Mark’s Training and Interests
Mark has spent several years studying Herbal Medicine, including being awarded a BSc Honours Degree in Herbal Medicine in 2009. His passion in herbal medicine comes from two main areas. Firstly it is the accessibility and usefulness of herbal medicines, of being able to support health and well-being in so many ways with plants that grow all around us. Secondly it is the unique situation of herbal medicine in that it has such a vast tradition across all parts of the globe but also can draw a lot on modern scientific research.
The holistic approach is also something that is important to Mark, working with the many factors that make up our lives such as diet and activity, relaxation, our environment, self development and so on. What inspires Mark about this is that not only does it help support better health, it also helps a person engage life on a whole new level. Mark also takes the holistic approach to mean honouring the skills and advances that modern medicine has brought and working alongside conventional care and not in opposition.
Mark is keen to support herbal medicine in the local community and gives talks to various local groups, runs herb walks and workshops and has set up Herbalism in South Wales and Gloucestershire. In the past he helped organise health related talks and workshops while on the committee of the Green Medicine Society at university. He also helps organise meetings for local herbalists as well as working on other projects that support herbal medicine at large.
Mark is currently establishing a herb garden in Chepstow having worked on other herb gardens before. At one in the Carpathian mountains he also worked with making herbal products with limited resources (he was off-grid with no electricity or running water) and spent time identifying wild plants, creating a short book called ‘Wild Foods and Medicines of Forest Garden Transylvania’ for the community to use.
Mark also has an interest in sustainability. He has been involved in the past with the Transition Glastonbury Health Group and now in Chepstow with Transition Chepstow, where he also gave a talk on herbal medicine and sustainability. In his herbal practice he is careful not to use endangered herbs and focuses on using organically grown or sustainably harvested herbs.
