The Herbal Medic Course
Taught by Sam Coffman
This 40-hour course is focused on quickly getting students up to speed with the most practical and useful aspects of plant medicine. Whether you are a complete beginner or already have some experience in the study of herbalism, this 1-week class will give you an immense amount of information and hands-on experience in the most fundamental and useful concepts that plant medicine has to offer in any bio-region.
During this information-packed course, Sam will cover the following topics:
- Overview of concepts, terminology and healing perspectives of modern and historical herbalism, and how these concepts apply to practical herbalism in the home, a remote area or post- disaster situation sam coffman wild plants
- Herbal preparations: Class will make alcohol tinctures (fresh and dried), liniments, salves and syrups to take home • Field first aid using plant medicine: Addressing trauma and acute illness in the field using plant medicine. This section will also cover poultices, plasters, tooth & gum care, herbal first aid kits, storing and using herbs in the field, remote and post-disaster considerations
- Materia medica: These are the herbs you learn to use. They are the plant medicine pharmacy. In this class you will learn the top 5 -10 herbs for each of several organ systems, to include: o Lymphatic herbs – Preventing the onset of illness, and increasing your body’s natural immunity o Respiratory herbs – Working with upper and lower respiratory infections and illness Urinary tract herbs – Helping the body heal infections of the yarrowupper and lower urinary tracts o Gastrointestinal herbs – Preventing GI sickness, dealing with nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Healing GI infections and illness o Wound healing – Working with open and closed (sprains, dislocations, bone injury) wounds in the field
- Plant Identification and wildcrafting: Plant identification walks, introduction to botany concepts, harvesting and working with wild medicine • Herbal Formulas: Sam will teach you several formulas for a variety of acute and chronic health conditions that include multiple herbs from the materia medica. Beyond just teaching basic formulas, he will give you a method to create your own formulas so that you can adapt to work with whatever herbs are available to you.
Sam Coffman
Sam Coffman is the founder and director at The Human Path. He is also co-founder of “Herbal Medics” – a non-profit organization with the goals of teaching and using plant medicine and self-sustainability in remote, post-disaster and inner-city areas.
Sam’s medical background started with his work as a U.S. Special Forces (a.k.a. “Green Beret”) medic in 1989, during which time he began learning and using plant medicine as a backup form of medicine in remote and field environments when medical supplies ran low. Since that time, aside from 1000′s of clinical hours in the field and emergency rooms as a Special Forces Medic (over the course of 6 years), he has also worked as a clinical herbalist and herbology teacher.
He currently directs courses at his survival and herbology school as well as leading clinical trips with his non-profit Herbal Medics to remote areas in Nicaragua and elsewhere, running herbal clinics for over 100 people per day and creating sustainable health-care solutions (such as off-grid water purification and power generation, etc.) in regions where there are no alternatives. These trips to remote areas include his own integrated herbal medic teams, local doctors and naturopaths.
He works as a clinical herbalist and runs a student herbal clinic in the San Antonio, TX area. He integrates the “ditch medicine” of U.S. Special forces with his 25+ years of experience as an herbalist into a blend of post-disaster or remote herbal medicine that is practical, useful and highly effective.
Sam has written a field manual and is currently working on a book about herbalism at home for both the everyday as well as the post-disaster environments.
