My personal story:

 

I originally entered the fields of medicinal herbalism and aromatherapy by way of a horrific snow ski accident in 1994. I did a lot of internet searching trying drastically to find a name for what I was dealing with. After 3 years of searching I finally found a doctor who was able to tell me what I was dealing with. Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, a horrible continuous burning, swelling pain in both of my feet, which attacked my auto- immune system, and left me with no way out of the pain, sickness, and suffering I was dealing with on a daily basis. I started researching everything I could get my hands on to learn how to heal myself, because I was told it isn't curable. Through my numerous educational training, and holistic classes in addition to my nutritional education, I began completing various certification classes in herbalism and aromatherapy, I was stunned to learn that unlike many experts in the field of holistic medicine, most of the experts in herbalism and aromatherapy actually have no formal training. Many of them have no college education at all, or held degrees in unrelated fields. I was surprised that health information was being distributed from individuals who were not trained in basic research methods, or Epidemiology, which is the science that studies the patterns, causes, and effects of health and disease conditions in defined populations. Over the years, I enrolled in program after program, studying with trusted names. I continued to become frustrated with the quality of programs that were available. An abundance of high quality research exists in the scientific literature, but most programs simply focus on the mysticism or folklore of herbs and essential oils. In many cases, this folklore was found to be unsafe or ineffective.

 

While I appreciate these traditional courses, I struggled to locate a program rooted in verifiable evidence that I could recommend to my clients who were asking me for program recommendations. As much as I enjoy the experimentation of traditional medicine, I was not finding the confidence that I could expect when I was treating my own children, and I saw that many of my clients desired the same thing. I found myself unable to recommend any study program to them. It became apparent that something was lacking from the options of existing study programs in natural health a specific focus on quality evidence based research. Realizing how popular the folklore approach can be, I wasn't sure that many people would be interested in learning about evidence based natural health. However, I decided that there must be a few others and began developing a unique program unlike anything that existed.

 

I started the program, with a combination of time tested natural health courses, backed with large scale clinical studies. I combined my extensive and varied education to form a user-friendly program that could be backed with evidence. Little did I know, that people from all over the United States wanted a user-friendly way to learn about evidence-based natural health?

 

More and more families are wanting to implement a natural health approach, and a desire to learn through an evidence based school, in addition to the traditional wisdom. We surveyed 100 of our past and present Family Practitioner students, and over 2/3 of them said that they learned through the course that they had been using supplements, herbs, and essential oils in a way that was either unsafe or ineffective. Our students now save thousands of dollars each year as a result of what they learned with us by managing health situations at home, making effective remedies themselves, and avoiding needless supplements. We've educated people on sustainable health approaches and continue that original focus of providing one-on-one empowerment and encouragement with a focus on the traditional remedies that are supported with modern evidence. School of Holistic Healing is happy to report that 85% of our graduating students have gone on to open their own Family Holistic Practice and they are doing very well.

After all, our families are valuable and irreplaceable. After working with many individuals through Northwest School of Holistic Healing, I'm convinced that we've stumbled upon something that fills a great need.

If you, like so many others, have found that you are looking for something more when it comes to natural health information, we'd love to have you join us!

 

To great health!

Twyla Shaw, founder of Northwest School of Holistic Healing