Background notes for Christine Steward, FNIMH, Medical Herbalist
Before becoming a Herbalist, Christine owned and ran a Wholefood Shop in Worcester. She qualified as a Medical Herbalist in 1987 and practised from her home in Whitbourne and from the Malvern Natural Health Centre.
She was on the Council of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists from 1989 until 1998. During this time she worked as Press and Information Officer for the Institute, writing many articles on herbal medicine and contributing to and editing a number of books.
In 1996 she became President of the Institute and, on her retirement, in 1998 she was made a Fellow of that organization. She is now a member of the Ethics Committee.
Christine moved to Dilwyn in the summer of 2004 where she has more land to grow herbs. Her time when not practicing is spent working in her garden and preparing her medicines from the plants she grows. When making tinctures she uses Malvern spring water.
In all the preparations that Christine makes she uses fresh plant materials because, with every process a plant goes through, something of its vitality is lost. So medicines and creams made with fresh plants will contain more energy and will therefore be more beneficial than those that have gone through a series of processes, such as drying.
