About

I’m Maree, married to Gary and we have nine wonderful children. We live in Lower Hutt where I am able to organically grow many of the herbs I use in my practice.I was born in Dunedin and am thankful now for all the gardening knowledge Dad passed on on to me as he tended all the vegetables we ate for many years.

I am passionate about helping people take control of their own health through learning about nutrition, herbs, exercise and lifestyle. Many people due to busy lives are left feeling stressed and run down and there are a lot of herbs that may be used to restore health.

As your average Kiwi I ate lots of white bread, jam and sweet baking. I didn't really spare herbs a thought except for parsley and a few common ones.

All that changed when I became a Christian at age 26 and started to realise God wanted to bless every area of my life. Although I have experienced miraculous physical healing of my body, God doesn't always do that. When I came across verses in the Bible about herbs ( eg. Gen 1:29, Heb 6:7) I began to realise there was a lot more to herbs than I had realised. Herbs seemed to be another piece in God’s good health jigsaw - in addition to good nutrition, water, exercise and lifestyle.

As I look back now I can see that He has prepared me to be a medical herbalist in many ways.

• Four years of learning Latin at school has been invaluable in learning the botanical names of herbs - something a medical herbalist has to know to do research.
• The Bachelor of Science degree I studied for has left me with a good knowledge of parts of plants and the human body etc. God has blessed me with a good brain and I gained distinction in my studies.
• My post-primary teaching diploma and time spent teaching has taught me how to explain solutions to people.
• The computer course I did recently has equipped me with tools to keep up with scientific research.
• The Herbal Correspondence course I did from the States some years ago and the short courses I have taken in Lower Hutt over the years gave me a good grounding for a more advanced Diploma in Herbal Medicine later.
• My Diploma in Herbal Medicine a 3-year course, 2008-2010, was a great opportunity to learn about a huge range of herbs, their uses and also their many contraindications, so I can safely prescribe them
• My children have given me many opportunities to get practical experience in prescribing herbs and experimenting with good nutrition.

I am continually amazed at the way God has given us the exact remedies we need in the herbs themselves and the way we can use them, e.g., the use of Dandelion as a diuretic. With many orthodox diuretics (drugs that increase the flow of urine), a potassium supplement is needed to compensate for the loss of potassium whereas in using Dandelion the leaves naturally have a high content of potassium which means a supplement is not needed. Herbs can be used successfully on their own or in conjunction with other medical treatment.

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