on the week of May 26th, August 4th, & October 20th. During those weeks, there will not be a weekly video lesson or homework.

Study hall dates: Live video conference study hall hours will be held on the following dates: March 17th, April 21st, May 19th, June 16th, July 21st, August 18th, September 15th and are optional.

Tuition:  Tuition for the online Advanced Community Herbalism Program is $2550. Once you are accepted, a $300 non-refundable deposit is required in order to secure your spot, with the rest of your tuition due by January 15th, 2025. If you would like to arrange a payment plan, we can discuss options after you are accepted into the program.

Additional costs: One required textbook (which students who attended Fundamentals of Community Herbalism will already have) and medicine making supplies.

In-person Intensives: Students enrolled in the Advanced Community Herbalism course will have opportunities to participate in two in-person intensives:

Advanced Medicine Making & Formulation :: dates tbd ($450):: We will make medicine together, specifically some of the more complex forms of medicine making. We will cover different forms of percolation, basic distillation, practice exact formulation and dosage together, and more. This intensive will be held at our field campus where we will also go on plant walks and meet the special forest plants we will discuss this year.

Clinical Skills :: dates tbd ($350) :: We will cover clinical skills that benefit from live interaction. We will practice physical assessment, practice live intakes (on members of the class), and hone our ability to create individualized holistic protocols. Location TBD.

Accessibility: While an online program does allow us to include people who cannot relocate for herb school, it does limit accessibility in other ways. Students will need access to reliable internet and a laptop, desktop computer or tablet. The device and the internet bandwidth must allow full video-conferencing capability.