AHG Herbalist Mentors

The following list is of AHG Registered Herbalists who have indicated their willingness to provide herbal mentorship. Students are encouraged to contact potential mentors directly. Please refer to the AHG Mentorship Handbook for tips on how to initiate a mentorship.

 

Mel Kasting RH(AHG)

Email: mel@forestedgeherbals.com

Mel Kasting is a clinical herbalist, instructor and Clinic Director for the Eclectic School of Herbal Medicine’s student-led free clinic located in Lowgap, North Carolina. As the Clinic Director of a student-led clinic in a rigorous full-time clinical training program, she is uniquely qualified to support the beginning herbalist in their journey towards professional herbalism. Mel spends most of my time sitting in with student practitioners, reviewing their cases, and helping them to develop the skills necessary to become successful clinical practitioners. Mel is trained in functional herbalism, a modality that blends traditional western herbalism with clinical nutrition and functional medicine. It is a systems-based model that honors traditional plant-based care, while recognizing the importance of lifestyle modifications, herbs, and supplements, alongside functional laboratory testing, to address the whole person rather than an isolated set of symptoms or disease. She works with many types of illness, acute and chronic, and specializes in mast cell disorders, autoimmunity, chronic stress, and trauma. She offers mentorship in foundational clinical skills, functional bloodwork assessment, SOAP note writing, case review, physical assessment, clinical nutrition, and building treatment protocols blending traditional western energetics with the above skills. I am also available for beginning students to help coordinate effective self-study programs. Mentorship Price is $50 an hour, with one 3-hour need-based scholarship available every 3 months.Some Work/Trade available, distance and in-person. I also offer long-term mentorship packages tailored to your needs, as well as individual case review and a limited number of short-term, in-person apprenticeships on my shared land in Smith River, VA. Plants are magic and so are the people who connect with them!


 

KP Khalsa, Yogaraj, DN-C, RH, LMT, NCTMB, CC, NAMAPM

Email: integrative_education@msn.com

Karta Purkh Singh Khalsa, Yogaraj (Ayurveda), DN-C, RH, LMT, NCTMB, CC, NAMAPM, has over 40 years of experience in holistic medicine, and is one of the foremost natural healing experts in North America. Khalsa is the former president of the American Herbalists Guild, and is a respected teacher, writer and lecturer. Khalsa is a state certified dietitian and nationally registered herbalist, nationally certified massage therapist, a certified education provider for The National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork and the Florida State Board of Massage Therapy and senior editor for The Harvard University Natural Standard. Mr. Khalsa personally trained with Ayurvedic master Yogi Bhajan for 32 years. He is nationally credentialed to teach herbalism, yoga and bodywork, including Ayurvedic massage and spa techniques. Khalsa is one of the first nationally certified instructors of Kundalini yoga in the United States. He also holds the highest qualification level of registered yoga teacher, 500 level, and was one of the first to achieve this credential. Khalsa is the founder of the International Integrative Education Institute (IIEI). The divisions of the IIEI, The Herbalists College and the Ayurveda College, offer post-secondary curricula to train professional herbalists around the U.S. As the author of over 3,000 published health articles, Mr. Khalsa has written or edited 30 books and on a variety of health topics including major works on massage, Ayurveda, Chinese medicine and physiology. His latest book, The Way of Ayurvedic Herbs, co-authored with Michael Tierra, brings to life Ayurveda in an understandable and practical way. He is also a frequent contributor to mainstream and professional publications in the natural healing field, and is a contributing editor to Let's Live, The Herb Quarterly, and Great Life. Khalsa is a professor at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and faculty member in the Botanical Medicine Department of Bastyr University and National College of Natural Medicine, where he trains naturopathic medical students, and teaches Ayurveda. Khalsa is also the herb program curriculum director at the Northwest Institute of Ayurveda. Today Mr. Khalsa's approach to holistic healing is very eclectic. His work is focused on herbalism, the medical and therapeutic value of Yoga, Ayurvedic massage, meditation and other holistic therapies. He lives with his family in Eugene, Oregon. Distance only. $85/hr.  Packages are available.


 

Don Ollsin, MA, RH (AHG)

Email: don@grassrootsherbalism.com

I am an herbal elder. I have been studying, teaching, wildcrafting, making medicine, healing, consulting, herbal politicking, and running clinics, dispensaries and retail outlets since 1970.

I recently completed a Masters degree in Environmental Education and Communication to help serve my students and the planet better. I have also trained with Indian mystics and Native elders. I teach modern and traditional systems of healing. I no longer see a fragmented disassociated body or world. Physiologically, I no longer see the body as made up of separate systems, but rather as a matrix, the extracellular matrix. I see the earth, water, sun and sky as sentient beings, along with all the other forms, such as rocks, plants, animals and humans.

I teach and practice "sentient openness". I see herbs as my friends and companions, not as biochemical factories here to serve me. Herbs can heal you just by being in their presence alone.

Herbs are light eaters and heal through the transmission of light. I teach students and clients to find their herbal allies. When we visit the ginkgo tree, I remind my students that six ginkgo trees survived at the epicenter of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima and are still alive today. Now that could be an ally.

I wish to share my teachings, from the traditional systems like grassroots herbalism, shamanism, and Ayurveda, to the modern, like the extracellular matrix, the zero point field, and the biology of perception.

I can speed your journey by guiding you to the right sources for each level of learning. Being an elder, I can provide and/or guide you to the knowledge that you need to become a proficient healer.

I want to train as many young herbalists as I can and get those that want to be recognized as Registered Herbalists by the AHG. I support and believe in the AHG, as I was part of the original crew of herbalists who dreamed of such an organization at Breitenbush Hot Springs so many years ago.

Mentoring provides the magic of individual support and the guidance that distinguishes information from education in the first place. Together, we will establish checkpoints to measure how you are reaching your goals, through both group check-ins and individual accountability.

All applicants are required to complete our Foundational Course before applying for the mentorship program. https://grassrootsherbalism.com/course-3


To find out more information about the Herbal Mentorship Collective (https://www.donollsin.com/).


You can also contact me via email: don@grassrootsherbalism.com


Text or phone (250-592-7544).


 

Lori Valentine Rose, PhD, CNP, BCHN, RH (AHG)

Email: lrose@hillcollege.edu

Lori Valentine Rose, PhD, CNP, BCHN, RH (AHG), has been studying holistic wellness for over a decade. She believes in using lifestyle changes, food, and herbs as medicine (in that order).  She has been teaching holistic nutrition and majors biology at Hill College since 2008, and is the founder and educator of the Hill College Holistic Wellness Pathway, the only accredited (financial aid eligible) wellness pathway that includes both the educational and clinical training required for three national holistic wellness boards (NANP, AHG, ICHWC) as part of one complete program that also leads to an Associate of Science degree.  Lori Rose has her BS in bio-environmental science, her MS and PhD in biology, is a nationally certified nutrition professional, nationally board certified in holistic nutrition, and nationally registered clinical herbalist. She studied herbalism with Rosemary Gladstar, Juliet Blankespoor, Rosalee de la Foret, KP Khalsa, Paul Bergner, Kami McBride, Sam Coffman, and various herbalists through Herb Mentor (jim mcdonald, Todd Caldecott, John Gallagher).  She also runs her own private holistic nutrition and clinical herbalist business, Lori Rose Holistic, and teaches organic permaculture gardening through city and school gardens. She specializes in addressing chronic health issues holistically, and hopes to help mentees get comfortable with the hands-on clinical and business aspect of being a clinical herbalist and becoming a registered herbalist through the AHG.   She also provides training in holistic nutrition and successful coaching aspects of health protocols, and is equally qualified in all three areas.  Mentees can sign up for 2 group clinical courses through the Hill College Holistic Wellness Pathway, obtaining college credit and using financial aid/veteran's benefits while learning the clinical and business aspect of holistic health protocols.  Mentees can also sign up for private one-on-one mentor sessions via phone, email, Skype, or in person ($100/hour).


 

Rebecca Snow, MS, CNS, LDN, RH (AHG)

Email: info@rebeccasnow.com

I am a licensed nutritionist and herbalist; I have a passion for helping individuals get healthy using foods, herbs and lifestyle changes. In addition to seeing clients at Avalon Yoga and Wellness Center in Catonsville, and through teleconferencing, I teach workshops and mentors new practitioners of nutrition and herbal medicine. I have been studying and using herbs for 20 years and practicing in a clinical setting for 14 years.  Upon receiving my Master of Science Program in Herbal Medicine, I was awarded the Herbert C Brown award for service to MUIH (Tai Sophia) and practiced for 5 years at Optimal Health Physicians an Integrative Medical Practice in Rockville, MD that specializes in chronic infection and disease. I completed an International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) preceptorship and has lectured widely on Lyme disease and weight loss. I served as the Founding Director of the MS in Nutrition and Integrative Health Program at the Maryland University of Integrative Health (MUIH), where I taught graduate-level nutrition and herbal medicine coursework for several years. I have enjoyed the honor of lecturing for Goucher College, American Herbalist Guild's Annual Conference, Johns Hopkins University, Morgan State University, Baltimore Bioneers Conference, Presbyterian Medical Center at the University of Pennsylvania, WC Grace & Co, Choice Hotels International, Ryderwood Village and the Baltimore Herb Festival. Rebecca speaks on nutrition and herbs for the media, Fox 45, WBAL, among others. Prior to receiving my Master's degree, I worked as the store manager of Smile Herb Shop in College Park, MD and completed coursework at the Dreamtime Center for Herbal Studies. I am a Certified Nutritional Specialist, a licensed nutritionist in the State of Maryland, and a registered herbalist with the American Herbalist Guild. My first loves are my husband, my daughter, and God.  My second loves are herbs, food, cooking, gardening, hiking, sunshine, reading fiction and hot baths. Hourly rate: $120 an hour and $60 for 30 minutes.  I have two mentorship programs. The Premium Mentorship Program is $2100 for 10 months and the Start-up Mentorship Program is $1200 for 6 months.  These programs include a certain number of group educational webinars, individual meetings, Private Facebook group participation, and resource sharing. Clinic Specialties: Weight loss, food addiction, Lyme disease and co-infections, MCAS, digestive ailments, chronic health issues, custom herbal formulations, integrating nutrition and herbal medicine, specialized laboratory assessment, business and marketing strategies.


 

Nicole Telkes

Email: wildflower@nicoletelkes.com
Mentorship Type: Virtual/Remote, In Person

I have a background in botanical studies, plant conservation, community activism and herbal first aid clinics and have spent the last 20 years traveling around wild and weedy corners of North America studying and using bioregional native and naturalized medicinal plants. I am the Director and founder of the Wildflower School of Botanical Medicine in Austin, which offers onsite and online education in holistic herbalism. I am also a founder of the Traditions Not Trademark Free Fire Cider campaign, working to protect our traditional remedies for future generations. I began my practice in the streets, as Direct Action Herbal and First Aid Support at large protests like the WTO. I then began training others in supporting street actions and went on to create and/or assist in several backwoods and indigenous-led clinics around the country. Studying and/or working with practitioners like Michael Moore, Margi Flint , Maria Elena Martinez ,Greta de la Montagne, Will Morris, Karyn Sanders, and Filiberto Delgado, led me into seeing clients in a more intimate, one on one scenario using assessment skills like body reading. I spent many years cultivating my knowledge and combining it with massage and bodywork skills. After teaching community herbalism for over a decade, I launched a clinical program at my school in 2012. I am now providing a mentorship to carefully screened herbalists around the country who want to take their herbalism and do something practical and apply it in a real world setting clinically. I am able to work onsite with folks in both Austin and Portland or online webinars/phone. I practice from a holistic western perspective peppered with the influences of the dozens of herbalists from the U.S., Mexico, and Europe that have made my practice what it is today. I have training and a pretty solid grasp of Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Physiomedicalism, Eclecticism, Greek Medicine and other traditional healing systems. I specialize in using bioregional medicines and creating a garden-grown/weedy apothecaries, as well as work a lot with chronic skin issues, mental and spiritual health, woundcare and pain, gut imbalances, constitutional balance, creating clinics, emergency herbal first aid support, ethics, being a compassionate human, and cultural competency. Hourly rate for mentorship 50/hr for AHG members 75/other or apply to join a group onsite at a reduced rate in Seattle and Austin...


 

Michele Collins Vergara, RH(AHG), MMQ, MPH

Email: michele@spiritrisingherbs.com
Mentorship Type: Virtual/Remote, In Person

Michele Collins Vergara, RH (AHG), MPH has been practicing as a clinical herbalist since 2004, using traditional Chinese medicine in combination with Chinese, western, and Ayurvedic herbs, Chinese nutritional therapy, and medical qi gong. She uses qi gong to offer her clients the opportunity to deepen their ability to monitor and regulate their own health. She has a general practice, with a focus on women's health, psychological/mental health issues, digestive issues, allergies and asthma, the use of tonic herbs and formulas to address chronic depletion caused by illness or emotional trauma, as well as the seasonal applications of herbs, food, and qi gong. She maintains a raw herb and concentrated extract pharmacy and prepares customized formulations for all her clients (which include people and a few cats and dogs). Michele is a graduate and certified herbalist (EWCH) from Michael and Leslie Tierra's professional herbalist program, the East West School of Herbology. She has a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree in Health Behavior from the UNC School of Public Health and worked as an evaluation consultant before becoming an herbalist. She has been a Registered Herbalist with the American Herbalist Guild (AHG) since 2007. In 2011, she lived in Chengdu, China for six months studying advanced Chinese herbal medicine in a hospital setting that integrated western medicine with traditional Chinese herbal medicine.  She studied medical qi gong with Wendy Lang and the International Institute of Medical Qi Gong curriculum introduced by Dr. Jerry Allen Johnson and is a Master of Medical Qi Gong (MMQ).  She is an ordained Daoist priest, 82nd generation Highest Purity sect and 66th generation Celestial Masters sect, and a disciple of the Dragon Heart Temple. Distance and in person, $93/hour Clinical Specialties: Medical qi gong and integrating it with herbal medicine, seasonal application of herbs, qi gong/meditation, Chinese medicine differential diagnosis and assessment, Chinese medicine food therapy, Counseling skills for the herbalist, Building an appropriate referral network, Dispensing and formulating and medicine making; herbal pharmacy/cGMP issues, Office management, and Dosha assessment in Ayurvedic medicine.


 

Leslie Williams, RH(AHG), M.Ed., Certified bicycle mechanic

Email: herbalist.williams@gmail.com

I’ve been in herbal practice since 1985 – off the grid, at large music festivals and at marches, at walk-in free clinics and with clients I’ve worked with for 30 years. I work especially with elderly folks, people with chronic and auto-immune conditions, addictions, Lyme and spirit. I work in a mix of herbal traditions -Thomsonian, vitalist, rural southern USA, basic Ayurveda, TCM assessment, rural Cuban/old Florida. I work holistically and am committed to learning and using what is local. I have studied with many great herbalists you have never heard of including family, Sai, Paul Olko and Crazy Owl. I teach clinical skills to herbalists through Allegheny Herbal with the esteemed herbalist Leslie Alexander RH, as well as teaching as adjunct faculty at Arborvitae School of Traditional Herbalism in NYC and my work as an Ordinary Community Herbalist. I maintain a practice seeing clients including dogs and horses. I grow, wild-craft, barter and sometimes buy herbs for my apothecary. I co-founded an international natural body care company. I have managed large herbal (western and TCM) stores and food cooperatives and have worked as a corporate herbalist responsible for labeling, formulating products and training staff worldwide. Work with LGBTQ folk has always been part of my practice.


Clinical Specialties: Holistic physical assessments, ethics, differential diagnosis and assessment, nutrition, counseling skills, red flags for urgent referral, legal issues, formulating and medicine making, dosage and dispensing, herb/drug/nutrient interactions, business management, lab tests, spirit and rural southern traditional skills.


Other mentoring – in-depth advising and review of AHG application for professional membership. Research skills and scientific validation and exploration, editing. I work with sliding scale and will barter for practice speaking Spanish.


I live in Georgia and work and teach online as well as in person.

I garden, cook, bicycle, play banjo, practice zazen.


 

Katolen Yardley, MNIMH, RH (AHG)

Email: info@katolenyardley.com
Mentorship Type: Virtual/Remote, In Person

My introduction to herbal medicine began years ago when I discovered my grandmother enjoyed making dandelion wine. It has been a long meandering journey since that time. I am a Doctor of  Osteopathy and my herbal educational background has been completed from the School of Phytotherapy (UK), Dominion Herbal College (Canada), Wild Rose College of Natural Healing (Canada) and Iridology training (NIRA). I completed my formal training in 1999 and have been in private practice since that time in Vancouver and Port Moody, BC. Some of my own mentors through my journey in herbal medicine have been the late Christopher Hedley (UK), Chanchal Cabrera (Canada), and Rowan Hamilton (UK). Currently,  I am the current president of the Canadian Herbalist's Association of BC (CHA of BC)  - from 2013-2019 and the president of the Canadian Council of Herbalist Associations (CCHA) from 2017-2023. I have also had experience in scope of practice, ethics and legal issues in Canada. I am familiar with quality control and GMP practices pertaining to formulations.


I have been running a student clinic mentorship program since 2010 and have guided numerous students through their supervised training clinics and into professional membership of governing associations. Since 2012, I have been a clinic supervisor at the Dominion Herbal College student clinic –and instructor in their 4 year Clinical Herbal Therapy Program. I am adjunct faculty at Boucher Naturopathic Institute where I have been teaching botanical medicine and hands on medicine making since 2008. A natural health product formulator and contractor, for many years I ran a busy wellness center in downtown Vancouver with 15 practitioners; thus have had much experience with marketing and business management. For many years I was the dispensary manager at a busy local herb shop, Gaia Garden Herbal Dispensary in Vancouver, where I oversaw the compounding and formulations of products, quality control and good manufacturing policies. In the summer I teach herbal medicine classes at Van Dusen Botanical Gardens and UBC Farms - do check out their class listings.


From 2000-20015, I appeared monthly on Global Televisions Morning News offering herbal medicine information to the public. This news segment was syndicated across Canada. I have written textbooks for the Canadian College of Natural Nutrition (2011) and in 2016 I published my first book: The Good Living Guide to Natural and Herbal Remedies (Skyhorse Publishing, 2016) a medicine making book with recipes, color photographs, and monographs of 49 medicinal plants.


I have been trained in western herbal medicine and the bio medical area of herbalism. My area of specialty include women's health, (fertility, cervical dysplasia, menopause), skin disorders and digestive dis-ease. My prior university training was in Psychology, thus I also have a strong interest in the mind body connection and emotional component to dis-ease. I have created numerous program curriculums for Langara College including a Holistic Approach to ADHD and am currently teaching in the Strategic Resiliency Program for First Responders: A holistic and herbal medicine approach to trauma (PTSD). I teach at various herbal medicine conferences around the west coast each year. Personally, I find relaxation in yoga and running. I love photography, travelling to distant lands and learning from local elders.


My goal as a mentor is to assist you in gaining confidence in your practice. I can tailor our time to what skills you need most. I offer a couple options for mentorship:



  1. A supervised student training clinic where a group of students (and myself) meet monthly online and

  2. A week long in person intensives in a group environment located in Vancouver BC, Canada.

  3. One on one distance mentorship options for professional quantum leaps, applications for membership into association, business coaching.


For the online supervised student training clinic- students have the opportunity to take clients and learn the art of case history taking, product formulation and putting together a comprehensive health program. Health related topics, deep dive discussions and theory are covered each week and students learn together in a group environment.  The cost is $ 16 per hour.


Frequently during the year, I hold a 1 week-in-person student training clinic allowing for students or new practitioners the opportunity to gain skills in a clinic environment, learning among one's peers. Apprenticing is a valuable experiential form of education providing a bridge for students to complete their formal education and prepare for clinical practice.  Training will be provided for physical assessment skills, blood pressure taking and other hands on assessment techniques in addition to learning about dispensing, herbal medicine formulation and other skills related to clinical practice.


During this training time you have the ability to observe an experienced practitioner or senior students take case histories and clients, and develop your own skills with case history taking, record keeping and follow up consultations, create health protocols including nutritional and lifestyle advice, herbal medicine, essential oils and topical application of herbs. This is an opportunity to hone ones formulation skills, fine tune ones counseling techniques and gain compounding experience. Patients vary depending upon the week and can occur in person or via phone.


One on one mentoring can be done via phone or skype on a twice per month schedule (with some email follow up). My rate is $ 100 per hour - available in 5 or 10 sessions. Sorry no trades. Mentoring can be combined with in-person student clinic training.


Many students seek the guidance of a mentor in a clinic environment to become confident, skilled practitioners while completing their student clinic training hours in order to apply for professional membership in with the AHG or BCHA, OHG, AHA or other professional association. Typically a combination of one on one mentorship in addition to group learning would be ideal for candidates wanting to complete their applications for professional membership.


Please contact me directly regarding details including pre requisites for mentorship and an application form.  Read more about me here:


http://www.katolenyardley.com/About_biography.htm


More information on the student mentorship here:


https://www.alchemyelixir.com/student-mentorship/


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


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