Jean started her professional career as the business manager for a group of very successful and dynamic chiropractic clinics, managing five clinics 50 miles north, south, east and west of Edinburgh. Her academic career has always been done whilst in full-time employment which has been a challenge indeed but gave her a great ability to focus and prioritise her workload. Jean completed a B.A.(Hons) through Open University followed by an M.Sc. in Sociology through Edinburgh University. In 2004 she completed her B.Sc (Hons) in Herbal Medicine from the Scottish School of Herbal Medicine.

Through her position as business manager, she was able to travel extensively to health, philosophy and personal development seminars both in Europe and the United States. It was through learning about health from a different perspective that she realised that she wanted to have a more direct involvement in healthcare than simply management.

After a period of illness, Jean was introduced to herbal medicine by a nutritionist and was simply amazed and inspired by how gentle yet powerful this medium of healing was. As someone who has always loved all aspects of plant life and nature it seemed to tick every box for her future plans.

Most people don’t realise the depth of training involved in being a medical herbalist and Jean feels it is important that patients know this so that they know they are in safe hands. It is a four-year honours degree covering all the same subjects as a medical degree. This includes anatomy, physiology, pathology, differential diagnosis, botany, plant pharmacology, and biochemistry. This allows us the right to primary diagnosis and to safely prescribe alongside pharmaceutical drugs. In addition, Jean had to spend 500 clinical hours in supervised clinics. The final practical examinations are carried out by GP’s as well as senior herbalists.

Jean graduated from the Scottish School of Herbal Medicine in 2004 and has been practicing in Edinburgh since that time. Jean sees a very wide variety of patients ranging from newborn babies to people in their 80s and Jean loves that she is able to show that herbal medicine is suitable for all. Jean works from a vitalistic philosophy where she uses herbal medicine in a manner that supports the person’s own innate self-healing and self-regulating ability. Jean also work closely with people living with cancer, supporting them with herbs and nutrition, both during mainstream medical care (chemotherapy, surgery, radiotherapy) and during the recovery process.

Jean is incredibly passionate about herbal medicine’s supportive and important role in health care. She has a particular interest in working with chronic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, chronic gastrointestinal disease, gut infections, inflammatory diseases and also Lyme disease. Critically she sees a huge amount of gut infection and inflammation in many patients that she works with and interestingly all of these factors are an important feature of the Bredesen protocol and are seen as a crucial link between good health and cognitive decline.

Having over 13 years of experience working with a wide range of patients Jean continues to be inspired and motivated to continue to work with patients on their journeys. Jean sees dramatic and powerful shifts in patients’ health and mindset and sees it as a huge privilege that they allow her to be part of that journey.

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