Herbalista was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, home to Dr. Martin Luther King who said, “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.”
For a city that prides itself on the egalitarian legacy of Dr. King, we have also become the city with the largest income inequality in the United States! This type of contradiction is all too common, with rhetoric often not matching the reality. Even within the Herbal Community, where we point to the failure of our conventional medical system to provide adequate and accessible care, we sometimes recreate the very same problematic model, where only the privileged few have access to herbalists.
The Herbalista Free Clinic was an attempt at a different way of doing things. Wanting to get herbs directly in the hands of folks who needed them most, Lorna Mauney-Brodek decided to expand her Herbalista family herb practice to include a free mobile clinic. She kitted out the old family VW camper van and hit the road. Nicknamed the Herb Bus, she had a vision of utilizing mobile medicine as a means of providing earth-based care to underserved communities. By freeing the clinic from the confines of brick and mortar, we effectively lowered our overhead costs, expanded treatment capacity and unleashed our creativity. Oh, how we love mobile!
We scheduled regular stops around town to offer free clinical care, a spot of tea, and herbal education. Over the years our services grew and expanded to include the Herb Cart, the Dublin Herb Bike, a Community Health Fair, and numerous pop-up HerbCare Stations.
We strive for a community-based model of healthcare that is based on solidarity and not charity. Our programming is crafted to share skills, keep costs down, and give us all the chance to share our love through service. Solidarity Medicine Making Workshops, the Grow a Row Program, the Fire Cider Brigade, and Plant Rambles not only keep the apothecary stocked and the clinics rolling, but have helped cultivate an extended community care network throughout the local area. We see improved health outcomes, stronger support networks, and a growing vitality that comes simply from working with plants!
We are appreciative of the support we have received from herbal colleagues and herbal organizations over the years, on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2013, the Herbalista Free Clinic and Lorna were presented with a Community Service Award by the American Herbalists Guild. And in 2021, both the Herbalista Herbal Clinic and the Dublin Herb Bike were recognized with awards for ‘Herbalism in the Community’ by the National Institute of Medical Herbalists (UK).
We’ve put together this website to document our projects in real time, to help folks wanting to build-up their own community’s herbal infrastructure. We’ve loaded it with resources, including the online Herbalista Toolkit and several “how-to” manuals. We hope that it can help you build community through herbalism!
