Health Justice & Accessibility

Join Herbalists Without Borders Executive Director Denise Cusack for a three-part series and live Q&A session on Health Justice & Herbal Health Accessibility in the Wild Rose Herbal Village.

Class 1: Accessible Herbalism. February 9, 4 pm pacific

In this one-hour webinar, students will learn about accessibility, what that means, and why it is important. We will review equity and accessibility in herbalism, explore different tools used to make herbal practice and community models work, and how they might use those to find a model that works for their own practice. 

Class 2: Community Supported Herbalism & Accessibility. February 16, 4 pm pacific

In this class, students will learn more about community-supported herbalism, and the different ways that herbal wellness can be made accessible to all people, including those historically excluded and marginalized. We also will explore other community models of empowerment, education, and support, that can be utilized based on need, and implemented at any scale. 

Class 3: Using Social Permaculture to Build Collaborative Community Models. February 23, 4 pm pacific

In this final class, students will review some of the fundamental principles of social permaculture to evaluate how we can use tools to create a framework of collaborative community models to reach those most in need in our own communities. 

Live Q&A Session: Herbalists Without Borders Q&A. March 2, 11 am pacific

In this session, Denise Cusack will join us live for a question and answer session on Health Justice, Herbal and Health Accessibility and how Herbalists without Borders works internationally to provide compassionate holistic care to communities and countries in need impacted by natural disasters, violent conflicts, poverty, trauma and other access barriers to health and wellness. Herbal Village members can find the registration link for the live session in the February Newsletter, the Herbal Village Facebook group and the Herbal Village Overview page.

Meet Denise

Denise Cusack (she/her) is a clinical herbalist, medicinal herb grower & conservationist, writer, regenerative permaculture systems designer, and artist. Denise works as Executive Director of Herbalists Without Borders and volunteers in free clinics including the Veterans Resiliency Holistic Clinic. Denise is caretaker of her family land, Lunar Hollow Farm (a UpS Botanical Sanctuary), where she grows and preserves hundreds of medicinal plants and endangered natives. Lunar Hollow is also where Denise manages a large herbal US Donation Distribution network serving free clinics, grows food for her family, creates resources and opportunities for the herbal community, and manages a national Seed Grant Program and Seed Library. Denise homeschools her two teenagers and loves to bake, cook, ferment, work in her greenhouse, grow new things, forage her land with her family and animals, and work to landrace plants for her region. She is always learning and continues her education in herbalism, aromatherapy, health justice, permaculture, trauma informed-care, disaster relief response, first aid, and more.

Denise serves as Chair on the Board of Directors for the American Herbalists Guild (AHG), on the Board of Directors for the Integrative Medicine for the Underserved (IM4US), and in various related committees with a focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Denise received the Daily Point of Light Award in 2021 in recognition of her years of volunteer service for Herbalists Without Borders.