How long does a Herbal Choices session take?
Sessions are animal-led. They can be as short as 45 minutes, or as long as two hours, but usually somewhere in between. I highly recommend that you book two sessions within one month. It’s up to you whether you would like to continue after that but my aim will be to ensure that you feel comfortable and competent enough to continue the process by yourself and two sessions will help cement your understanding.
If you are doing a remote session, give yourself plenty of uninterrupted time.
For more information about what to expect click here.
How much will I need to pay?
This is an investment which will set you up with skills to maintain your animal’s health and wellbeing throughout its life.
Equine: £95
Canine: £75
These prices will include all the oils and herbs offered plus follow-up support and advice, and I will leave some small amounts of key products with you to tide you over until you buy your own supply.
Remote Herbal Choices therapy packs for dogs are £35
When are you available for bookings ?
Please get in contact and we can arrange a mutually convenient time for your sessions. Yes, I work weekends.
Where do you work?
I’m based in central Lewes, East Sussex and I can travel within ten miles (this includes Ringmer, Brighton, Plumpton, Uckfield). If you live further afield within East Sussex/Kent, then my travel costs are 45p per mile.
Is Applied Herbal Choices the same as homeopathy?
Applied Herbal Choices is a behavioural therapy which involves offering individual essential oils and herbal products for the animal to self-select based on a system pioneered and developed by Caroline Ingraham. (To learn more about this click here.)
Homeopathy is a completely different approach which uses extremely diluted preparations of substances and may only be administered to animals by an appropriately qualified vet.
Are you a herbalist?
While I have a working knowledge of herbs, my role is to teach owners how to work safely and effectively with their animals using sequencing techniques and behavioural observations.
I do not prepare or dispense remedies.
Can I use Herbal Choices instead of seeing the vet?
Applied Herbal Choices does not replace veterinary treatment.
There is no substitute for veterinary care and the animal welfare laws in the UK ensure that only qualified and registered veterinary surgeons can administer treatments to animals.
The therapies I offer are complementary and are intended to support and supplement the healthcare available from your vet. It’s important that we all work alongside each other. Your animal may be taking medication that could be affected by some oils, and therefore it’s important to consult your vet.
Please note, Applied Herbal Choices requires veterinary consent as per section 19.19 of the 1966 Veterinary Act and the Veterinary Surgeons (Exemptions) Order 2015. I am insured.
My animal is very greedy, won’t they just eat everything put in front of them?
We are not offering your animal food. We are working with very high quality herbal compounds.
Take Licorice. Licorice has been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine as a tonic for the spleen and heart, for ulcers, colds and skin issues and in complementary medicine for a host of conditions including adrenal imbalance.
Fans of licorice could probably happily munch their way through most of a bag of licorice sweets, and while the plant itself has powerful health properties, eating it as candy mixed with refined sugar and other flavourings is not helpful, and can interfere with our own innate ability to manage our dose of this valuable plant.
But if you were to dip your finger into natural unadulterated licorice powder, you might at first think, ‘Yum, this is lovely. Just like sweets.’ However, I guarantee that after less than half a teaspoon of the powder, the flavour would alter, and you would begin to find it bitter and unpleasant. Why? You are still eating the same substance, but now your senses have modulated to tell you that you’ve had enough.
If animals are capable of self-selecting, why do they poison themselves?
This is one the reasons processed and junk food is so bad for our health. It is so packed full of sugars, umami flavourings and salts that these act as masks so we are unable to discern whether the food is good for us or harmful to us.
This also goes some way to explain why animals poison themselves with chocolate or anti-freeze. The artificial additives contained in these are so powerful that they can confuse the senses of animals, who are then unable to detect the toxic substances.
Another common cause of domestic animal poisoning is non-native plants. Caroline Ingraham explains that if plants originate from areas where canines have not evolved, then our domestic dog species does not possess the innate ability to detect their specific toxins.