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In the US you are allowed to offer a professional herbalist service without having any formal qualifications. However, there are some general rules that you must obey when working as a herbalist.
1. Do not claim to ‘practice medicine’. Instead, you must teach people to take better care of themselves, rather than diagnose or treat diseases.
2. Inform your clients that you are not a doctor, (even if you have a Ph.D. in a health related field) and that you cannot prescribe medicines for certain illnesses. You will look at the client’s lifestyle and make suggestions for herbal supplements that they can take to improve their lifestyle. You will not for instance state to the client, ‘The symptoms suggest that you have bronchitis, for this I will diagnose you with a herbal remedy’.
3. The four words that you must never use are:
- Prescribe
- Diagnose
- Treatment
- Cure
4. Your goal is to help a person stay healthy. It isn’t to cure illness. During an interview with a client you should look for factors that may be affecting their health, such as their eating habits. You can then suggest improving their eating habits, or offer some herbal supplements.
5. Ask your clients to sign a disclaimer agreement. This is to make note of the fact that they realize you are not 'practicing medicine' and you will not cure their illnesses.
To read more about these rules and look at some useful links, click here.
Beware that the rules change from state to state, so if you are in doubt about your practice seek advice from a lawyer, to check that you are definitely operating legally.
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