The South East’s first Training Centre for Herbal Medicine students offers free consultations for patients.
The Lismore Herbal Medicine Student Training Clinic, the first training clinic for students of herbal medicine to be established in the South East, is offering free herbal medicine consultations for patients by herbal medicine students, under the supervision of a qualified practitioner.
The student-training clinic, which provides hands-on clinical training and experience for Herbal Medicine students during their final two years of training, was set up by Marie Reilly, a practicing Medical Herbalist at the Lismore Clinic, lecturer at the Irish College of Phytotherapy (Coláiste Luibheanna) and clinical co-ordinator for the Heartwood herbal medicine professional training programme in 2011.
Two colleges in Ireland currently provide training for medical herbalists in Ireland: the Irish College of Phytotherapy (Coláiste Luibheanna), and Heartwood Herbal Medicine Training. The training clinic also welcomes students from herbal medicine courses in the UK, such as University of Westminster, and Lincoln College. Professional training for medical herbalists includes a minimum of 500 hours of Clinical Practice at an approved training clinic.
According to Marie Reilly, “In today’s society, people demand high standards of healthcare and expect their chosen therapy to be both safe and effective. It is therefore extremely important to provide the highest standards of training for medical herbalists, and hands-on clinical practice is perhaps the most important part of this”.
Many people have attended the student training clinic with all sorts of problems including headaches and migraine, recurrent infections, digestive problems such as constipation and IBS, skin problems such as eczema and acne, thyroid problems and other hormonal imbalances.
Student training at The Lismore Clinic takes place once a month on a Saturday. The next clinic will take place this Saturday, 7th October. Consultations are free of charge and are conducted by a final year herbal medicine student and observed by up to 6 other students in their final two years of training. Patients will therefore only have to pay for their medicines. This not only provides a valuable learning experience for the students, but also offers the opportunity for individuals who may not otherwise be able to afford it, to experience the benefits of herbal medicine.
The student training clinic is fully supervised by Medical Herbalist, Marie Reilly MSc, MNIMH, MIRH, DipCoun, who also runs her full-time private practice at The Lismore Clinic. Marie has been practicing as a medical herbalist in Lismore for the past 13 years, and has taught on both the BSc Herbal Sciences course at CIT and the Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Herbal Medicine at the Irish College of Phytotherapy. She has lectured at the Cork Institute of Technology Herbal Science Symposium; at Botanica 2014 (Trinity College Dublin); and at the National Institute of Medical Herbalists Annual Conference. She has also provided numerous CPD seminars on various subjects for practitioners of herbal medicine.
For further information about the student training clinic, or to make an appointment for a consultation, please contact The Lismore Clinic on 058 53200. (Please make sure to specify whether you are interested in the student training clinic or private practice).