Grass Roots Remedies Co-operative Submission for Vegware Community Fund Blog November 2016
Grass Roots Remedies Co-op is a herbal medicine co-operative based in Edinburgh. We believe that herbal medicine is the medicine of the people, and should be accessible to everyone. We run the low cost Wester Hailes Community Herbal Clinic, offer herbal courses & workshops and produce DIY herbal guides to enable folks to practice herbalism at home. Check out our website for more information (www.grassrootsremedies.co.uk)
We are delighted to have been offered funding from Vegware to support our Community Herbal Clinic in Wester Hailes, which we think is quite unique.
The clinic is in a building called the Healthy Living Centre – a flagship NHS & Council Partnership which is home to most of the health related services in South West Edinburgh. Local residents can go there and see: their GP, their dentist, their Social Worker, their Addiction & Recovery Key Worker, their Psychiatrist or their Physiotherapist.
On top of that though, they can join projects which teach food growing, buy cheap fresh vegetables from a food co-op, learn how to cook and get the best out of their food even if their resources are limited to a microwave, have a massage, counselling or CBT, and join peer support groups for women, carers, and people with or affected by cancer. Since our clinic opened one year ago, now they can also see a Medical Herbalist and receive low cost treatment.
We offer our services to local residents for a suggested donation of between £5 and £20, and don’t charge them for their medicines. This is part of our effort to make our service accessible to all, regardless of their income or background.
We are very lucky to have a close working relationship with the Wester Hailes Medical Practice, who are our main referrer. It is a great privilege to be working within such an integrated environment where we can also refer our patients back to other services to make sure they are getting the support they need. For us, a ‘holistic’ approach embodies not just our patient’s individual health & wellbeing, but looking beyond that to their wider situation – ie. do they have adequate housing, supportive relationships, financial access to nutritious food etc.
For more information about the clinic, please email us on clinic@grassrootsremedies.co.uk
