Herbal household medicine

Domain XI · Traditional medicine & indigenous healing

What it is

Herbal household medicine means the plant remedies (teas, tonics, poultices, bought herbal products) that families use at home. They use them to manage illness, distress and everyday health, usually before or alongside professional care. It is a practice, not a therapy. In an ethnobotanical survey…

Format

• Phase A: Opening inquiry (session 1, within intake). Goal: normalise the topic, then ask about all remedies, teas, supplements and products alongside prescribed medicines.
• Phase B: Cultural formulation (sessions 1-3). Goal: the core CFI, the Explanatory Model and Coping and Help-Seeking modules as needed, and the Informant Version with a family knowledge holder if the client wishes.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Version followed: there is no single manual or founding body. Household herbal medicine is a lay practice. For the therapist's own assessment this guide follows the DSM-5-TR (APA 2022) Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI) and its supplementary modules. For product safety and regulation it follows the US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) fact sheets (St John's wort, last updated…
• Over products: national regulators. In the UK, the MHRA grants a THR to herbal medicines for minor conditions that do not need medical supervision. A THR rests on evidence of safety, quality and at least 30 years of traditional use, not clinical efficacy trials. Registered products carry a THR number and a certification mark. The EU legal basis, usually cited as Directive 2004/24/EC, is.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• any slide into recommending. It is working when the client takes the question to the pharmacist.
• attributing every symptom change to a remedy, or none. That judgement belongs to the medical team.
• reading normal family remedy use as neglect, and missing real harm presented as tradition. When in doubt, consult your safeguarding lead.
• sudden stopping of prescribed medicine, worsening mood, and hopelessness. It is working when the prescriber knows and the risk plan is current.
• pejorative wording, or vague entries such as "takes herbs." It is working when a colleague reading the note would know what to check and with whom.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.