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Welcome to the Frontline Herbalism Podcast with your host Nicole Rose from the
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Solidarity Apothecary.
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This is your place for all things plants and
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liberation.
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Let’s get started.
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Hello. Welcome back to the Frontline Herbalism Podcast.
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This is just a little announcement episode to share that the Herbalism PTSD and Traumatic
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stress course is open for enrolment today.
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I will put some links to other episodes in the show notes where I go into the course in much
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more depth of why I created it, how it’s structured, what people have shared about it,
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all of the things.
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But you’re welcome to look at the course page.
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There is a lot of information there about the
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eight different modules and what’s included, how it’s structured, like the kind of learning
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format stuff as well as there’s a whole section on commonly asked questions and there
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is also a million and one testimonials from people who’ve worked through it.
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So if you haven’t heard about it, it’s basically a entire self paced online course
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with eight modules exploring the impacts of trauma on our bodies in terms of patterns of
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chronic illness and expressions of distress through different nervous system states like
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fight or flight or freeze for example and many others.
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It looks at the kind of politics of trauma and how trauma is commonly framed in very
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reductionist ways and some more kind of liberating ways that we could potentially
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frame trauma.
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There is a whole module about collective responses to traumatic stress.
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So you know, there’s one thing like healing from all this stuff, there’s another thing
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like preventing it from happening or resisting the conditions,
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trying to change the conditions that are kind of perpetuating trauma.
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So yeah, all about kind of connections to like social organising and movement stuff.
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In terms of the herbal stuff, you will not be disappointed.
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There are all the introductory things you need to get started.
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So there’s like a section on plant ally practises about building relationship with one
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plant.
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Where to start if you’re totally new to herbalism.
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There’s lessons on how to harvest sustainably,
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there’s lessons on medicine making, there’s very detailed videos about how to make
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tinctures and glycerites and infused oils and ointments and various other things.
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And then there’s also like, you know, how to kind of design your herbal learning journey,
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like how to find projects to get involved with, how to,
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yeah, kind of give back to the plants that are giving us so much.
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And then the kind of main like herbal content is all about nerve irons.
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So these are herbs with an affinity for the nervous system.
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And there are 32 comprehensive plant profiles in the course.
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So I categorise them in kind of different groups, even though that actions kind of
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overlap.
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So we have relaxant nerve ions which kind of
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help tone down the fight or flight response in the body and have like many other actions.
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There are cardiac nervines that have an affinity with the heart and the cardiovascular
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system that are also like especially special for like emotional pain and grief.
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We have nerve tonics which are very, very important category of nervines, which are
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herbs that help support the kind of structure, communication and functioning of the nervous
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system over time.
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And they have again, like loads of different actions on the body.
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You know, maybe they help address a nutritional deficiency, maybe they support the
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production of a certain neurotransmitter.
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Like they all have different kind of actions
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on the body.
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And then there is a module on sedative nervines.
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So these are herbs that help kind of induce a kind of deeper state of relaxation and a big,
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basically help us to sleep.
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But I talk about the kind of nuances of that for people who’ve been through like traumatic
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experiences, like where they’ve potentially been sedated, for example.
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So it’s like every part of this course has all the nuance of how do you work with these herbs
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in practise, how do you work with them safely,
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how do you support yourself, how do you support other people?
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What kind of affinity do they have with certain nervous system states?
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Like are they okay for someone who is quite shut down and depressed or are they
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inappropriate, for example?
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And then finally there is a category called stimulating nervines.
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So these are herbs that have a kind of more like uplifting,
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strengthening, mood enhancing property.
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But yeah, so there’s 32 plant profiles.
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I go into depth about the plant’s kind of
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chemistry, their actions on the body, their affinity with different nervous system states.
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Like I’ve mentioned how I’ve worked with them in practise, my sort of commentary on
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different forms of medicine, how I’ve worked with them in the solidarity apothecary.
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And then I also share like the clinical studies that I’ve found that have shown this
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herb kind of work in practise.
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And alongside the course there’s like a comprehensive resource library with like book
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recommendations.
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I include all the like original research
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papers of things that I’ve read so that people can kind of look at those themselves.
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So that’s on my to do list.
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For next year.
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But yeah, I’ve had lots of commentary about how comprehensive the kind of like citing of
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resources is.
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So, yeah, so you can basically bounce around in whatever order you want.
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You can do one lesson one day, a totally different module the next day.
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If you’re suddenly feeling really connected to rose or lavender, you can like, you know,
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watch those videos.
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There’s no pressure to complete it in a kind of structured way.
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But, you know, if you like doing that, like, I’m a bit of a structured person.
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I do like kind of following something in a sequence.
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So that will be really pleasurable that you can just work through it in order and it just
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layers and layers and layers.
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There are like no kind of like assignments or quizzes.
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Like, I’ve tried really hard to create this course for people that are kind of feeling
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generally overwhelmed or triggered or kind of have experiences of trauma which, you know, I
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sort of define as kind of any,
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like, life changing experience that’s kind of,
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you know, been kind of like a wounding experience of some kind.
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And again, we unpack that in loads and kind of detail.
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But I think, you know, most humans have been through some level of wounding experience.
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Right.
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Obviously there’s like massive structural
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disparities between that, but I think it’s part of the kind of human experience to
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experience suffering, to experience pain, shame, humiliation, all of the things.
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So,
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yeah, so there’s lots of content about the kind of.
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Yeah, how we, how we frame trauma.
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What was I going to say? So before I create the course, I did a lot of
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like, research, like asking friends and comrades and different people about, like,
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what would be helpful.
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And like, pretty much everyone was like, I just can’t do,
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like, calls where like, you have to kind of like compulsively share your stuff with other
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strangers.
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Like, online learning is just not supportive
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for that.
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So there’s just like no pressure to
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participate.
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I have had several emails over the years from people that are kind of like longing for that
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sort of community.
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So what I’m organising for this round is in November I will be hosting a live workshop
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where I am looking at kind of herbal support for trauma in practise.
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So we’re going to be diving deep into the kind of course content in the sense of, like, where
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do I start?
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Like, how do I approach supporting someone who’s, you know, navigating PTSD or certain
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symptoms? And I’ll kind of share the sort of frameworks
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that I use in my clinical practise and in my sort of solidarity work where I’ve,
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you Know, met and supported hundreds, like thousands of people, to be honest, at this
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point, like in terms of, you know, the clinics in France and Ukraine and stuff.
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Well, in Poland.
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So, yeah, anyway, I will talk about all of this stuff in practise and kind of like where
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to get started and they’ll be like loads of opportunity for questions and answers.
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And yeah, it will be a kind of chance to like meet, but that will be recorded.
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There is like no pressure to participate in that.
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Anyone who’s joined the course previously will be able to listen to that.
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I’ll just basically add it to the course for a later date so you can watch that.
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I am also putting all the lessons in a private podcast feed, hopefully this coming week so
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that people can listen to the lessons on the move.
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I think watching the lessons is ******* awesome because my.
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My slides are like very pretty.
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I’m like a super graphic learner so you can
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download all those slides and transcripts as well.
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But I also understand it’s not always possible for people to kind of sit at a laptop or sit
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on their phone and watch lessons.
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So I want to just have that option where if someone is driving or doing the school run or
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whatever, they can just listen to the course content in their phone and then whatever
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strikes that interest, they can always go back and watch the video to kind of complement
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their learning.
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So that’s coming hopefully next week?
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Yeah, the course is open for a couple of weeks.
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I will put an announcement up when it’s the last day to join.
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I’ve already mentioned this, but basically this course funds the majority of the
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Solidarity Apothecary work.
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So if you don’t know about the Solidarity
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Apothecary, basically the kind of mission is to materially, practically support communities
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with plant medicines as a way of kind of resisting state violence and capitalism and
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climate change and building autonomy and kind of self defence in our movements.
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So that work on a practical level looks like.
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I send herbal care packages to people around
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the world.
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Like that costs thousands of pounds every
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year.
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So people experiencing repression,
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prisoner families,
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grassroots groups like people organising occupations and things like I will send them
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herbal support.
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Say people are like mobilising for an anti
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fascist demo or something.
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I might send them first aid stuff and care
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packages and things for the organisers.
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So that’s a big part of the work.
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specifically for people in prison, but people outside of prison love it too, where I talk
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about the plants that I connected with when I was a prisoner for three and a half years.
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Well, my sentence was three and a half years.
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I did just under two.
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But that book gets distributed around the world for free to prisoners and there’s
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several translated editions.
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So yeah,
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that can also cost a lot of money.
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And then I also run a clinic called the Black Flag Herbal Clinic, which is like an anarchist
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free clinic.
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And for my sins, I also support people like in a kind of solidarity way a lot through the
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solid apothecary.
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One to one as well,
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because that was what I was doing before I started the Black Flag structure.
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But yeah, basically there’s a lot of solidarity stuff, let alone all their courses.
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Education,
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supporting people behind the scenes in their projects.
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Like I’ve been active in a clinic in Calais supporting people on the move refugees at the
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French British border.
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Before I got pregnant, I spent pretty much four years bouncing back and forth like
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helping support that clinic as the field coordinator.
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And now I try and focus on fundraising and medicine making.
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So yeah, like basically the course funds like all of that stuff in the sense of like
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enabling me to do this work full time to support like a lot of people around the world
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and to kind of, yeah, publish books like Herbalism and State Violence for example,
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where yeah,
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I’m kind of trying to bring together those threads of like, how can plant medicine
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support us to not only kind of like heal and survive the conditions that our world has
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created, but also to resist them and to kind of build a new world if that’s not too cheesy.
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Good old Darutti.
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So anyway,
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feel free to email your questions.
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I will be kind of intermittently checking my emails.
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Today I am taking my little one to see his dad.
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So we’ll be like bouncing around like town and softly.
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But I’ll be checking the emails as much as I can.
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And my amazing email is like admin assistant Chantelle will also be trying to keep it on
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top of them.
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But if I don’t get back to you today, I’ll
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definitely get back to you this week.
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So yeah, feel free to email me if needed.
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And yeah, please cheque out the course.
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I think it’s a amazing resource.
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I think if you are new to herbalism, it will
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be life changing.
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I think if you’re an experienced herbalist, it will also be super interesting and valuable.
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And yeah, it only opens twice a year, so if you don’t join now, I will be opening it again
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at the end of March next year.
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But yeah, and also if you’ve done it already, please pop a little share on the old social
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media or email your friends.
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I’d really appreciate that because I am quite
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far behind on the old promotion because of my little one falling off a slide and breaking
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his arm, bless him,
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when he was my.
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With my sister.
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So,
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yeah, like I’ve mentioned before, I’m just, you know, like, grafting hard on this stuff.
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And this course really matters to me.
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The Solidarity Pothechry really matters.
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I think there is, like,
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yeah, huge potential of what, you know, how we can work with plant medicines and support
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existing amazing infrastructure that already exists and also support people to start new
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things.
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And part of that is herbal education.
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So, yeah, get on the course.
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If you’re interested,
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I will share a link in the show notes for episodes explaining how the Solidarity pricing
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works.
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But basically, like, no one is turned away for
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lack of funds.
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So you’re very welcome to join for free if
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needed.
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Or you can, you know, set up a monthly donation.
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You can have a payment plan.
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Like you can.
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Yeah.
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Figure it out to.
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To be whatever makes it most accessible to you.
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You can join it now and then pop some money in October or November or whatever.
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Like, it’s.
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Yeah, it’s kind of flexible for people.
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You know, I want it to be accessible as possible.
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So. Yeah, please don’t kind of hesitate, if that makes sense.
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All right.
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Thank you for listening.
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Take care.
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Thanks so much for listening to the Frontline Herbalism podcast.
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You can find the transcript, the links, all the resources from the
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[email protected] podcast.
