Updated October 2024
Heartwood online education courses bring together a wide and diverse community of learners and, like any community, we need regulations, policies and a code of conduct to ensure that everyone involved has the best possible learning experience.
The regulations described in this handbook are designed to protect and maintain two vital areas:
We encourage you to read this handbook carefully as it forms the basis of the learning contract between you and Heartwood.
The Heartwood Foundation Course is made up of 12 online Units offering a broad introduction to the field of herbal medicine, with an emphasis on the practical use of herbs to alleviate common ailments. The course is assessed using a variety of methods including online quizzes and projects tasks, and an award certificate and online badges are given to those who complete all 12 units within the deadlines and achieve a minimum of 40% grade for their monograph. Learners who successfully finish all tasks, quizzes and assignments and achieves at least 60% for their monograph, may apply for a place on the Heartwood Professional Course.
All FC units are released on the 14th of the month in the evening, we usually say by 6pm. If the 14th falls on a weekend then we release the Friday evening before.
Please note: The name that you enter on your profile will be the name used when issuing your certificate, so please be mindful to enter this carefully.
Welcome to the one year Foundation Course in Herbal Medicine and thank you for choosing Heartwood for your online studies. We are committed to ensuring that you gain maximum benefit from the course, and sincerely hope that you will find learning with us both stimulating and fun.
The course Welcome Page will be available on your Dashboard and contains detailed information on how to use the Heartwood online Learning Management System (LMS). This handbook explains the various procedures that define the relationship between you as a learner and Heartwood as a course provider.
We should emphasise that the Foundation Course is designed as an introduction to the world of medicinal herbs and, whilst it can act as a pathway to professional study in herbal medicine, it does not confer any right to practise or prescribe to others. We hope it will encourage you and give you confidence in the use of plants to enhance personal health and wellbeing, but we must stress that the medical information contained in the course is not ‘medical advice’ and should not be treated as such, and it is provided without any representations or warranties, express or implied.
You must not rely on the information in the course as an alternative to medical advice, and if you have any specific questions about any medical matter, you should consult your doctor or other professional healthcare provider.
If you think you may be suffering from any medical condition, you should seek immediate medical attention, and should never delay seeking medical advice, nor disregard or discontinue medical treatment, because of information contained in the course.
In April 1971, Fred Fletcher Hyde, George Smith, Nalda Gosling, Albert Priest, Arthur Jenner and Albert Orbell set up the National Institute of Medical Herbalists Limited Education Fund
“to establish the training and tuition of students of medical herbalism giving both lectures in theoretical aspects and demonstrations in practical training.”
In pursuit of these charitable objectives, the Education Fund makes grants to organisations and educational establishments, sponsors research, and supports the provision of herbal practice and education facilities throughout the United Kingdom.
In April 2016, The National Insitute of Medical Herbalists Education Fund (Now The Herbal Medicine Trust), at the instigation of Paul Hambly, MNIMH (Chair of the Fund) launched a new educational initiative, under the name Heartwood, with the aim of producing a suite of blended learning courses and programmes as part of its mission to promote excellence in herbal medicine education.
The project is currently managed by Guy Waddell PhD fHEA, MNIMH as Director of Studies Hananja Brice-Ytsma, MSc FNIMH as Clinical Director, Lisa Smith as General Manager and Nikki Harrison as Administrative Coordinator
In line with its charitable status, all income derived from Heartwood in excess of course production costs is used by The Herbal Medicine Trust to support new initiatives that benefit herbal medicine as a whole. Whilst the Trustees of the Herbal Medicine Trust believe that Heartwood can make a significant contribution to national and international education in herbal medicine, the Herbal Medicine Trust seeks to encourage and support the work of all institutions offering professional herbalist training, and to share knowledge and resources wherever possible.
You should ensure that we are kept up to date of your contact details so that all important communications reach you. Please also ensure that your personal profile on the Learning Management System is complete and up-to-date at all times.
Contact information for all tutors and Heartwood staff is available on the Learning Management System. In the event of any additional queries, please email admin@heartwoodteam.net
Participation in the Heartwood Foundation Course requires commitment and taking full advantage of the learning opportunities it provides, understanding that the learning achieved will derive from a readiness to participate fully in all the learning activities offered.
The value that comes from making a personal commitment of time, effort and intellectual investment is enormous, and it is important to be organised and to plan your work schedule carefully. Be aware of any special course dates or deadlines, and work to those, making sure you are adequately prepared for all tasks.
Monthly Payments are due on 1st of each calendar month without a break until paid in full. It is the students responsibly to notify accounts@heartwoodteam.net if you are experiencing any difficulties with your payment(s). Heartwood Education reserves the right to suspend access to your studies when payment has not been received and without prior notification. If a student fails to make an agreed payment, the student may become immediately liable for payment of the full balance of their Fees. They will not normally be permitted to establish a new payment arrangement and may be subject to further action by Heartwood Education, such as termination of registration as a student and/or referral to a debt collection agency. A student whose debt is referred to a debt collection agency will become liable for Charges in addition to the balance of the debt owing to Heartwood Education. A student whose registration is terminated will not be permitted to continue studies on their course or receive any award certificate.. Heartwood Education is under no obligation to reinstate an individual’s registration for the current academic year or a subsequent academic year once it has been terminated, even after full payment of outstanding Fees and Charges.
The course will close 6 weeks after the release of the final unit, allowing time for completion of all course activities in order to qualify for a certificate of completion. But in order to enable you to spend more time reviewing topics of particular interest to you, we will maintain access to an archive of course materials including slides, documents and videos for up to a year after this.
Your course records will be held for one year after the close of the course, after which time we will not be able to issue a certificate for you as the records will no longer be on our system.
Circumstances may arise where it becomes necessary for a learner to defer their studies, or withdraw from studies altogether, for unforeseen reasons. If you need to take an extended absence from the course and wish to continue at a later date, you can apply to defer your participation and join a later edition of the course. This can only be done once, is at our discretion and the course must be resumed within 6 months from the start of the deferment of your studies. Students must have completed and earned the badge for each unit they have had access to, you will be added to the next intake that have reached the same point. Heartwood reserves the right to withdraw or reconfigure aspects of the learning experience in such cases, and if the fee for the course has changed during the deferment, this fee will be applied to your payment for the remaining units.
Please note that deferment of your studies will incur an administration fee of £50
Application for withdrawal from or deferment of studies should be made by emailing admin@heartwoodteam.net at the earliest opportunity.
Should you decide to withdraw, your registration fee of £95.00 will be retained and is non-transferable. No refunds will be given for any units that have been released within your intake. Refunds are calculated from the date Heartwood receive your written agreement to our terms of withdrawal. Refunds are calculated at £40 per month for the first 10 months only plus an administration fee of £50.
If you have chosen to pay by instalments we will stop your subscription, and in accordance with the withdrawal policy, will take into account the £50 administration fee. No refund will be given.
All Units in the Heartwood Foundation Course contain a structured Feedback activity, and we encourage learners to use the Forums and the messaging system on the LMS to make suggestions and raise issues on all aspects of study.
If you have a particular complaint or grievance about any aspect of the course, please raise it with Nikki Harrison by emailing n.harrison@heartwoodteam.net in the first instance.
Academic support is available in a number of ways. General questions can be raised with the course tutors during regular online seminars and text-chat sessions, and in the Unit forums.
Particular and individual issues can be raised via the LMS direct messaging system to their tutors.
If you have difficulties using the LMS, help is available and you are strongly encouraged to use it as early and often as you like by emailing support@heartwoodteam.net.
Heartwood is committed to developing and maintaining quality assurance policies and procedures.
Should a disciplinary issue arise, Heartwood normally adopts a 3-stage procedure with a warning email sent at each stage detailing the nature of the problem, and the steps required by the learner to resolve it. Failure to comply after the receipt of a third warning email may result in a learner being suspended or excluded from the course.
A member of Heartwood staff who identifies, or who is made aware of, the misconduct shall draw it to the attention of the learner. This interaction must be recorded and will be drawn to the attention of the Course Leader in writing, and the learner informed that this is happening. A disciplinary meeting will be arranged and, if a written warning is issued, a report will be issued by the Course Leader to the General Manager.
A learner who is the subject of a complaint of misconduct or against whom a criminal charge is pending or who is subject of a police investigation, may be suspended or excluded by Heartwood pending the disciplinary hearing or the trial.
No learner will be suspended or excluded unless they have been given an opportunity to make representation in person to the Course Leader and the General Mamanger. If for any reason it is not possible for a learner to attend in person, they will be allowed to make written representation.
Notwithstanding the above, Heartwood reserves the right to summarily exclude students for non-payment of fees or acts of gross misconduct without the need to follow the above warning procedure.
A student aggrieved by a decision to suspend or exclude shall have the right to appeal to Heartwood within 10 working days of such suspension or exclusion.
Grounds for the appeal should be sent in writing to the Course Leader who will convene an appeal panel comprising of 2 other members of the Heartwood.
Following the appeal meeting, a copy of minutes taken and a letter outlining the outcome of the appeal will be sent to the student in writing within 10 days.
You should engage with all learning activities which form part of your course Units subject to medical issues or other personal reasons notified to the Administrative Coordinator, support@heartwoodteam.net
You should also be aware that some Units require specific attendance at live webinars and text chat sessions. These will be clearly stated on the LMS page for each Unit.
You are expected to become familiar with the use of the LMS as part of the course. If you have any problems in using the LMS, you should contact support@heartwoodteam.net at your earliest opportunity.
Heartwood owns all rights, title and interest in any intellectual property created, devised and developed for it for the purposes of making and creating online courses in herbal medicine. Learners must not give permission to any third party to use any of Heartwood’s intellectual property without Heartwood’s express written permission, nor should any learner distribute or sell such intellectual property to any third party by any means whatsoever without Heartwood’s written authorisation.
Given the key role played by information technology in the delivery of its courses and educational programs, the integrity of Heartwood’s computer systems must not be jeopardised. There are, accordingly, a number of basic rules and procedures that should be followed by all learners, and failure to comply with these may lead to disciplinary action being taken.
Learners are required to comply in every respect with the Regulations and Conditions of Use of the Heartwood Learning Management System (and associated systems) as set out below.
In doing so they must:
Heartwood does not tolerate racial or sexual harassment in any form whatsoever or any discrimination on racial or ethnic grounds or on grounds of gender, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, and political or religious beliefs. This includes any material created or distributed using Heartwood IT systems.
Enrolled learners are expected to exercise responsible and appropriate behaviour when using Heartwood IT systems, and to observe all relevant laws, whether UK or foreign, including:
Learners who post materials such as photos, videos, audio recordings and text extracts must ensure that they have obtained the requisite permission to do so. Explicit permission must also be obtained for the use of Heartwood’s name or logo in any publication, including documents made available on the internet.
Learners are provided with access to the Heartwood Learning Management System by means of a username and password. Users must take all reasonable steps to keep their passwords confidential and not disclose them to anyone else. If an enrolled learner believes that their password has become known to anyone else, the password should be changed at the earliest opportunity.
Any user who, for whatever reason, comes to know the password of any other user must not attempt to obtain access to the Learning Management System using that password nor disclose it to any other person. Use of a password by anyone other than the authorised person will be treated as serious misconduct.
All reasonable efforts will be employed to ensure that Learning Management System will be made accessible to all learners, regardless of disability, who have a legitimate reason for using them.
Failure to observe these regulations and procedures will be considered a serious matter by Heartwood and may result in the learners right to access the IT facilities being withdrawn. Misuse of the Heartwood IT systems may also result in court proceedings. Learners will be held responsible for any claims brought against Heartwood for any legal action resulting from their unauthorised use of its IT systems.
Heartwood is registered as a data controller with the Office of the Information Commissioner, and collects and processes information about students for various teaching, research and administrative purposes. All such activity is now governed by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that came into effect on the 25th May 2018 (replacing the Data Protection Act,1998).
GDPR represents a major revision of data protection legislation, and introduces new requirements for how organisations process personal data. Students are entitled to have access to the records held about them to ensure accuracy and fairness.
The course remains available in its current form to learners for 6 weeks after the initial 12 month study period.
By accessing the Foundation Course Welcome page you are confirming that you have read and understood this document in its entirety, and that you agree expressly to abide by all the regulations and policies it contains for the duration of your studies with us.
This unit touches on many different approaches to the art and science of Western herbal medicine.
This Unit contains a Glossary of terms as well as a References and Resources list.
This unit explores plant classification and plant anatomy, and introduces the basic pharmacology of some important plant families used in Western herbal medicine.
This Unit presents a concise systematic review of the structure and function of the human body.
Includes references to articles, videos and recommended reading.
This is the first of three Materia Medica units, the first of which contains a detailed consideration of five common medicinal plants:
This Unit contains Reference and Resources lists as well as the tutor’s own tasting notes.
In this Unit, we review of the main nutrient classes (carbohydrate, fat, protein, water soluble vitamins, fat soluble vitamins, minerals, trace elements, and essential fatty acids), andconsider their relevance to human health. This unit does not present any specific approach to diet, but includes general reference to widely accepted principles of healthy eating.
This is the second of three Materia Medica Units in which we consider 5 more valuable medicinal plants in the herbal materia medica:
* Tinctures and how they may be more or less suitable for certain people, and at different stages of life.
* The asteraceae family including marigold
* The basic botany of lavender
* The basic botany of nettle
Shared with your fellow students, your five tasting words of the five plants covered in this unit.
This unit contains Reference and Resources lists as well as the tutor’s own tasting notes.
This unit reviews the changes that occur in healthy tissue when the body is exposed to factors that provoke illness, and investigates how various body systems, organs and tissues combine to mount a healing response.
This unit contains additional interviews with three consultant medical herbalists: Fi Taylor talking about migraine treatment; Anita Ralph on the menopause; and Aviva Romm, talking about the capacity of the body to heal, and about functional medicine.
This is the third of three Materia Medica Units where we consider the importance and significance of five more medicinal plants, focusing on how and why they are in common use. We also look at some straightforward but effective home remedies including juices, powders, decoctions and syrups.
For each of the five plants, we review research into the compounds they contain and consider how knowledge of the effects of whole plant extracts informs and confirms traditional use in Western herbal medicine.
We also:
There will be opportunities for you to expand your sensory exploration of the subtleties of each of these medicinal plants, and thus build a more complex and nuanced understanding and relationship with each plant.
You will also continue to explore simple home recipes and practical pharmacy techniques, and learn how to transform a plant into something pleasant and remedial to use.
Conducting your own mini-research project in to the medicinal properties of a spice using research skills, writing skills and use of scientific naming of plants.
This unit contains Reference and Resources lists as well as the tutor’s own tasting notes.
This is the first of three units in which we take an in-depth look at conditions commonly seen by medical herbalists and other primary care health workers.
There is a further reading and research links list.
This is the second of three units in which we take an in-depth look at conditions commonly seen by medical herbalists and other primary care health workers.
This is the last of three units in which we take an in-depth look at conditions commonly seen by medical herbalists and other primary care health workers.
In this final Unit, we draw together ideas and concepts from previous Units.
There is a reference and further reading list.