Since July 2015, Grass Roots Remedies Herbal Medicine Co-operative have been working on and consolidating an integrated herbal healthcare model in Wester Hailes, South West Edinburgh.
They have released a blog post on their website detailing the model in hopes of it acting as an inspiring example of forward thinking, collaborative responses to health inequality by the NHS and local agencies; to encourage discussion about alternative ways of working; and to open up dialogue with herbalists and practitioners in other fields interested in trying to achieve similar things across the rest of the UK.
The Wester Hailes Community Herbal Clinic was set up by Grass Roots Remedies Co-operative, a workers’ co-op dedicated to making herbalism accessible to people who wouldn’t otherwise have access to it. Their aims are to rekindle the place of herbal medicine as People’s Medicine through community-centred health initiatives and to educate and empower people to feel more control over their own health. We do this through running this clinic, and offering free community education programmes & herb growing projects in areas of poverty, including Wester Hailes.
The Wester Hailes Community Herbal Clinic is a low cost herbal medicine clinic situated in the the Wester Hailes Healthy Living Centre, a flagship NHS & Edinburgh Council partnership building.
Local residents can go to the WHHLC and have access to: local NHS services, Social Workers, Addiction & Recovery Services & community health projects which provide: food co-ops, nutrition classes, a low cost plant-based food cafe, community gardens, art therapy, support groups for women, carers & gamblers; physical activities, person-centred counselling, CBT, reflexology, aromatherapy massage, sports massage and acupuncture.
The Grass Roots Remedies Herbal Medicine Co-op runs on a combination of dedication, hard work, funding and volunteer hours. We are always looking for ways to create financial stability and sustainability, but even if we can’t find it, we’ll keep it going as long as we can. If you are able to make any contributions financial or otherwise to keep this clinic alive, we’d welcome them with open arms.
Head over to their blog post to read the full article which goes into much more detail on all the work they do and what you can do to get involved. For more information they’d be happy to hear from you on hello@grassrootsremedies.co.uk.
