Alex is a medical herbalist in London who worked with Breast Cancer Haven UK for 20 years. She is also the tutor-practitioner at the UK’s first herbal clinic in hospital dermatology at Whipps Cross Hospital. She is a fellow and council member of the College of Practitioners of Phytotherapy (CPP), and formerly of the Aromatherapy Organisations Council. She has undertaken clinical research and is a visiting lecturer. First a TV producer, she worked as an aromatherapist for staff at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital, with drug users and those with HIV while training as a medical herbalist. Her quest is how we can create individual and community health at all levels, physical, spiritual and environmental.
Alex is also the founder director of Living Medicine. The charity aims to reskill people in growing and using food and herbs for everyday healthcare, reviving knowledge across cultures. Its tutors are practising medical herbalists run inspiring workshops and walks for patients and public alike. They aim to show we can support ourselves with healing plants and foods for specific conditions and reconnect to nature and each other.

Dr. Bruna Gushurt-Moore teaches the Materia Medica sections of the programme.
Dr Bruna Gushurst-Moore has taught in the History Departments at Plymouth and Winchester Universities, and was Director of the BSc programmes in Herbal Medicine as well as Senior Lecturer specialising in historical approaches to ethnobotany at Westminster University. Dr Gushurst-Moore’s research looks at the intersection of medical and cultural histories, Atlantic cultures and theories (particularly those relating to botanical cultures), transmission theories (particularly oral cultures), gendered histories (particularly as they relate to medical and cultural models), and the history of irregular medical practices. She has studied and taught extensively on Early Modern history and historical ethnobotany, particularly as it is tied to place and person, and written on Early Modern gardens, the role of Early Modern domestic architecture and siting on women’s medical knowledge and practice, and the transmission of subaltern knowledge across the Atlantic sphere. She has degrees from the University of Colorado and Plymouth, and conducted her postdoctoral research on the Leverhulme-British Academy Women's Early Modern Letters Online Project (WEMLO), run by Plymouth and Oxford Universities in association with Cultures of Knowledge, Oxford University and the Bodleian Library

Fiona is the Lead of Personal Academic Tutors and teaches the Business Skills sections of the programme.
Fiona qualified from Napier University, Edinburgh, with a BSc(Hons) in Herbal Medicine in 2007. While still working in the corporate world, she completed a Pg Cert in Counselling Studies and Psychodynamics in Edinburgh University. When she moved back to Ireland, she set up Gannon Herbal Practice, to work full time as a Medical Herbalist. After seeing a lot of her patients with immune conditions and chronic illness, it sparked a deeper interest in the immune system. This lead her to complete a Masters in Immunology and Global Health in NUI Maynooth in 2014. She is actively studying in other related fields such as Hormonal Health, Nutrition and Mental Well-Being while still running her practice in Dublin.

Chris teaches the Oncology sections of the programme and is one of our FCE examiners.
Christopher Etheridge is a leading Medical Herbalist (Phytotherapist) with extensive experience as a herbal practitioner, researcher and writer. He is also one of Britain's foremost Integrated Cancer Specialists with his own dedicated cancer consultancy.
Chris is Chair of the British Herbal Medicine Association (BHMA) (bhma.info), Chair of the BHMA’s Herbal Practitioner Supplier Section (bhma.info/hpss/), President of the College of Practitioners of Phytotherapy (CPP) (thecpp.uk) and President of the European Herbal Traditional Medicines Practitioners Association (EHTPA) (ehtpa.eu). He is also a member of the British Pharmacopoeia's Expert Advisory Group on Herbal and Complementary Medicines (pharmacopoeia.com/technical-advisers-to-the-bpc) and the European Scientific Cooperative on Phytotherapy) (ESCOP) board (escop.com/).
He holds a first class honours BSc and a PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from Imperial College, London. He was a Research Fellow and Lecturer in Gene Therapy at Imperial’s Department of Chemistry and at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at St Mary’s Hospital, where he also received further training, from 1995-99.
Chris completed his professional training on the four-year Herbal Medicine degree programme at the College of Phytotherapy, East Sussex, where he graduated in 2006 with a first class honours BSc and published his dissertation on quality control in herbal medicine

Dedj teaches the Clinical Skills and the Materia Medica sections of the programme.
Dedj trained in nursing on leaving school and after a break for having children she trained for four years in Western Herbal medicine, qualifying in 1992. Having variable success with dermatology she then trained in Chinese Herbal Medicine, (which has an excellent reputation in this field) qualifying in 1997. This 2 year post graduate course concluded with 6 weeks full time clinical practice under supervision in China.
In 2006 Dedj undertook a further 4 year BSc (Hons) degree in acupuncture at the College of Integrated Chinese Medicine. Dedj is part of the Conventional Medical Science teaching team at the College of Integrated Chinese Medicine. She is a past Director of Education for the National Institute of Herbal Medicine and a clinical examiner at Middlesex University. In 2013 Dedj was awarded a Fellowship of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists; “in acknowledgment of her professional attainments and the great services which she has contributed to the science and practice of Medical Herbalism”.
Dedj is a qualified Emergency Medical Technician and First Aid trainer. She founded the ‘Medical Herbalists’ which is a changing group of qualified and undergraduate herbalists who provide Herbal First Aid and Acute Medical Services at festivals.
Dedj’s approach to treatment is to integrate Western Herbal Medicine, Chinese Herbal Medicine and Acupuncture; drawing on both Eastern and Western Medical traditions for a treatment strategy. She also offers dietary and lifestyle advice if appropriate. Her special interests are Acute Medicine, Dermatology and Gynaecology.
Dedj regularly teaches and is committed to her own professional development. She has an extensive dispensary of both Chinese and Western Herbs.

Helen is a Betonica Director, Lead of Betonica, Clinical Supervisor, Head of Year 4 and teaches the Clinical Skills, Pharmacognosy and Dispensing part of the programme.
Helen has a BSc (Hons) in Herbal Medicine, a background in permaculture, first aid and teaching gardening and growing.
Helen trained for five years in Herbal Medicine in London gaining experience in the dermatology department of Whipps Cross Hospital, Middlesex University Archway Clinic, Westminster University Herbal Medicine Clinic and the University of East London Clinic. She continues to keep up to date with the latest findings on herbal medicine, attending seminars and lectures as well as keeping a connection with the plants she uses as medicine by making many of her own tinctures, creams and ointments, and offering herb walks and teaching workshops.
Helen has gained a lot of experience in acute medicine (both herbal and orthodox) through her work as a festival first aider and community first responder. Helen has also worked in the Calais ‘jungle’ as part of a team of medics.

Nik graduated from Betonica as a Medical Herbalist in 2002 having spent the previous two decades working in the acute & emergency medical environment including within the NHS Minor Injuries & Theatres departments and privately as a festival medical services provider for many events throughout the UK.
She currently combines a thriving herbal practice, seeing patients both online and in-person from her clinic and apothecary on the outskirts of Glastonbury, with life on an off-grid small-holding including seasonal shepherdess responsibilities and the development of the herb gardens with the aim to of becoming self-sufficient in the majority of herbs used within the practice and promoting sustainable practices within herbal medicine.

Jo teaches the Nutrition sections of the programme.
I am an AFN registered nutritionist and a medical herbalist with a special interest in gut health. I am also a keen fermenter and fermentation educator and I am currently working on my PhD, focussing on a particular form of fermented food. I am conducting research into oxymels as a form of herbal medicine; a special interest for me that combines my love of both ferments and medicinal herbs. My previous career was in law.
I am a proponent of being the change we want to see in our world. I work with people one to one as well as running events relating to nutrition, herbs and microbes that aim to enthuse and support others in taking responsibility for their own wellbeing. I am one of the founders of The Peach, an organisation seeking to help people get to the heart of health through human connection and nature-based activities.
I am mother to 4 amazing children. I love being in the woods, learning, asking questions and laughing. In 2018, I jointly set the first ever Guinness World Record for making the largest dish of bacterially fermented sauerkraut.

Marion teaches the Pharmacology sections of the programme.
I am a medical herbalist in Brighton and Senior Herbal Specialist at Pukka Herbs, and am passionate about contributing to the world of herbal medicine through promoting research and collaborating with others. After starting out with a pharmacology and physiology degree and career in science publishing, I stumbled onto the wonder of herbs and retrained in herbal medicine.
Studying for a masters in medicinal natural products and phytochemistry was a brilliant way to join up my inner researcher with herbal knowledge. Discovering a world of scientists who believe in the power of plants was inspiring and led to better understanding of what research can offer herbal practitioners.
As well as seeing clients in Brighton and planning research projects at Pukka, I am an associate editor for the Journal of Herbal Medicine, a director of the Herbal Alliance and blog editor for the Herbal History Research Network.

Laura teaches the Clinical Skills sections of the programme.
Laura graduated from the Betonica medical herbalist diploma with distinction and received the Catherine Johnson memorial cup for clinical excellence at the end of four years study in May 2024.
Laura describes this as an incredible journey which all began with Helen as a participant on the home herbalist course.
She came to herbs having experienced the power of plant medicine to restore her own health and loved finding out how to support her family and friends as a home herbalist.
She is now practising as a medical herbalist and has a passion for empowering health in our communities by teaching people how to take steps to rebalance their own health.
She is looking forward to teaching the respiratory and digestive aspect of the advanced home herbalist course as herbs offer so much support in these areas. She teaches the clinical skills seminars with Dedj Leibbrandt and enjoys helping students understand the workings of our anatomy and physiology to better understand the wonderful ways that herbs support us.

Phil teaches the Men’s Health sections of the programme.
Phil’s route to herbal practice has encompassed work as a doctor in hospitals, primary care and unscheduled care settings. Although he now identifies as a herbalist, his experiences in conventional healthcare have equipped him to reference a number of perspectives when supporting people with their health and wellbeing as a herbal practitioner.
Phil regards himself as a facilitator for sharing knowledge rather than a teacher. Spending time with others spotting the connections between plants, people and wellbeing makes him feel very happy.

Paula teaches the Reflective Practice sections of the programme.
I have been interested in herbal medicine for many years. When my children were small my interest developed as I looked for alternatives to conventional medicines for minor ailments. I undertook a years correspondence course in herbal medicine with the School of Phytotherapy and started learning as much as I could about herbs and their uses. I began to harvests herbs and make my own herbal products, something which has now become a real passion of mine.

When my children left home I decided to start my journey to becoming a qualified Medical Herbalist. I was accepted on the BSc in Herbal Medicine at Lincoln College and I qualified in 2017 with a first class honours. Over the three years of the degree I studied many aspects of Western herbal medicine including: Materia Medica, philosophy and history of herbal medicine , anatomy and physiology, biochemistry, energetics and clinical skills. I completed 500 hours of clinical training before qualifying.

I am currently undertaking a course in Chinese Herbal Medicine which I feel will enhance my practice and widen my understanding of herbs and there uses.

I am practicing member of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists.I am committed to running an ethical and environmentally friendly practice and where possible I harvest many of the herbs I use locally and I make a number of herbal products myself.