A Hands-On Afternoon Workshop “Making A Herbal First Aid Kit”

Photos ©Simon Cook

The workshop took place with Herbalist and DHM Course Director, Zoi Maraki MCPP, in The Earley Day Centre, Reading, Berkshire with full attendance.

Zoi explained that the items that a herbal practitioner might include in a herbal first aid kit very much depend on how the kit will be used – for example would it be taken on a walking holiday or a visit to rural India or would it be for home use?

This hands-on workshop focused on making ointments, tinctures and other preparations to take home. Herbs whose benefits and applications were discussed included aloe vera, comfrey, chamomile, lavender, marigold, raspberry leaf, yarrow, elderflower and mint.

Zoi mentioned common ailments that would benefit from the timely use of the right herbs such as: skin cuts and grazes and bleeding wounds, burns, insect bites, joint sprains, diarrhoea, bruises and viral infections (including sore throat, cough, fever etc).

Zoi said that when making up a herbal first-aid kit “the best advice is to keep it simple, as having too many choices can make it harder to decide which herb to use in an emergency”. The herbs chosen for the kit need to have reliable, strong and quick actions and, ideally, these actions should be multiple as this will make them useful for a range of different ailments. Fortunately, multiple physiological action is characteristic of many plant remedies – probably reflecting the multiple active compounds they contain.