Build a strong foundation for your herbal education with The Practical Herbalist Diploma program. Comprised of 11 comprehensive courses, our curriculum is built on 40+ years of teaching & hands-on clinical practice.
The result: a curated combination of online courses and live classroom events to set you up for success as an Herbalist– allowing you to study on your own schedule, from anywhere across the globe.
You Will:
- learn a healing system using our original medicines
- connect with our ancestral herbal lineage
- gain skills to support your health sovereignty
- learn a wholistic system for using plants to support both body and mind
- learn to handle many health conditions with herbs & whole foods
- study at your own pace and on your own schedule
- learn a model of health care that blends science with esoteric knowledge
- study under a variety of experienced herbal mentors across the country
- have the opportunity to do clinical apprenticeship hours (in-person or on-line)
- receive a diploma from Canada’s most recognized herbal college
- find connection & a sense of belonging within the herbal community
When You Graduate You Can:
- support your friends and family with safe herbal remedies
- apply a variety of approaches & techniques gained from experienced herbal clinicians & educators
- understand herbs for all body systems, and by chemical groups
- make effective herbal medicines from fresh and dried herbs
- offer community outreach and education
- work with land-based education and herbal advocacy
- start a niche herbal product line
- make medicine &/or dispense for practitioners
- work as an educator and/or public speaker
- become an herb shop owner or consultant
- become your community’s trusted herbalist
- …be inspired to continue onto more advanced studies with the Master Herbalist Diploma Program
Courses
Explore the roadmap of your Practical Herbalist program & what it looks like to realize your dreams of becoming a Herbalist.
Immerse yourself in the art and science of herbal medicine with 11 comprehensive courses, bonus live sessions, and your final research project. Gain invaluable knowledge in a program that is based on 40+ years of teaching, and decades of study and hands-on clinical work in the herbal field.
The result: an interactive online program curated by our team for to set you up for success as an Herbalist.
Includes 10 Live Student Roundtables plus Ask the Instructor Q&As
Herbology 101
Herbology 101 is your essential herbalist starter course, outlining herbalism history, herbal folklore, plant identification and herbal terminology, as well as modern herbal research.
Biology & Biochemistry
This course examines the chemical interactions within living cells essential for sustaining life, crucial to understanding the art and science of herbalism and the way medicinal herbs affect our biology.
Anatomy & Physiology
Focusing on the organic and systemic interrelationships in an optimally functioning body, our Anatomy & Physiology course covers all of the major bodily systems, organs and tissues.
Herbology Advanced
Herbology Advanced provides an essential framework for herbalists working towards a professional practice, going into detail about herbal constituents and their role in facilitating health.
Nutrition 101
Nutrition 101 delivers a comprehensive overview into the world of whole foods and the link between nutrition and food as preventative medicine, offering essential knowledge for the holistic practitioner.
History of Herbal Medicine
History of Herbal Medicine offers an anthropological view into the long-standing relationship between humans and herbal medicine. Become acquainted with its rich history.
Botany for Herbalists
Botany for Herbalists is designed to understand the plant kingdom. The practice of herbalism is incomplete without the familiarity with plant botany, plant ID, and plant families.
Wild Harvesting
Learn how to harvest 40+ Herbs commonly found throughout North America. Discover the best methods on how to harvest and store roots, mushrooms, flowers and aerial parts from an experienced herbalist & harvester.
Western Materia Medica I
Take a deeper look into over 50 medicinal herbs commonly used in Western herbalism in this course, providing key information on the theoretical basis of single herbs and their use.
Western Materia Medica II
This course provides key information on the theoretical basis of single herbs and their use, and draws upon the rich and diverse literature, both scientific and folkloric, that explores each herb.
Herbal Pharmacy
Create liquid internal herbal preparations including tinctures, glycerites, flower essences, vinegars, honeys, syrups, and ferments. Explore preparations such as powders, pills and lozenges. Formulate topical preparations such as oil infusions, salves, lotions, compresses and poultices.
Plant Monograph Research Project
Utilize the skills and knowledge gained throughout your program to research and create a herbal monograph, including scientific studies, botany, energetics, therapeutics uses and more.
Want a taste of the Practical Herbalist Student experience? Check out some of our sample video lessons and textbook excerpts from a selection of PHDP courses below.
Herbal Pharmacy
In this Herbal Pharmacy lesson excerpt, join Instructor Yarrow Willard for an introduction to tinctures aka alcohol extracts.
Wild Harvesting
Join Wild Harvesting instructor Yarrow Willard in the course excerpt as he discusses creating realtionships with the plant kingdom and connecting with the spirit of the medicine.
Anatomy & Physiology
In this Anatomy and Physiology course excerpt, join instructor Petra Sovcov for an introduction to the Cardiovascular system.
Nutrition 101
Join Nutrition 101 Instructor Jeananne Laing for a glimpse into our Nutrition 101 course. In this excerpt, Jeananne discusses Minerals and their forms.
Instructors
Meet Your Mentors. Allow us to introduce your instructors for the Practical Herbalist Program.
Have a question about our Practical Herbalist Diploma Program? We’ve got the full details below–we cover everything from prerequisites, transfer credits, to the question of printed course manuals and more.
You can start right now!
To begin, choose your diploma program and payment option (either a one time payment or monthly instalments). Once your payment has been processed, you will immediately receive your course material and access to your courses.
You can enroll in our programs and courses by selecting a payment option and processing your tuition payment through your cart. Once you have processed your tuition payment, you will gain access to all the materials required to complete your studies via your student dashboard.
It is recommended that students hold a high school diploma if they intend to undertake our curriculum and basic English competency is expected.
Practical Herbalist Diploma
- It is recommended that students hold a high school diploma if they intend to undertake our curriculum and basic English competency is expected.
Master Herbalist Diploma
- Students must be enrolled in or have graduated from our Practical Herbalist Diploma Program, or have an equivalent education, if they wish to enroll in our Master Herbalist Diploma Program.
Clinical Herbalist Apprenticeship
- The Practical and Master Herbalist Diploma Programs are required to receive your clinical designation. However, you may begin your clinical training once you are enrolled in the Practical Herbalist Diploma Program and you have completed the Herbology 101 course.
We accept Mastercard, Visa, Visa/Debit, Paypal, and e-transfers*. Our diploma programs can be purchased in one initial payment or via enrolment in our 12-month payment plan.
Payment streams for our Practical Herbalist Diploma Programs:
Payment Plan
For those that prefer making affordable monthly payments: 12 monthly payments in total x $225.45= $2705.40 CDN
Pay in Full
1 initial payment of $2497 CDN upon registration, which works out to a total savings of $208.40 CDN from our full course payment of $2705.40 CDN.
*If you wish to pay by e-transfer please contact Student Services at [email protected] for instructions.
All Wild Rose College courses & diploma programs include downloadable .pdf course manuals. Wild Rose College does offer the option to optionally add coiled and bound printed course manuals upon initial registration (or you may alternatively purchase as few or as many as you like at any time during your studies).
Purchasing printed course manuals is not required, however some students prefer the printed and bound manuals to study off-line, so it is entirely a personal preference. We are also able to offer them at a competitive price and there may be a cost savings to printing them yourself.
Courses taken at another school may be accepted as substitutes for Wild Rose courses upon submission of transcripts, course outlines or syllabus. In some cases students may be asked to write a challenge exam at a cost of $75.00+GST. Courses allowable for transfer must have been taken within the past ten years.
Students must receive approval from our Student Services team prior to enrollment. Please email [email protected] for more information.
Wild Rose College will issue a refund upon request, less a 30% administration fee, when a student withdraws from a course a maximum of seven (7) business days following purchase. Because course access is immediately granted and course material links are automatically emailed directly following payment, they become the property of the student. As such, Wild Rose College is unable to offer full refunds.
Our refund policy also applies to our monthly diploma program payment plans. If cancelling a payment plan, a $75.00 cancellation fee will be applied before remaining payments are cancelled. All payment plans will remain active unless cancellation has been acknowledged by the Student Services team. Students can request cancellation of a payment plan if they are withdrawing from a diploma program. If a student contacts the college to re-enroll in their studies on a payment plan outside of the allotted completion time frame, they will be responsible for a reinstatement fee of $75, plus the extension fee of $150 to extend their access for one (1) year, and any remaining program fees at current program rates.
Printed course manuals are non-refundable.
A note about Wild Rose College manuals: herbalists and practitioners who teach at Wild Rose College work for many years on their courses offered at the College. Thus, we respectfully ask that students do not give or sell used course manuals, as this would result in course creators not earning an income from course sales. All course material is copyrighted. Wild Rose College, instructors and staff strive to support the herbal community and herbalists. We thank our students for their support in this mission.
Stand-alone courses, intensive workshops, clinical apprenticeships, and seasonal courses are non-refundable.
Please note that refunds will be issued using the original payment method provided at time of registration.
All courses can be completed online and at your own self-guided pace. Video lessons can be accessed at all times from anywhere with an internet connection; there is no need to attend class at a specific time.
Our courses are designed so the most casual or serious learner can take part. Our delivery ensures you will be able to participate in our in-depth teachings while working or maintaining other commitments.
Any courses that have live sessions will be announced in advance for a certain date and time. These can be accessed online and will be recorded so that they can be reviewed at a later date.
Our programs at Wild Rose College were created so the most casual or serious learner can take part. Our timelines and delivery ensure our students will be able to participate in our in-depth teachings while working or maintaining their other commitments.
Depending on your other obligations, as well as how quickly you absorb the information, it is possible to complete a diploma program in as little as 1 year. However, students are given 3 years to complete the requirements and extensions are available upon request. Lifetime access pertains to course materials and course videos only.
The passing standard for all mandatory courses at Wild Rose College is 70%. In order to receive credits for a course, students must fulfill all requirements set by the instructor for that course. All requirements for a program must be completed within 3 years (with the option to apply for a 1 year extension if required).
The majority of course grades are calculated based upon 60% quiz results with 40% final exams however, some are project based. See the course page on your student dashboard for evaluation methods specific to that course.
Student must also complete a Plant Monograph Research Project as a final research project and pass with a minimum grade of 70%.
With your Practical Herbalist Diploma, you will have a solid foundational knowledge of the world of plant medicine and the human body.
The Practical Herbalist Diploma is the beginning of cultivating your learning and understanding of plant medicine, through a systems approach pairing herbs for body systems, the foundation of nutrition, and learning botany and plant ID.
With what you learn throughout your program, you will be able to assist family, friends, yourself and your community with their health as well as working in the health and wellness sector and continuing on with your education through our Master Herbalist Program.
Senior Citizens (60+) are eligible for a 10% discount on full price online courses and diploma program tuition.
Note that this discount cannot be combined with sale pricing, seasonal courses or any other offers. To receive this discount you will need to provide documentation of your birth date by contacting Student Services at [email protected]. You will need to enter the promo code at checkout in order to receive the discount. No exceptions can be made.
RESP funds and government loans cannot be used to pay for tuition. Additionally T2202A slips cannot be issued. Taking this into account, Wild Rose College offers affordable payment plans for all diploma programs.
Not seeing the answer to a burning question? Our awesome College Coordinators are here to help. Reach out by email or phone at any time here
Begin Your Herbal Journey Today…
Select your plan:
Select the printed manuals you would like to have included below. You can order more at any time during your membership.