We’ve noticed a ton of new students & followers recently and wanted to do a ‘welcome’ message with a bit about our school and what we’re about for those of you finding out about us for the first time!
Herbal Medics was founded by Sam Coffman in 2007 as The Human Path, and over the years we’ve distilled the school from survival skills & wilderness medicine into medicine as the hub – working with herbs especially and creating a care plan with what you’ve got on your own. You know, just in case. We have two medical doctors on our staff, a Doctor of Chiropractic Medicine, a PhD clinician, multiple EMTs, several nurses (one is also a midwife!) and faculty members who’ve been working with sustainable skills for decades.
The school is well-known for our roots in both disaster response and setting up herbal clinics in any kind of setting. We’ve done 18+ years of clinics everywhere from Nicaragua to West Virginia to Mexico, and countless areas that are underserved in our country, with inadequate healthcare accessibility. Students get unprecedented access to working with real clients in person at these clinics, building the clinical infrastructure together, making medicine and scouting the area prior to the clinic arriving.
We have an extensive clinical herbalism program with more than 400 hours that is suited both for laypeople who are just learning about herbs, but also healthcare providers who want to expand their practice or learn about the herbal side of care.
The Austere Medicine program is an underlying core of the school, and deals with the question of “what would you do if you couldn’t get to higher care”. This includes talking about alternatives and solutions that are suited to the discussion of preventative care, disaster response and working in medical tourism. This is taught from BOTH the perspective of Western emergency medicine as well as herbal care in the field. It culminates in a 10-day intensive on-site (Utah) with Wilderness First Responder certification, daily field medicine skill procedures up to setting up and running a clinic locally.
Our revamped Family Herbalism program covers topics ranging from herbal safety & dosages to pediatrics, reproductive health care, all the way to Furbology (herbalism for your pets), elder care, end-of-life workshops and healthcare advocacy.
And our Apothecarist medicine making program is an in-depth look at making medicine using beginning to advanced techniques, building up your own apothecary work-space to understanding FDA regulations for those that decide to sell products.
In addition, we also teach sustainable skill workshops and classes, with on-site blacksmithing, online root cellar and many classes on homesteading.
Courses run all year round, and every program has workshops or classes that new students can jump into throughout the year to begin their progress through one or more programs, sometimes simultaneously. In 2026, we’re ramping up on-site classes in the Southern California region, central south Texas, Utah and Colorado. Wilderness Herbal First Aid certification courses remain one of our most recognizable on-site courses, taught all over the US, also offered online.
So if you’re new to the school and just learning about us, welcome! We’ve got plenty to offer in any of these areas for all skill levels.
