Holistic Herbal Consultations & Mentorship
Now Accepting New Clients!
Plant & mushroom medicine for embodiment, aliveness, & connection.
We are pressured on a daily basis to disconnect from our bodies.
Sedentary work environments, social media siphoning our attention away from physical reality, the need to feel constantly productive–we are slowly losing touch with our bodies and the earth. In our culture, no one is immune from these pressures, and our bodies respond in different ways: lack of sleep, chronic pain, digestive issues, anxiety, depression, infections that seem to linger for months, fatigue – in short, we are feeling unwell, and our dis-ease has become the new normal.
For some, conventional approaches to healing have only made things worse. Conventional medicine overly relies on medicating reasonable human responses to a world falling apart. This approach overlooks simple foundational aspects of health and wellness like nutrition, rest, movement, and environment (not to mention the social and cultural factors that influence one’s health and well-being).
The alternative or 'holistic' wellness industry isn’t offering much support either, and often only adds to the confusion. This industry emphasizes bodily aesthetics though the quest to find the perfect diet, endless personal optimization, and fear-mongering around the 'toxicity' of every last food or household item.
Instead of seeking solutions on the outside, we need to rediscover the wisdom our bodies carry within, wisdom that our bodies have carried throughout our evolutionary history here on earth. This wisdom reaches far beyond the porous boundary of our skin to encompass the ancient wisdom the plants and mushrooms have cultivated through hundreds of millions of years of healing themselves and thriving in their ecosystems.
Working with plants and mushrooms through herbalism, we can cultivate our body to show up fully in our lives, relationships, communities, and efforts for social and ecological change.
It is our birthright to feel embodied and fully alive in our own skin. It is our birthright to connect deeply with our bodily self.
While this looks different for every person, it is clear that conventional approaches to health and well-being are not capable of offering depth of care in this historical moment.
Alex’s Approach
Working closely with herbalist Alex Williams, you will learn new ways of tending to your body–through herbs, lifestyle, nutrition, and movement–to address the health concerns you bring to each session.
While Alex is happy to support clients with a variety of health and wellness goals, he is particularly gifted in supporting clients with mental health concerns who wish to incorporate herbs into their daily wellness rituals in support of a stronger sense of mental health and resilience. Alex deeply understands the connections between mental health, physical health, and the social & environmental factors that contribute to a holistic sense of well being, individualizing his approach for each client with these different perspectives in mind.
Alex is also happy to work in collaboration with your therapist or counselor to tailor his recommendations to complement the work you are already engaged in with your current mental health practitioner.
Learn more about Alex’s clinical approach and perspective on mental health interventions below.
These initial sessions may be sufficient for your needs if you are:
new to herbal care and are seeking to get a sense of how to integrate herbalism into your daily rituals
familiar with herbal care and simply seeking support in cultivating a self-care plan related to concerns such as anxiety & stress management, immune support, or general wellness guidance.
Structure and Cost:
(1) 90 minute Initial Intake Consultation
(2) 45 minute Follow-up sessions.
Takes place over the course of 2-3 months
Package does not include the cost of herbs & supplements
Package Cost: $250
Not interested in a full consultation package? Check out “One-and-Done” Custom Potions, where we meet for a short, 30-minute consultation, and I formulate a custom tincture or tea blend for you. No follow-ups required!
Initial Sessions – Laying the Groundwork
Long Term Guidance & Support
~ Choose Your Path ~
Clinical Herbalism
Mentorship
If you are experiencing more long-term, chronic health conditions, additional sessions via the Clinical Herbalism path may be helpful to check-in and ensure the protocol we develop together is supporting you over time.
Where herbal consultations focus more on the concrete physiological concerns you'd like to address, Mentorship allows for a more exploratory and reflective approach to self-development and conscious growth, allowing us to work with the emotional and spiritual bodies while continuing to tend to the physical body.
Regardless of which path may resonate more at the beginning, we will be working with herbs to nurture a deeper connection with your body and the more-than-human-world you inhabit, so we may find that there are times where both paths cross.
Payment for additional sessions offered beyond the initial three sessions are on a sliding-scale basis based upon your needs, circumstances, and available resources.
Book your First Session
To book an appointment, please click the link below. This link will bring you to our booking page, where you can book your initial intake session. Upon booking, you will be asked if you are more interested in clinical herbalism or mentorship support, and briefly describe the primary issues and wellness goals you’d like to address through our work together.
At the end of our first session, we will book your first follow-up session.
What happens after booking my first session?
Sign up for Practice Better - After booking your initial intake consultation session, you will receive an invitation to join Alex's secure client management system, Practice Better. It's free and this platform will give you access to the forms and video conferencing tools needed to conduct the consultation.
Complete Forms Online - You will be sent two forms to complete before we meet (an informed consent form, and a confidential health history form), which will be stored securely and shared with an herbal mentor only with your consent. These forms must be submitted 48 hours prior to your consultation in order to keep your appointment.
Initial Intake Consultation - During our 1.5 hour initial consultation, we will go in-depth into your health history so that we can develop a clear picture of where you are in your wellness journey. We will also discuss your interests and what you hope to get out of our work together. From here, we will begin to lay a foundation for your wellness journey by developing an integrated herbal, nutritional, and lifestyle protocol to support you in addressing your wellness goals.
Receive Written Recommendations - After your session, I devote several hours to go over your case, research, and develop an herbal and lifestyle protocol for you. These recommendations serve as a starting point that we may modify and adjust over time. You will receive this written guidance through Practice Better within a week of our Initial Intake Session.
Written Guidance / Herbal Protocols may include custom herbal tea blends, tinctures, and other preparations. This guidance may also include lifestyle changes, recipes, foods, movement, body work, meditation or reflection practices, and suggestions for how to integrate all practices and herbs into your routine.
Purchase Herbs & Supplements - The cost of herbs is not included in your visit. An invoice for your custom formulations will be included along with your protocol and shipped after payment of herbs is received.
Follow-up Appointments - At the end of our first session, we will also book your first follow-up appointment. Both follow-up appointments are offered to check in and see how the herbs are working with you, answer any questions and make any changes to your initial protocol.
Transition to longer-term 1-on-1 work - During the third and final session of the package, we discuss if you would like to continue working together for longer term work. We discuss the possibilities and benefits of long-term guidance. We will also discuss a meeting cadence and sliding-scale price point that works for both of us. If you don't feel that ongoing work is for you, or feel that the timing is not right, no worries, we will make the best of our final session by outlining some practices that you can take with you to engage with on your own.
Other things you might want to know before booking…
Initial Virtual Sessions: All initial intake consultation sessions are held virtually via through my client management system, Practice Better.
In-Person Sessions are only available for those who have already completed their initial intake consultation. For all follow-up sessions, you are given the option to book an in-person session.
The Greenspell Herbal Free Clinic is available for those who would like to see an herbalist, but do not feel that they can afford the full cost of consultation or consultation package. Click Here to learn more.
Case details may be shared with 2-3 herbal mentors for professional development purposes only with your consent.
I comply with HIPAA standards. Your files and any other information you provide will be kept in HIPAA-secure online spaces. All virtual meetings take place via a HIPAA-secure online virtual room.
The initial intake consultation and all subsequent virtual sessions are audio recorded for note taking purposes. In-person sessions are never recorded. All recordings and transcriptions are stored securely on Practice Better's HIPAA compliant server and are only available to Alex Williams for the purposes of note-taking, research, and protocol development.
FAQs
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As an herbalist dedicated to providing you the best experience possible, we will dive deep into your health history according to your priorities and goals.
During a holistic herbal consultation, we’ll discuss your primary health concerns in depth, as well as other health issues that may be relevant in an attempt to find and address the root cause(s) of any health concern you bring to the consultation.
I approach our conversation and work together with complete respect, creating a non-judgmental environment to explore your wellness goals.
We may discuss:
body system functions
family medical history
nutrition and lifestyle
movement and exercise
rest and stress patterns
and more!
Based on what we discuss in our initial consultation, I craft a holistic herbal protocol that is tailored to address your unique wellness goals that includes herb, supplement, and lifestyle recommendations, alongside self-care practices in support of your wellness goals.
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Holistic health consultations are focused on addressing your health concerns using a holistic approach, and are intended to complement your primary medical care.
Through working with a clinical herbalist, you will:
Support your body & mind in ways that are holistic, integrative, and effective.
Develop a professional relationship with a holistic practitioner who is devoted to your needs and vision for wellness.
Work with plants in support of your vitality and well-being while ensuring safety alongside prescription medications and complex health conditions.
Receive a comprehensive protocol that is tailored for your body, constitution, and vision for wellness.
Learn the best approaches for rekindling a strong relationship with your body and earth.
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If you are here to work on more concrete physiological goals: GI health, acute illness, chronic illness, immune health, hormonal health, etc., it is probably best to start with a holistic herbal consultation.
If you are interested in rekindling your connection with your body and the more-than-human-world you inhabit, mentorship might be the best choice.
I recognize that physiological health deeply overlaps with embodiment and earth connection, but it is important to me that I meet everyone where they are at. Sometimes it is more important to address physiological concerns before opening up to more spiritual aspects of plant and earth connection.
Many clients begin by addressing their health concerns and then shift to more of a mentorship structure. Many mentees may begin by wanting to restore a deep connection with their bodies–through this work, they discover there are some health issues they'd like to address, so we shift into a more clinical approach.
No matter where you start, I will work with you to emphasize and address the work your body is asking of you. Please reach out if you have any questions about the differences between the consultation paths I offer.
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Naturopaths are doctors, herbalists are not. Herbalists tend to offer herbal recommendations to complement primary medical care, not replace it. While naturopaths do study herbal medicine, they also embrace a wide variety of therapies, which means that they tend to be generalists rather than specialists. Herbalists tend to focus solely on herbal approaches to address health issues, so their herbal knowledge tends to be far more extensive than naturopaths.
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Most people typically see a clinical herbalist when they have a chronic illness, with or without a diagnosis, if they are experiencing health issues that they feel conventional methods have been unsuccessful in addressing, or if they are seeking a more holistic perspective to complement their primary medical care. Clinical herbalists, especially those who are members of an organization such as the American Herbalists Guild, have extensive clinical training in anatomy, physiology, and herb-drug interactions, and establish their practice with a standard of competency necessary for offering comprehensive holistic care.
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The plants and mushrooms are our ancestors. Over millions of years they have become masters of living in profound interdependence with their environment, alchemizing the elements to facilitate healing within their bodies, and the body of the surrounding ecosystem.
In many ways, plants and mushrooms provide a bridge back to the interdependent nature of our deepest selves.
By working with plants and mushrooms, we learn their healing powers, we restore our connection to the earthly realm we inhabit, and we become more ourselves.
“We are human only in contact, and conviviality, with what is not human.” – David Abram
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Once you have booked an herbal consultation, I have the time reserved for you in my schedule exclusively for you. Cancellations made up to 48 hours prior to your appointment will be rescheduled without penalty. If you cancel your appointment less than 48 hours prior to your appointment or do not show up to your appointment, you forfeit this consultation booking and no refunds or rescheduling for that missed appointment will be available. See all additional policies, including our refund policy, by following the link in the footer section below.
