About
Kia ora,
I am an anthropologist, story teller, artist, researcher, strategist, educator, forest gardener, mother and passionate herbalist.
I have a lifelong passion for learning about, exploring, foraging, growing, healing with and creating with plants.
Practicing herbal medicine combines skills from my work and life with my personal values of holistic and natural health; — understanding we as humans and individuals are part of a living and breathing ecosystem.
My practice embraces the natural rhythms of nature — attuning to the seasons and the cycles of the moon, and using, what I like to call, “Slow medicine”. This is a ritualistic part of my daily life, growing, harvesting and making medicine to develop a relationship with the plants and a deeper understanding of the science, art and magic of herbal medicine.
I want to be able to truly ‘listen’ to people to help support and guide them on their healing journey, to be able to help themselves with their wellbeing and engage with the elements of nature that reside within us all.
Sarah Beresford Sadek
Training
I have a Certificate in Herbal Medicine with the Southern Institute of Medical Herbalism (SIMH) and am working towards my Diploma of Medical Herbalism, where I take on cases and work with people using the traditional tools and approaches of a medical herbalist.
What to expect at your appointment
As part of my training, I made a promise to uphold the ‘Herbalist’s Oath’, which underlies the ethics and philosophy behind my practice.
Clinic
I live and practice at Totara Cottage in the picturesque Totara Tunnel on Otaki Gorge Road, Kāpiti Coast, where I grow many of the herbs I use in my clinic.
The clinic is based in a beautiful macrocarpa apothecary in my garden, where I also run workshops and collaborate with others on a variety of topics related to health, creativity and self sufficiency.
To learn more about Totara Cottage Apothecary, my approach to Vitalism, Constitutional Medicine and the Cycle of Healing, and other aspects of herbalism follow my journal
Journal
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Herbalist Oath
I hereby do solemnly swear that I will: First, do no harm, ‘primum non nocere’, which includes to protect the absolute privacy of the identity of the person whose...
Herbalist Oath
I hereby do solemnly swear that I will: First, do no harm, ‘primum non nocere’, which includes to protect the absolute privacy of the identity of the person whose...
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Our ethos
Healing is not an event, rather a journey, and like all journeys, it begins with the first steps.