Elder Roots Holistic Medical Herbalist

09/11/2026

Skincare CPD for Medical Herbalists and Herbal students only — Saturday 13 February 2027 at 10am

A fully updated and expanded day, online via Zoom

I’m putting together a very full day exploring the science, formulation and practicalities of making herbal skincare products, alongside the legal requirements involved.

Whether you attended the original sessions or this is new territory, there will be plenty to get your teeth into:

Oils, butters and fatty acids — their chemistry, properties, benefits and limitations, with a detailed look at more than a dozen commonly used oils and butters.

Emulsifiers, preservatives and antioxidants — understanding their different roles and choosing appropriately for your formulation.

Making a complex body butter — balancing ingredients, equipment, documentation and a video demonstration taking you from weighing out to jarring and labelling.

Scent and blending — essential oils versus fragrance oils, fragrance families, top, middle and base notes, and creating balanced blends that work with the scents of your herbal ingredients. There will also be a blending exercise and discussion.

Legal requirements and professional practice — insurance, relevant UK and EU requirements, registration, labelling, documentation, good practice, advertising and product claims.

The ingredient science, scent and blending content, and legal and professional practice sections will all be reviewed and updated ahead of the day to reflect the latest relevant evidence and requirements. Alongside the expanded content, there will be demonstrations, exercises, discussion and time for questions.

I’m putting a huge amount of work into this: checking the research, reviewing legal requirements, updating the teaching and developing the content. There are many days of preparation behind a long day like this, and I’m deliberately trying to keep it as affordable as possible.

An in-person event would cost considerably more to run, so we’ll meet online—and as numbers grow, the price comes down for everyone:

- Up to 10 bookings: £50 each
- 11–12 bookings: £45 each
- 13–14 bookings: £40 each
- 15 or more bookings: £35 each

Everyone pays the same final rate, including those who book first.

For a fully updated, expanded and very full day, that’s frankly ridiculous value. The aim is to make useful, substantial CPD accessible while making it worthwhile for me to keep developing more.

Interested? Comment below or message me so I can get an idea of numbers. Timings and booking details will follow.

Karl
Elder Roots

03/11/2026

Researcheding and recordeding for the BSc I'm a senior lecturer on, enjoy the Myths and Legends of Taraxacum officinale (Dandelion)

20/10/2026

Several diagnoses can leave you with plenty of medical information and very little sense of where to begin.

In a herbal consultation, I explore how those problems fit together: what changed, how you are living now, and what might be a useful, manageable first step.

I’ve written about how I approach a complicated health history here:
https://www.elderroots.co.uk/herbal-practice/complex-health-history/

Your medicines and investigations matter. So do your sleep, relationships, work, pressures and the things that help you keep going. All of these shape the herbal care we consider together.

If this sounds relevant to you, the article includes a link to enquire privately.

Karl
Elder Roots

Living with several conditions or treatments? Learn how Karl Bedson approaches a complex health history with whole-person herbal care, safety and a workable plan.

12/10/2026

A complicated health history deserves time and careful thought.

Several diagnoses. Symptoms that have changed over the years. Medicines, investigations and treatments — and a life that has carried on through all of it.

When you bring that history to me, I want to understand more than a list of conditions. What changed? What seems to keep the difficulties going? How are sleep, energy, work and everyday life affected? And what might be the first useful step?

My approach brings medical herbalism and nursing experience together with modern biomedical understanding and a wider reading of the person. Your history, medicines and investigations matter. So does the life in which your health has unfolded.

I've written about what this looks like in practice:

What happens when you bring a complicated health history to a herbal consultation?

https://www.elderroots.co.uk/herbal-practice/complex-health-history/

If you would like to explore whether a consultation is appropriate for you, the article includes a link to enquire. A brief outline is enough to begin — please keep personal medical details out of public comments.

Living with several conditions or treatments? Learn how Karl Bedson approaches a complex health history with whole-person herbal care, safety and a workable plan.

10/10/2026

ELDER ROOTS — SUPPORT FOR HERBAL PRACTITIONERS

Another clinical perspective. Thoughtful product guidance. A route for patient referrals.

I’m Karl Bedson, a Holistic Medical Herbalist, Registered General Nurse and educator. I bring more than three decades of clinical and teaching experience to professional work that combines practical safety with whole-person herbal reasoning.

I now offer three routes for practitioners:

🌿 Wound Care Advisory

Advice and case review for herbalists supporting people with wounds—from a focused question to a fuller advisory report. The wound is considered alongside the person, their medicines, healing barriers and existing care plan.

🌿 Herbal Product Development Advisory

Practical guidance on formulation, ingredients, preparation, safety and product wording. Each project has an agreed scope, written guidance and a quote before work begins.

🌿 Professional Referrals

A route for practitioners considering referring or signposting a patient to Elder Roots for individualised herbal healthcare.

Clear scope. Collaborative working. Advice you can put into context.

Explore the services:

https://www.elderroots.co.uk/for-professionals/

Enquiries: [email protected]

Elder Roots — deeply rooted herbal care.

Professional referrals, herbal product development advisory and wound advisory support from Karl Bedson at Elder Roots. Explore the service that fits your enquiry.

29/09/2026

What happens when you bring a complicated health history to a herbal consultation?

When several conditions, treatments and everyday pressures overlap, it can be hard to know where to begin. In this article, I explain how I listen to the whole story, bring medical findings together with traditional herbal and energetic assessment, and work with you to find a safe, manageable first step.

Living with several conditions or treatments? Learn how Karl Bedson approaches a complex health history with whole-person herbal care, safety and a workable plan.

22/09/2026

Taking prescription medicines does not usually rule out herbal care, but safe use depends on the person, the medicines and the herbs being considered. This guide explains how interactions are assessed and when extra caution is needed.

https://www.elderroots.co.uk/herbal-practice/taking-herbs-alongside-prescription-article/Taking

Can herbal medicine be taken with prescription medicines? Learn why individual interaction checks and professional assessment matter.

13/09/2026

🌿 **Choose your Elder Roots email updates**

I’ve created a new email-update service for anyone who would like to keep in touch with Elder Roots without relying on Facebook to decide what appears in their feed.

You can choose one or more of the following:

• **Patient and Public Herbal Education** — accessible herbal education, seasonal guidance and occasional Elder Roots practice news.

• **Practitioner and CPD Updates** — professional herbal education, CPD opportunities and practitioner resources.

• **Root and Bloom Guild Interest** — news, free previews and invitations as the Guild develops.

Nothing is automatic. Existing patients, former students and Facebook-group members have not been added. You’ll receive only the updates you actively select, and you can change your choices or unsubscribe at any time.

Choose your updates here:

https://www.elderroots.co.uk/email-updates

Karl
The Elder Roots Holistic Herbalist

Choose the Elder Roots emails you would like to receive: accessible patient and public herbal education, practitioner and CPD updates, or news about the developing Root and Bloom Guild. You may select more than one and unsubscribe at any time.

06/09/2026

Preparing for Your First Herbal Consultation: What to Expect and What to Have Ready

A first herbal consultation can feel quite different from a short conventional healthcare appointment.

At Elder Roots, the aim is not simply to identify a symptom and match it with a herb. I want to understand the wider picture: what has changed, what may be contributing to the problem, what medicines and treatments are already involved, and what might realistically help.

Because of that, people sometimes wonder what they should bring, what information is useful, and what actually happens during a consultation.

I’ve put together a new practical guide covering:

what to have ready beforehand;
medicines, supplements and investigations;
why the story behind the diagnosis matters;
what we may explore during the consultation;
what happens afterwards;
preparing for an online consultation;
what happens if your health is particularly complex;
what information to send through the initial contact form.

The most important thing is that you do not need to arrive knowing the right terminology, the cause of the problem, or which herbs you think you need.

That is what the consultation is for.

Read the full guide here:
https://www.elderroots.co.uk/herbal-practice/resources/

Elder Roots
Deeply rooted herbal care for the whole person, not just the diagnosis.

Practical Elder Roots guides on medical herbalism, consultations, preparing for appointments and understanding health through a whole-person approach.

05/09/2026

Something I researched and recorded for the BSc I'm a senior lecturer on, enjoy the Myths and Legends of Sambucus nigra (Elder)