Tanisha Spanner
My love and passion for the natural world stems back to my childhood, where I would pretend to ‘brew’ up concoctions with various herbs in the garden. As I grew older I fell in awe of the various herbal teas, foraging for herbs and finding ways to incorporate them into handmade incense sticks. This passion led me to pursue formal education; I completed a correspondence course at The Scottish School of Herbal Medicine in 2021. Subsequently, I completed the Clinical Herbalism (Hons) degree at Lincoln college in 2024 with a First Class & am now a member of NIMH. From a young age I had envisioned myself being a psychologist, however
Herbal Medicine offered a blend of the Clinical Sciences, Phytochemistry, Nutrition and most importantly, Creativity. Organically I was drawn towards a holistic perspective to health and wellness. I love that each consultation is concluded with a herbal tea or tincture, that is guided by the nurturing, evidence-based wisdom of nature. Though this is just the beginning of my professional journey, I am excited about expanding my practice by developing a range of herbal products, hosting educational workshops and continuing my academic studies to further explore health and well-being.
Learn about Herbalism
What is a Herbalist?
Clinical Herbalists have been trained with the same diagnostic skills that doctors use. These skills enable Herbalists to be able to diagnose and deeply understand health conditions and pathological complaints. Herbalists use this knowledge to conduct a in-depth initial consultation that will take 90 minutes. Following the comprehensive medical history report, the herbalist is able to combine medical expertise and the evidence based research to formulate personalised prescriptions and design health care plans for clients.
Who is Herbal Medicine for?
Herbalists are trained to decipher who is susceptible for which herbal medicine and what relevant treatments and tests that client may require. With professional knowledge, understanding of herb-drug contraindications and evidence based research the Herbalist is able to personalise the prescription that is safe for children, elderly, poly-pharmacy and provide alternative treatments that do not contain alcohol.
What is Herbal Medicine?
Herbal Medicine can take many forms; Tinctures are typically prescribed, they are alcoholic plant extracts. The alcohol acts as a solvent to extract the plant constituents from the plant material. Herbal teas are made up of dried plant materials from leaves, flowers and roots, when added into a tea pot with warm water the medicinal benefits of the plant material begin to be extracted into the water. Typically, these are the main two routes of therapeutic treatment, however Herbalists are able to provide capsules, poultices, creams, powders and many other creative formulations that may be more suited to the individuals need and treatment plan.
How do the Consultations work?
Medical Herbalists will have an initial consultation with their clients that take 90 minutes. The initial consultation includes a full medical history, including family history, presenting complaints, psycho-social well-being, mental health and an in-depth exploration of each body system. The comprehensive intake allows the Herbalist to gain a Holistic view of the Clients health and well-being. With this understanding the Herbalist can determine the Clients Constitution in relation to Western Herbalist Tradition and determine Energetically what plants align to that patients personality. Following the initial consultation patients have follow-up consultations lasting half an hour to ensure their health is successful and to allow adjustments on their journey.
What is Energetic diagnosis?
At Lincoln College we were taught Advanced Herbal Therapeutics by Karl Bedson; AHT combines the knowledge of Traditional Western Herbalism and aspects of TCM. The general principles of Herbal Energetic can be determined by weather a person is ‘hot’, ‘cold’, ‘damp’ or ‘dry’; Although, typically individuals are made up by a unique complex of these elements that is carefully deciphered by the trained eyes of the practitioner. In Herbal Medicine we treat in opposites, generally speaking, if someone has a ‘cold consultation’ we may choose warming spicy herbs. Intuitively we tend to reach for a warming cinnamon spiced hot chocolate in the winter months and a refreshing cucumber salad in the summer months!
Where are Consultations?
Consultations can be held online via Zoom allowing accessibility from anywhere across UK. Prescriptions can be posted to you. Alternatively if you live locally to Haslemere, please feel free to contact me to arrange a consultation in person at either my own personal premises or home visits may be arranged.
