Our Clinical Herbalist Certification program is for students that want to become a Certified Clinical Western Herbalist.
The Berkeley Herbal Center Herbal Certification Program allows students to feel confident starting a private herbal practice, working in a community clinic, creating an herbal product line, or embarking on herbal education careers!
This program is separated into 2 years, Foundations and Therapeutics. These are designed to offer more flexibility for how students want to utilize their education.
After your 2nd year, Therapeutics, we offer hands-on, real-time clinical experience through our Clinical Internship Program at the low-cost community clinic here at the Berkeley Herbal Center.
(Accepted students, submit deposit and tuition payments here.)
Thursday Evenings
September 14th, 2023 – June 27th, 2024
6:30 pm to 9:30 pm
Berkeley Herbal Center Campus
1250 Addison St STE G
Berkeley, CA 94702
Deposit (Due with application): $1,100
Tuition ( Due before 1st day of class): $4,795
TOTAL COST: $5,895
Gain an in-depth understanding of the complex functions and healing nature of local plants through theoretical learning, herb gathering and sampling, and medicine making.
At the completion of the course, students will have a firm and well-rounded foundation in herbalism, including their own, self researched and organized, comprehensive materia medica.
Aside from an in-depth investigation into human physiology to understand the complex interactions among reproductive, endocrine, nervous, skin, muscular, skeletal and digestive systems, students are responsible for completing more than 80 herbal monographs, detailed plant reports, about the herbs that they will encounter throughout the program and in the wild.
Our coursework is taught by the Berkeley Herbal Center Staff and is built on experiential learning and knowledge handed down over the course of human healing history.
Students will create their own medicines, learning how to craft extracts from multiple solutions, as well as creating creams and lotions, salves, teas, syrups, honey, oils, vinegars and suppositories.
Each week throughout the program, students will be offered an herb of the week to experiment with and will be offered a safe space to talk about the plants and their experiences.
A substantial number of class hours are spent hands on in nature, with extended trips to local environments such as the Sierras and the Pacific Ocean.
Students will also be required to attend monthly herb walks, have a booth at our holiday craft fair, and learn several herbal medicine making techniques throughout the program.
The Therapeutics year builds on the knowledge learned in Foundations. Students deepen their thinking into becoming holistic herbalists. Therapeutics is focused on advanced therapeutic strategies in assessing an individual and apply herbal knowledge to treat the underlying condition.
Wednesday Evenings
September 15th 2022 – June 30th, 2023
6:30 pm to 9:30 pm PST
Berkeley Herbal Center Campus
1250 Addison St STE G
Berkeley, CA 94702
Deposit (Due with application): $1,100
Tuition ( Due before 1st day of class): $4,795
TOTAL COST: $5,895
*BHC staff may ask for proof of prior education in the review process.
We revisit each body system through the lens of a holistic herbalist, studying how each system is interconnected using the endocrine system. Focusing on actual human cases we explore the beauty of physiology and track its effects on our client’s health.
Students will begin to utilize their herbal knowledge and monographs from the first year’s training program, along with their developing understanding of the endocrine system, lifestyle choices, nutrition and unique medicine making techniques, to create plans for holistic healing. Students will be required to complete an action plan for each case they are given. Each treatment plan is discussed in class, where formulation, good combinations, poor combination, detailed insight into specific plants are discussed.
To Graduate from this part of the Clinical Herbalist Certification Program, students will need to complete an “herbal dissertation,” write complex case studies on each body system, and demonstrate an understanding of the complexities of herbal formulations and medicine making.
At the conclusion of the course, students will have a firm foundation in constitutional diagnosis techniques and the ability to evaluate herbal combinations and formulate with confidence. They will also be provided with a sizable amount of educational handouts and worksheets.
Students completing this course will be awarded a Certificate of Completion in Therapeutic Herbalism.
Apply to Foundations above!
To inquire about transferring into the Therapeutics year of this program, contact: studentservices@berkeleyherbalcenter.org
Accepted Year 2 students, submit tuition payments here.
We continue with Herb of the week, focusing on Adaptogens with specific indignation for use. We will spend time deepening our skills at diagnosis, looking at the tongue, working with the pulse, learning about the three treasures and exploring imbalances in elements.
Each student will do a research project to graduate from the program. Students choose a particular topic of interest and research the physiology of the dysfunction, and explore all the different ways to help someone with the condition.
For more information on our certification programs, please email studentservices@berkeleyherbalcenter.org.
*This program is not available for payment plans or work trade. Unused deposits cannot be used for short-term courses, or workshops. There are no exceptions.
Additional Costs: Tuition includes all instructional time. Additional cost to students include travel, food, and facility rentals for 3 wildcrafting trips and the cost of textbooks. Depending on how thrifty you choose to be, students can expect the additional cost to be anywhere from $700 to $1000
View our payment and refund policies here.
Support Our Work
Berkeley Herbal Center is a 501(c)(3) organization, so all donations are tax deductible. Tax ID #14-1975183
If you would like to donate by check or cash, please send an envelope addressed to:
Berkeley Herbal Center
1250 Addison St., #G
Berkeley, CA 94702
