Learn from highly experienced naturopaths including Dr Jason Hawrelak, Dawn Whitten, Belinda Robson, and Daniel Robson - practitioners with over 20 years of clinical experience who are respected experts in their fields - as well as other experienced Naturopaths from Goulds. And from Greg Whitten herbal medicine farmer with over 40 years experience and considered a pioneer in the area of creating exceptionally high quality herbal medicine products through taking care at every step of production. The course aims to bring you practical insights, critical evaluation tools, clinical pearls, acute prescribing confidence, case-based learning opportunities and meaningful connection to the tradition and future of natural medicine. 

With live Q&A sessions, interactive learning, herbal samples delivered to your door and the opportunity to apply for a hands-on placement (more below), this course offers a behind-the-scenes experience into the world of grassroots herbal medicine alongside critical thinking and research+practice informed training all from the comfort of your own home.

The Herbal & Naturopathic Skills Expansion Program has been created for:

* Naturopaths

* Herbalists

* New graduates wanting to build confidence and practical skills

* Experienced practitioners wanting to refresh and deepen their knowledge

This course offers an opportunity to deepen your understanding of natural medicine while reconnecting to the grassroots origins of herbal healthcare.

Optional placement opportunities

Placement opportunities will be available at the Goulds Farm, Apothecary and Manufacturing spaces for a limited number of selected applicants on course completion (Eligibility criteria include Bachelor Equivalent Qualification in Herbal Medicine and or Naturopathy). Placements will run over 4 days and will incur a small additional fee. Further details to come.

Course Details: Throughout the course, participants will explore herbal medicine and naturopathic education through:

* 10-week course beginning September 9th - November 18th 2026

* Weekly lectures (approximately 60 minutes – 2 hours)

* Weekly live Q&A sessions (90 minutes)
* Quizzes to deepen learnings

* Herbal Exploration and Tasting Parcel (valued at $200)

* Eligible for CPE points, minimum 30 contact hours

* Limited spots available

* Placement opportunities 4 days spent over Apothecary, Manufacturing and Farm. (Opportunity to apply on course completion. Additional fee for successful participants)

This course is ideal for practitioners wanting to feel more confident, inspired and connected within their practice, while also offering an accessible learning opportunity for passionate individuals wanting to expand their understanding of herbal medicine and natural health from highly regarded industry experts who run a thriving clinic, apothecary, farm and manufacturing environment.

Please note: This course is for educational purposes only and does not qualify participants to practise as healthcare practitioners. Non-practitioners are encouraged to contact us prior to enrolment to discuss suitability. Contact community@gouldsnaturalmedicine.com.au 

Curriculum Abstracts Below

Please note webinar content and order are subject to change. All webinars and live Q&A sessions are presented by the Goulds Natural Medicine team.

Webinars will primarily be released on Wednesdays, with live Q&A sessions generally held on Wednesdays 10am AEST, with the possibility of a couple of Thursday sessions — to be confirmed.

Live Q&A sessions will be recorded, and participants will have the opportunity to pre-submit questions.

Please see below for Abstracts and dates.

Meet a few of your presenters

(Click their photo to read more)

Course Curriculum Abstracts

Please note webinar content and order are subject to change. All webinars and live Q&A sessions are presented by the Goulds Natural Medicine team.

Webinars will primarily be released on Wednesdays, with live Q&A sessions generally held on Wednesdays 10am AEST, with the possibility of a couple of Thursday sessions — to be confirmed.

Live Q&A sessions will be recorded, and participants will have the opportunity to pre-submit questions.

Please see below for dates.

Week 1: Knowing our medicines

This session explores the world of medicinal plant sourcing. As practitioners, we need to be confident in the quality and efficacy of the medicines we prescribe. At Goulds, we are very aware of the impact of quality on the efficacy of our medicines. Time and time again we experience the difference when we source and manufacture our medicines — either through growing them ourselves or through having closer contact with the grower. Sometimes it is hard to determine the quality of a herbal product behind the glossy label and high-performing branding. Often, we have no information about the sourcing of the plant material. What are the things we can and can't tell from the label? How do you work out the dry weight equivalent and the nature of the extract? How do we navigate making sustainable and socially responsible choices with our prescriptions? This session addresses those questions while engaging your senses — you'll taste, smell, and examine the samples in your box as we journey through the topic. Along the way we will rediscover some wonderful herbal allies that are often overlooked but readily available to us and often superior medicines.

Webinar Wednesday 9th September: Dawn Whitten

Live Q&A Wednesday 16th September, 10am AEST: Dawn Whitten

Week 2

Acute Respiratory Management

Respiratory conditions are often a less well practiced part of naturopathic practice, due the tendency towards more chronic presentations in the traditional clinic, further entrenched by increased infection wariness post-Covid-19. The fast paced apothecary environment however, is boot-camp for upskilling respiratory assessment, triage, and prescribing. This session takes a deep dive into respiratory assessment, specifically what different cough and mucus characteristics tell you about the underlying pathology, and how to use this information to guide therapeutic decision making. We’ll cover specific red flags and limits of therapy; safety netting, referral guidelines; child specific presentations, and how to blend herbs that don’t scare them off for life. Participants will gain practical, clinically grounded skills for respiratory assessment and prescribing, that is guided by decades of combined experience in an apothecary environment.

Webinar Wednesday 16th September: Belinda Robson

Live Q&A Wednesday 23rd September, 10am AEST: Belinda Robson

Week 3

Breastfeeding in a modern context

Learn about the many elements that influence breastfeeding success by following the story – of the common clinical presentation of perceived low milk supply that illustrates how these features (below) play out in clinical practice. This session covers:

• Functions of breastfeeding for mother and child.
• Health implications for mothers and infants when breastfeeding is sub-optimal.
• How breasts work - physiology of breastfeeding from establishment to galactopoiesis (maintenance of milk supply).
• Perceived and true low milk supply.
• How to assess infant intake.
• Supplementation considerations and risks – risk hierarchy from: mothers own milk, donor milk, formula and “home-made-formula”.
• Historical, cultural, and societal factors that undermine breastfeeding.
• Seen and unseen barriers to breastfeeding and the role of the natural medicine practitioner can play helping to dismantle these

Bonus content:

Prescribing herbs during pregnancy and lactation

Herbal medicines can be a wonderful support during pregnancy and postpartum, yet in the modern context we can find it challenging to navigate the world of safety, risk, and perceived risk. We may find ourselves losing sleep over our prescriptions, or not prescribing at all. Dawn will share some of her favourite herbs for the pregnancy and postpartum period, as well as a framework to guide prescribing during this time. Focusing on the herbal remedies she has found reliably helpful during this period, she will also look to traditional and contemporary insights that underpin their use. 

Webinars Wednesday 23rd September: Dawn Whitten

Live Q&A Wednesday 30th September, 10am AEST: TBA Nena Aleschewski or Rosie Greenaway

Week 4

Allergy Development and Atopic Dermatitis

Eczema frequently appears for the first time between two and six months, although sometimes later. This is often considered the beginning of the atopic march. While excluding triggers is a common treatment approach, in this session we will consider management of eczema and other potential food sensitivities, while holding multiple goals in our focus, including: supporting infant and family wellbeing, promoting resolution of difficult symptoms, having a long-term aim of promoting tolerance to potential food allergens, and above all, ensuring safety for the infant.

Webinar Wednesday 30th September: Dawn Whitten

Live Q&A Wednesday 7th October, 10am AEST: TBA Nena Aleschewski or Rosie Greenaway

Week 5

Naturopathic approaches to common dermatological problems. 

Conditions affecting the skin are one of the most common reasons people present to primary health care practitioners (Roux et al., 2020). As such, it is essential that Naturopathic clinicians are well equipped in their assessment and management. This session is aimed at both experienced and recently graduated Naturopathic clinicians and will explore skin conditions that we frequently encounter at the Goulds Apothecary and Clinic. This will include infections and infestations (such as impetigo, herpes simplex, warts and scabies) and diverse systemic conditions manifesting primarily in the skin (such as psoriasis and shingles). Attendees will learn how to approach assessment of these conditions, including how to identify safety issues, red flag symptoms/signs and the limits of Naturopathic therapy. Attendees will also acquire the knowledge to construct effective natural treatment strategies guided by evidence and years of clinical experience.  

Webinar Wednesday 7th October: Daniel Robson

Live Q&A Wednesday 14th October, 10am AEST: Daniel Robson

Week 6

Naturopathic support for male genitourinary and sexual health 

Genitourinary and sexual problems are frequently experienced by our male clients, however for many Naturopaths, it is an area where confidence is often less compared to that of other domains. This session aims to help both the experienced and recently graduated Naturopath to approach the male client experiencing genitourinary and sexual problems with confidence and competence. Conditions commonly encountered will be covered such as lower urinary tract symptoms (which includes benign prostatic hyperplasia), chronic prostatitis, and sexual dysfunction (including erectile dysfunction and hypoactive sexual desire disorder). Attendees will develop an understanding of relevant pathophysiology and aetiology, assessment, and safety considerations pertinent to these conditions, and will learn effective Naturopathic treatment strategies which are informed by evidence and clinical experience.
Webinar Wednesday 14th October: Daniel Robson

Live Q&A Wednesday 21st October, 10am AEST: Daniel Robson

Week 7

Overview of Goulds Herb Farm and Herbal Manufacturing 

During this webinar Greg takes you through the story of the Goulds herb farm and how it connects with the Goulds Apothecary and Clinic. At the farm care is taken at every step to ensure we have a beautiful quality medicine in the end. Greg explains some of the farming processes, harvesting and processing techniques that are adapted for each herb and shares a little on how we make our tinctures at Goulds. While we do this on a larger scale, interested herbalists can easily start to make even a few medicines to bring in this connection and have more control over the origin and quality of their medicines. 

Greg has been growing medicinal herbs using organic farming practices for over four decades and brings a wealth of experience. 

Webinar Wednesday 21st October: Greg Whitten

Live Q&A: Wednesday 28th, 10am AEST, Greg Whitten

Week 8

Probiotics, Prebiotics, Synbiotics, and Microbiome-Nourishing Foods

This week, we will delve deep into the key specialty gastrointestinal tools – Probiotics, Prebiotics, Synbiotics, and Microbiome-Nourishing Foods. We will look at optimal dosing strategies, and how to select the most appropriate probiotics and prebiotics for varying clinical presentations. We'll also debunk the common myths pertaining to probiotics and prebiotics that impede their use and result in sub-optimal patient outcomes.
Webinar Wednesday 28th October: Dr. Jason Hawrelak

Live Q&A Thursday 5th November, 10am AEST: Dr. Jason Hawrelak

Week 9

OTC acute case taking, safety netting, triaging

At Goulds, the apothecary serves as an accessible first point of contact for people within our community (and beyond!) seeking guidance on acute and chronic health concerns. The session will explore the limitations of the OTC setting, as well as the role it serves as accessible natural healthcare within a community. Safety in this setting is paramount, knowing when it is within our scope of practice, and when it’s not. Within this session, we’ll cover common presentations, and some thankfully less common bizarre and unusual presentations. Participants will be guided through a structured approach to history taking, with clear guidelines about red flags, referral pathways, safety netting, ethics and privacy. We’ll cover practice tools to help quickly guide herb-drug interactions, and overarching safety decision making that bridge the unknown areas of potential interactions. By the end of this presentation, participants will have a strengthened framework for conducting thorough, safe, and therapeutically sound OTC consultations, that prioritises patient care and ethical practice.
Webinar Wednesday 4th November: Belinda Robson

Live Q&A Wednesday 11th November, 10am AEST: Belinda Robson & TBC Nena Aleschewski

Week 10

Constipation – its Far-Reaching Consequences and its Successful Management 

Constipation and slow bowel transit time are common presentations in clinical practice. Beyond the obvious consequences, like abdominal discomfort and distension, haemorrhoids and anal tears, are systemic symptoms like headaches, fatigue, and brain fog, as well as an increased risk of a range of chronic diseases. In the past, naturopaths referred to these systemic symptoms as being caused by bowel toxaemia, which can be described as the absorption of toxins from a slow-moving bowel that results in systemic symptoms and chronic disease. This session will highlight the issues that evolve from a chronically slow-moving bowel and examine the growing list of conditions associated with endotoxemia. I'll also detail the important at-home tests you should be getting every patient to do that inform us about their gut health. We'll also cover the best constipation-fighting foods, probiotics, and supplementary fibres to prescribe, and also what to do when these tools are not enough to get the bowels moving.
Webinar Wednesday 11th November: Jason Hawrelak

Live Q&A Thursday 19th November, 10am AEST: Jason Hawrelak