About Miranda
Endless seeming summers exploring the rolling fields and wooded creeks of Central Pennsylvania first connected me to the magic of the natural world. My personal experiences with the healing capacity of herbs and nutrition led me onto the path of studying clinical herbalism. The collaborative relationship between client and practitioner can be a healing tool in its own right, and I prioritize creating a space that feels safe, supportive, and empowering to everyone.
Education
First and foremost, my education is thanks to the natural world.
Some of my earliest memories are of a deep love for beings who were not human. My enormous silver coated dog, Shadow. The first tree I built a relationship with. My first memory of grief was at 4 years old, crying inconsolably while I watched from the window as my big, beautiful willow tree was cut apart by chainsaws, after being wounded in a large storm. The creek where I fell in love with the crayfish, rainbow trout, minnows, mosses, and the mica schist sparkling in the sunlight beneath the ripples. Nature taught me to look, to listen, to smell, and to daydream. She taught me safety, connection, and belonging before I knew there were words for those feelings. That water and the plants on her banks held me and accepted my tears through the death of my dog, my parents divorce, my first heartbreak. Years later I would begin to learn of all the other gifts contained within nature’s green adornments, but as a child I instinctively knew that we belonged to each other.
During my 3 years and 1,356 hours at VCIH, I studied human physiology, practitioner’s skills, nutrition, herbal chemistry and pharmacology, herb-drug interactions, and in-depth coverage of traditional and clinical use of a wide array of medicinal plants. During my third year of training, I served as a clinical intern in VCIH’s sliding scale clinic under the supervision and mentorship of Larken Bunce, Betzy Bancroft, Guido Mase, Lisa Olsen, Iris Gage, Julie Mitchell, and Ember Peters
After several years of self-directed study, I began my herbal studies in earnest with Emily Ruff at the Florida School of Holistic Living in Orlando. After completing the Family and Community Herbalist programs there, I decided to uproot and replant myself in Vermont in order to satiate my appetite for even more intensive study. The Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism is one of the most comprehensive clinical herbalism programs in North America. VCIH’s 3 year Clinical Herbalist program is not only unique in it’s academic rigor, but also in its commitment to operating and educating within a social and ecological justice framework. My time at VCIH gave me a strong foundation of both modern herbal science as well as traditional energetic frameworks including Western energetics, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda.
My Path
During the year following the traumatic death of one of my dearest friends, I realized that while my grief was necessary to process and show praise and appreciation for the loss of my loved one, it was lingering in a way that was making it nearly impossible to live my life. I didn’t have the energy or motivation to do the things I knew would help me feel better. I was deeply stuck in a cycle of detachment and hopelessness. I decided to try working with an herbalist. I didn’t entirely know what that meant, or what he could do for me, I just knew that I needed help and for me, medication didn't feel like the solution. We began to work together via phone calls, and his deep listening, compassion, and wisdom combined with the beautiful herbal formulas that he made himself and mailed to me, little by little nudged and guided me up from the depths. I started to feel able to walk my dog, to sit in my garden, to ride my bike to the beach, to laugh with my friends. Gradually, I felt my body and spirit regain their previous resilience and capacity for life. I felt my heart begin to open again.
For me, this experience was life changing not only because it greatly helped to heal my heart, but also because it led me onto my own life path. I knew I wanted to be able to share the gifts that my herbalist had given me. To transform the loss and pain I had experienced into something I could use to help other people. I became insatiable for knowledge about plants and humans and how we are made to be in relationship with each other.