While traditional medicine has the reputation of being only in the business of curing what is wrong with a person, herbalist medicine also focuses on preventing sickness and disease. However, medicinal plants can also be effective in treating illness.
Herbalists, like many other alternative health care providers, try to take a complete look at the patient, and not just her physical ailments. They take into account life experiences and other factors that can help them find the root of the problem and then find an appropriate treatment.
There are a number of herbalist training programs in Canada. On the western side, you can find Dominion Herbal College in British Columbia. The school offers a Clinical Herbal Therapy degree as well as a Phytotherapy degree.
Phytotherapy is the specific herbalist study of using plant extracts for medicinal purposes. On the eastern side of Canada, you can find L' Academie de Phytotherapy du Quebec in Montreal.
As well as in-classroom studies, some schools of herbal medicine in Canada offer online training. One of these schools is the College of the Rockies in British Columbia, which offers an online Practical Herbalist Program.