Medical Herbalist

Anita Ralph MSc (herb med) MNIMH MCPP

Consulting Medical Herbalist

Anita Ralph MSc has been a practitioner of herbal medicine since 1990. She is a member of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists and the College of Practitioners of Phytotherapy. Medical Herbalists train in conventional medical sciences and pharmacology and specialise in prescribing herbal medicines as an alternative to or alongside conventional herbal medicine.

Anita has collaborated with Miss Anne Henderson since 2006, initially setting up an integrated gynaecology clinic for pelvic pain, then expanding to support women with all sorts of gynaecological and menopausal issues. Anita works from her own clinic, Medicine Tree, in West Malling, Kent, and collaborates with other health care professionals and consultants at The Amara Clinic.

Anita has been a tutor of herbal medicine within her community, and for BSc and MSc herbal medicine courses at colleges and Universities. Her book, Native healers: A foundation in Western herbal medicine is the text-book to accompany the Heartwood Foundation Course co-written with her colleague Mary Tassell. Anita also contributed the herbal medicine chapter of the DK Natural Menopause book by Anne Henderson and published a prospective audit of menopause patients receiving herbal treatment in the Journal of Herbal Medicine in 2020. Anita says:

‘Herbal Medicine is more than simply a herbal version of modern drugs. Herbs contain extraordinary, safe and effective compounds that modern science is confirming our traditional medicinal use of. Medicinal plants can help our cells, tissues and organ systems optimise their function and lead us to greater well-being.

‘Seeing a Medical Herbalist is about collaborative working, looking at the whole, considering root causes and combining unique plants in professionally active mixtures to individuals to help them thrive.’