In this advanced online certificate course, Vivienne Campbell invites practitioners to join her in exploring the safe integration of herbal medicines into an Aromatherapy practice, as well as when to use them alongside or instead of essential oils. 

 

DAY 1: Applying Herbs

Making herbal extracts and combining them into aromatherapy treatments

Learn about five key herbs in detail that Vivienne recommends aromatherapists start to use in their

Aromatherapy treatments (there’s so much more available than Arnica, Comfrey, Calendula, and St. John's Wort).

• A live lecture (slide show with photos) looking in detail at the medicinal uses of these herbs as topical extracts used in aromatherapy.

• Learn under what conditions and for what ailments these herbs can be used as treatments.

• Includes recommendations for blending these herbs with essential oils and carrier oils for different treatments.

• Learn why and when you would select these herbal treatments over other, more commonly available ingredients.

• Basic chemistry of topical herbal extracts (oils, water treatments, poultices, etc.)

• Q&A on this topic.

Discover how to properly create your own herbal-infused/macerated oils for use in your treatments.

In this practical video lesson, Vivienne takes you through the whole process of making your

own infused oils from herbs.

• This technique can be used to extract any herb or spice that you want to apply to the skin, provided the herb or spice is safe to use (see the safety lesson for details).

• You do not need to grow, collect, or harvest the herbs yourself; they can be easily prepared using dried herbs purchased from herb suppliers (check out your herbal class kit and supplier list for more details).

• These oils can be used neat for massage or blended with other base oils, fixed oils, and essential oils.

• They can also be used in ointments, balms, and emulsions.

• Have you tried this before, and did your oil go bad? This lesson includes troubleshooting problems with infused oils so that you understand what went wrong and why. Vivienne shares guidelines to prevent oils from going wrong so that you can confidently make consistent, safe, reliable, and beautiful herbal-infused oils of your own.

• Q&A on this topic.

Making balms, ointments & salves

• How to make these using herbal-infused oils.

• How to make these (with beeswax or vegan wax).

• Creating different textures: Adjust your recipe for various uses.

• Combining herbal oils and essential oils.

• Q&A on this topic.

How to properly keep records of the extracts that you make.

• Vivienne guides you through the necessary information to record and provides examples of how to do so.

• Includes templates for record-keeping that you can use or adapt for your work.

• Q&A on this topic.

GMP & Cleanliness

• Vivienne explains the standard of hygiene and organization required for making your own topical extracts (don’t be intimidated: this is very straightforward and much easier than food safety hygiene!)

• Vivienne’s guide to GMP for practitioners making their own oil extracts & ointments.

• Q&A on this topic.

Safety of Topical Herbal Extracts

• How do I know if the herb or spice I want to use is safe to make an extract from?

• Is it safe during pregnancy? For children? For babies, etc.

• Vivienne shares her guide to recommended herbs for topical use.

What did you learn?​

• Take the quiz for day 1.

 

DAY 2: Taking Herbs

Learning about internal uses of herbs: an introductory day.

How do they work?

When can you use them for yourself?

Options for suggesting them to clients to enhance your Aromatherapy treatments with them.

 

An Introduction to Common Core Medicinal Herbs: their properties and uses.

• Why learn about herbal medicine if you are an aromatherapist?

• How knowing more about plant medicine can benefit your work as a professional

• Aromatherapist.

• An introduction to the core herbal medicine cabinet: Cleavers, Daisy, Calendula, Elderflower,

• Meadowsweet, Plantain, Oat Straw, Roses, Lemon Balm, Red Clover, Rosemary, Thyme.

How herbal medicine supports the body: how herbal medicines work.

• Theory about how herbs support the body

• How they exert their actions

• General information about a timescale for helping the body and easing various conditions.

Key areas where herbal medicine treatments can often help with that, topical Aromatherapy treatments

might be limited by.

• What can herbal medicine treat that we can’t usually treat using Aromatherapy?

• Where these areas overlap.

• When one method might be more beneficial than the other, e.g., it might be quicker acting, might be more convenient, etc.

Safety of Internal Herbal Medicines

• Is it safe during pregnancy? For children? For babies, etc.

• What to do if someone is on medication or has an underlying health condition.

An overview of different methods of taking herbal medicines internally. What these extract types

are and the benefits and drawbacks of each.

• Infusions & Decoctions

• Tinctures

• Infused vinegars

• Glycerites

• Infused honey

• Syrups and cordials

Making your own tea blends: Practical session

• Watch Vivienne demonstrate how to blend and brew a herbal tea.

• Now make your own from your herbal class kit: this will include blending examples ‘Tea of Happiness’ (a lovely uplifting brew for the emotions, to help lift stress and improve the mood); Digestive Tea (a blend of natural antacid herbs that help to soothe the digestive tract and can often ease IBS).

• Vivienne is accessible and will help you select ingredients (if needed) and be available to answer your questions.

• Storing teas, best-before dates, etc.

• Keeping records of what you have made.

Drying herbs: for those of you who want to grow your own herbs and use what you harvest

yourself.

• A short video showing how to dry herbs that you have grown and collected.

• A guide to drying herbs properly.

• The equipment Vivienne recommends and doesn’t recommend (and why).

Herbal baths: These are made with herbal teas and absorbed via the skin.

• A guide to herbal baths.

• Foot baths, body baths, and hand baths.

Can I recommend or make these herbal medicines for my clients? The difference between making

and taking herbal medicines at home for yourself (DIY) and the issues encountered with clients.

• Safety (Medical)

• Legal (which rules apply if you are a qualified herbalist, and which rules about using herbs apply if you are not).

• Insurance

• Food safety & hygiene rules.

• Working/collaborating with reliable professional colleagues

• Training in professional herbal medicine

• Options for you to consider so that you can work with herbs in the way that best suits you (including other professionals taking responsibility for all of the above!)

What did you learn?

• Take the quiz for day 2.

• Enjoy the herbal teas and extracts that you’ve made!

 

There will be a live Q&A session in November 2025.

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13 CEs 

Fee: $450 

Register for this course, take the online course, and complete the quizzes by October 21, 2026, to earn your CEs & certificate. Once registered, we will send you your login credentials for the virtual classroom.

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​To create products alongside Vivienne during class, students will be provided with a list of materials to have on hand. 

 

Biography

Vivienne Campbell, BSc (Hons) MNIMH qualified as a medical herbalist in 2003 and has worked as an herbalist since then, initially setting up and running her herbal medicine clinic in the west of Ireland. In 2004, she began teaching classes for the public at an organic garden, and over the years, these have expanded in all sorts of unforeseen directions. Vivienne loves to help people learn how to use herbs in a simple, effective, sustainable, and joyful way. She is equally happy showing a beginner how to make their own cough syrup at home or training a group of experienced professionals in how to incorporate herbs into their work correctly. She teaches herbal medicine, wild food foraging, and natural cosmetic-making in Ireland, Portugal, the UK, as well as worldwide via her online courses. She has given lectures, talks, and herb walks at various events, including the Botanica conferences, Aromatica Australia, The Lab Aroma podcast, Formula Botanica, The American Herbalist Guild, The AromaSummit, etc., as well as introductory sessions for the general public at health shows, heritage events, organic gardens, etc.  Whatever level of experience people have, Vivienne loves to help them to discover and work with local herbs. It’s the key to working truly sustainably, and it also brings people great pleasure to start to recognise what is growing around them and the various ways they can work with this, then becoming a positive, active part of nature.

Qualification: BSc (Hons) in Herbal Medicine, 2003, University of Central Lancashire.

Professional Memberships: National Institute of Medical Herbalists (NIMH) and The Association of Foragers

 

Vivienne’s links:

Website:    https://theherbalhub.com/

Facebook: https://www/facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008472942537    

                https://www.facebook.com/TheHerbalHubwithVivienneCampbell

Instagram: @theherbalhub