Clinical Craft Series…
refining your craft.
Refine your clinical craft with continuing education online classes for seedling through seasoned practitioners of clinical herbalism. Brought to you by Sovereignty Herbs and the Herbal Practice Connexion. Classes from the Clinical Craft Series are all about honing in on the skillfulness of our clinical work - with a specialty focus on topics surrounding both the practice and business of clinical herbalism.
Please note there are several registration options. You can register for individual classes with 3 different ‘pay from the heart’ payment options. All classes will be recorded and replays will be made available for all registered participants.
Next up in the Clinical Craft Series…
April 22, 2025 ~ 5Pm
Join Steven Yeager for this 3-hour (with breaks) online intensive and Earth Day celebration exploring the poetic beauty of botanical language. During this botany intensive, participants will learn the botanical terminology needed to identify medicinal, edible, and poisonous plants growing in your garden and local wild spaces! We’ll also investigate plant anatomy as it relates to plant family characteristics. This class is designed to give participants the skills to understand botanical descriptions in herbal texts, botanical keys, and gardening books, and become familiar with important vocabulary for the identification and appreciation of plants.
Steven Yeager is Vice President of Quality and Regulatory at Mountain Rose Herbs where he oversees laboratory operations including their identity program as well as assuring GMP compliance. He is also trained as a field botanist and wild harvester. He serves on the following board of directors including the American Herbal Products Association, AHPA’s Foundation for Education and Research on Botanicals, United Plant Savers, and the Native Plant Society of Oregon. Steven is the former co-owner of the Columbines School of Botanical Studies in Eugene, Oregon where he was a co-instructor for over 20 years.
May 20, 2025 ~ 6PM
Join clinical herbalist Mel Kasting, RH (AHG) for this 2 hour class exploring the physiology of arousal, along with herbs, lifestyle considerations, and nutrition to support long-term sexual health and vitality. This class explores the multifaceted nature of sexual health and function, focusing on the use of herbal medicines to support libido, overcome sexual dysfunction, and promote overall sexual well-being. Rather than solely focusing on aphrodisiacs, this we will dive into the various causes of low libido and sexual dysfunction, recognizing that different individuals require personalized herbal solutions based on their unique situations.
Mel Kasting is a clinical herbalist and educator. As Clinical Director and Free Clinic Manager at the Eclectic School of Herbal Medicine, she ensures accessible care for clients while mentoring students through their clinical practicums. In her practice, she integrates traditional Western herbalism, clinical nutrition, and somatic practices, emphasizing mental health and connection with plants as key to overall wellness. Through her business, Forest Edge Herbals, she also provides mentorship and training in clinical skills and relational health for both emerging and experienced practitioners. Her work is shaped by a passion for public health, harm reduction, and person-centered care.
June 12, 2025 ~ 6PM
Join herbalist jim mcdonald in an exploration of ways we can embrace the complexity of herbal energetics without losing its elegant simplicity.
Many people are taught binary thinking and dualistic approaches to learning about and perceiving the world around us, but this is inherently problematic. While nature, indeed, includes binaries, it is by no means limited to them.
It is especially the case that energetic systems of medicine, which look at patterns of heat & coldness, dampness & dryness, and tension & laxity, can appear to be, and are too often simplified into binary systems. Why can't I figure out if this person's constitution is hot or cold... I see both? How can cramp bark tighten and relax tissues at the same time? If I combine a drying and moistening herb together, will they cancel each other out? I understand this, but see also contradictions, am I actually wrong? Do I actually even really know what I'm doing?
When we just look for two words to understand energetics (aromatics, or cholerics, are "hot and dry") we miss the nuance we need to really see people and plants with the attention they deserve.
jim's approach to herbcraft is deeply rooted in the land he lives upon, and blends traditional European folk influences with 19th century eclectic and physiomedical vitalism, which he conveys with story, experience, humor, common sense and lore to students, clients, random passersby and readers of his websites www.herbcraft.org & herbcraft.podia.com.
How to Register
Please read these registration instructions: We ask that you please read our Service Cancellation & Refund Policy prior to registering for these online classes. To register, click on the button below that says ‘Continue Registration’ and fill out the form. Once the form has been completed and submitted, your registration will be added to your shopping cart. Click on the shopping cart icon to complete your purchase. Please note that payment must be received in order for your registration to go through. If you are having any difficulties with the registration process, please contact Erika Galentin at office@sovereigntyherbs.com.
Please note there are several registration options. You can register for individual classes with 3 different ‘pay from the heart’ payment options. All classes will be recorded and replays will be made available for all registered participants.
Herbal Practice Connexion (HPX) members please note that these classes are included in your membership and you do not need to register here. Interested in learning more about the Herbal Practice Connection (HPX) and all that membership has to offer (including awesome classes like these)? Please click here to learn more.
Registration for Individual Classes
individual Classes ~ Pay from the Heart
‘Pay from the Heart’ is a model of payment for services that comes from the work of Mark Silver and The Heart of Business. Interested participants can choose which payment feels most in alignment with their hearts and what they can afford while offering the opportunity to also pay it forward.
Choose to pay it forward if you are able.
About Clinical Craft Series Instructors
Steven Yeager
Steven Yeager is Vice President of Quality and Regulatory at Mountain Rose Herbs where he oversees laboratory operations including their identity program as well as assuring GMP compliance. He is also trained as a field botanist and wild harvester. He serves on the following board of directors including the American Herbal Products Association, AHPA’s Foundation for Education and Research on Botanicals, United Plant Savers, and the Native Plant Society of Oregon. Steven is the former co-owner of the Columbines School of Botanical Studies in Eugene, Oregon where he was a co-instructor for over 20 years.
Mel Kasting
Mel Kasting is a clinical herbalist and educator. As Clinical Director and Free Clinic Manager at the Eclectic School of Herbal Medicine, she ensures accessible care for clients while mentoring students through their clinical practicums. In her practice, she integrates traditional Western herbalism, clinical nutrition, and somatic practices, emphasizing mental health and connection with plants as key to overall wellness. Through her business, Forest Edge Herbals, she also provides mentorship and training in clinical skills and relational health for both emerging and experienced practitioners. Her work is shaped by a passion for public health, harm reduction, and person-centered care.
jim mcdonald
In 1994, jim mcdonald's life changed when he drank tea from a wild plant he harvested from the land he lived upon. Since those first sips of strange tea, his life in the woods and meadows of southeast michigan has been centered on the plants & ecosystems of that land, and how he might share their virtues to restore wellness with those around him. jim's approach to herbcraft is deeply rooted in the land he lives upon, and blends traditional european folk influences with 19th century eclectic and physiomedical vitalism, which he conveys with story, experience, humour, common sense and lore to students, clients, random passersby and readers of his websites www.herbcraft.org & herbcraft.podia.com. He's taught classes throughout North America, is one of the organizers of the Great Lakes Herb Faire and is currently alternately writing “Foundational Herbcraft” and the “A Great Lakes Herbal”, in addition to articles for journals and other publications. jim is a community herbalist, a manic wildcrafter and medicine maker, and has been an ardent student of the most learned teachers of herbcraft… the plants themselves.