Kris is the founder, Program Director, and Head Instructor of Herbal Wisdom Institute. Kris began her herbalism career in 2009. Kris works as a medicine woman in Cherokee tradition and as a clinical herbalist in private practice, and she has worked along side naturopathic and medical physicians. Kris is also the Director of Wise Woman Herbals®, an herbal product brand.

Kris began teaching herbal medicine at Yavapai College in 2015 where she recognized the need for more comprehensive herbalism courses in her area. She started Herbal Wisdom Institute in 2016. Kris is the host of a podcast titled Herbal Wisdom and she also has been a guest speaker for Yavapai Regional Medical Center, The United States Forest Service, the MS Society, and other corporations and groups.

Kris studied Western Herbalism at the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts in Tempe, Arizona 2008-2009. In this year-long program she developed a deep understanding of herbal medicine and its traditional and conventional clinical use. In 2010 she studied medical herbalism in an additional year-long intensive, Foundations in Herbal Medicine by Tieraona Low Dog MD. This program was focused on the clinical use of herbs in specific health conditions commonly present in each of the body systems. 

Kris is member of The American Herbalists Guild, United Plant Savers, and the American Association of Drugless Practitioners.

Rachel Alm is a mother of two, wife of a park ranger, and proud Arizona resident. She grew up among the tall ponderosas and feels most at home where the coyotes howl and the skies stretch long and wide. Her love of learning and desire to heal led her to pursue training in functional nutrition and herbal medicine and, with each passing season she spends working with plant medicine, she aligns more deeply with her heart’s desire. Rachel is Board Certified in Holistic Nutrition® and a former lead instructor for the Nutritional Therapy Association’s practitioner training program. Her herbal business, Open Road Botanicals, features small batch gifts and medicine inspired by the open roads of the American Southwest. She is trained in yoga for children with special needs, holds a master’s in education from Prescott College, and works as an elementary school counselor for Tucson Unified School District. In her classroom and in practice, she combines the science of holistic health with the art of compassionate, individualized support. Rachel creates offerings focused on opening channels needed to release burden, allowing the body to heal itself as nature intended.

Candice Cook is an Arizona based herbalist and adventurer with 15 years experience working with medicinal plants. Clinically she specializes in disorders related to mood, pain, sexuality, and immunity. She is a skilled outdoor enthusiast, certified in Wilderness First Aid and Austere Medicine, and has taught ethical wildcrafting, stewardship, herbal first aid, invasive plant medicine, and more. She runs Rebel Herbal, an herbal products company, and is the founder of the Arizona Herbalist's Coalition.

Earth Medicine Guide

“ I want to leave the bounds of the made world and take you out to smell wild minerals of the wet dirt, to fill your mouth with the spice of tree resin, to feed your soul with wildness,  to drum your heart into a rhythm that allows YOU to hear, feel, see, sense, experience the magic and sacredness of the natural world.  I want to show you how to see with more than your eyes, see with your body, your heart, your sensual nature.  I want to feed the senses and bodies of my people with the holiness of Earth medicine – with the place where the earth wisdom, sacred wildness, and Spirit touches the spark of life within each heart, body and soul.” 

I am Darcey Blue – Devotee of the Sacred Wild. Nature is my greatest ally and teacher, the Earth my sanctuary, and seeding Sacred Wildness my purpose.

I am a rewilding woman, Earth Medicine guide, shamanic herbalist & wild crafter.  The Land is my Beloved, I am a devotee of all that is wild & sacred on this beautiful, inspirited Earth. 

I am here to guide to the healing wisdom and medicine that the Sacred Wild in nature hold for you, and the wisdom of spirit that is expressed within and through each of us, as medicine keepers for these transformative times. I am here to plant the seeds of a new way for our People and our Wild Communities

I work with those who are eager to learn from the Wild, Inspirited Earth, a way as old as time itself, and who are ready to take responsibility for and transform their relationship to self, body, spirit, nature, and the Earth.

I have studied plant medicine & shamanic lifeways and practices for over 14 years in the US and in in Peru. I am a Mesa Medicine Carrier, Wilderness First Responder (Jan 2017), Earth Medicine & Nature Guide and Shamanic Herbalist. I studied plant medicine with Rosemary Gladstar, Charles Kane, and Paul Bergner at the North American Institute for Medical Herbalism.  It is my deep love of the wild Earth that fuels my passion for healing and teaching about sacred wilderness, spirit, deep connection and relationship with nature, and healing.

My own journey in life has been catalyzed by cultivating the ever deepening relationship with the wildness in the world, and the wildness within my own body and spirit- through the plants, the land spirits, and solitary time in wild natural places- sitting with the wild beings, wildcrafting plants, and journeying with spirit and soul.  

Learn more about Darcey HERE

Dr. Nishek is a North Dakota native, having grown up in Minot and Valley City, and practices medicine in North Dakota at Dakota Natural Health Center. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree from UND in 2006, a Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine degree from Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine & Health Sciences in 2010 and her CLEC Certification from the University of San Diego Extension in 2015.

Dr. Nishek offers naturopathic consultations to all ages and genders. Helping couples overcome infertility to establish and maintain pregnancy, supporting women through the prenatal process and guiding moms through postnatal changes and the breastfeeding relationship are her passion. She has advanced training in those areas, as well as in managing PCOS and other hormonal/menstrual cycle irregularities, from puberty through menopause. She also provides acupuncture treatments and a number of functional laboratory testing options to help navigate hormone issues, digestive dysfunction, mood disorders, sleep disorders and more.

Dr. Nishek is the mother of two wild and free children and has been happily married to her adventurous, hilarious and creative husband since 2011. They spend their family time checking out the dinosaur bones at the Heritage Center & State Museum, swimming at the YMCA and watching every Disney/Pixar movie ever created.

Amber Fields has a Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry with an emphasis in Ecological Restoration from Northern Arizona University. During college she completed an internship at the Willow Bend Environmental Education Center in Flagstaff, Arizona. Amber earned a Forestry License in New Hampshire where she practiced forestry after college before returning to her hometown of Prescott, Arizona.

Amber and her husband own Hassayampa Forestry and Ecological LLC., which focuses on sustainable land management in the West. They built their own house where they live off-the-grid on a retired mining claim that they are rehabilitating in the Prescott National Forest. Last winter, Amber taught a “Water in the West” undergraduate course for Prescott College. She also serves as the Communications Director for the Save the Dells political action committee.

Amber became a Certified Herbalist through the Herbal Wisdom Institute’s Foundations in Western Herbalism course and is excited to join the institute’s teaching team. She is continuing her herbal studies in herbalist Feather Jones’ Herbal Apprenticeship Program. When Amber is not teaching others about nature or advocating for the environment, she can be found on her mountain bike, tending to her gardens, or with her head in the weeds looking for medicinal plants.

Bella is an herbalist, bodyworker, intuitive healing practitioner and a beekeeper. Bella brings her vast plant knowledge to Herbal Wisdom Institute and shares this with others through leading plant identification and harvesting walks.  Bella’s specialty is making herb infused honey from her own bees and plants in her local area.

Bella has been practicing intuitive healing and bodywork 'officially' since 2001 as an OBT (Oriental Bodywork Therapist) with training at SWIHA (Southwest Institute of Healing Arts) in Tempe, Arizona. Her studies included Zen Shiatsu, Reiki, Reflexology, Polarity, Aromatherapy, and more. Through her years of experience she has come to the understanding that physical conditions come from something deeper and are manifestations of an internal issue or struggle.

“We can choose to ignore these 'signs from the soul' or treat them with medicine and drugs, or denial and avoidance. Or we can decide on a long and healthy life, and address them head-on for a full mind-body healing.  This is always my preference and I'm willing to work with anyone who truly wants a deep and long-last healing with the healthy life and life style that it includes.” - Bella Donna

Learn more about Bella Donna

www.beehealthy.biz

bellabhbh@aol.com  

Dr. Yasamine Farshad teaches anatomy and physiology for Herbal Wisdom Institute. Dr. Farshad received her Doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine from the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in Tempe, Arizona and she received her Bachelor of Science in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Arizona. She focuses in nature cure using botanical medicine. Dr. Farshad is also the Practitioner Education Manager for Wise Woman Herbals® where she coordinates educational events and content for health care practitioners.