Blue Stone Apothecary Follows the AHG Code of Ethics
Informed Consent/Full Disclosure
AHG members will provide their clients and potential clients with truthful and non-misleading information about their experience, training, services, pricing structure and practices, as well as disclosure of financial interests if they can present a conflict in practice; and will inform their clients that redress of grievances is available through the American Herbalists Guild or through the appropriate agency where the member is operating under a state license.
Confidentiality
Personal information gathered in the herbalist/client relationship will be held in strict confidence by the AHG member unless specifically allowed by the client.
Professional Courtesy
AHG members shall present opinions about and experiences with other practitioners and healing modalities in an ethical and honorable manner.
Professional Networking
Clients shall be encouraged to exercise their right to see other practitioners and obtain their botanicals from the source of their choosing.
Practitioner as Educator
AHG members shall assume the role of educators, doing their best to empower clients in mobilizing their own innate healing abilities and promotion the responsibility of clients to heal themselves.
Peer Review
AHG members shall welcome a peer review of their publications, lectures, and/or clinical protocols. Peer review is a primary means of enhancing our level of knowledge and expertise and should be encouraged.
Referrals
AHG members shall recognize their own limitations when they feel a condition is beyond their scope of expertise and practice as an herbalists, or when it is clear that a client is not responding positively to therapy.
Avoiding Needless Therapy
Recommendations shall be based solely on the specific needs of the client, avoiding excessive or potentially needless supplementation.
Environmental Commitment
AHG members should acknowledge that individual health is not separate from environmental health and should counsel clients to embrace this same Earth-centered awareness.
Humanitarian Service
AHG members should be open and willing to attend to those in need of help without making monetary compensation the primary consideration.
Quality Botanicals
AHG members should endeavor to ensure that the botanicals they use are formulated and manufactured in a way that will deliver the desired therapeutic results, striving to obtain organically grown and ethically harvested botanicals whenever possible.
Sexual Harassment
AHG members shall not use their position as teachers or consultants to seek sexual encounters with students or clients.
Blue Stone Apothecary follows the American Herbalists Guild guidelines, policies, and procedures in response to COVID-19
American Herbalists Guild Mission and Statement of Ethics
The American Herbalists Guild promotes clinical herbalism as a viable profession rooted in ethics, competency, diversity, and freedom of practice. The American Herbalists Guild supports access to herbal medicine for all and advocates excellence in herbal education.
During this pandemic, it is critical that herbal practitioners adhere to ethical guidelines and recognize their own scope of practice. Below are key highlights from the AHG Code of Ethics which are most relevant to the COVID-19 crisis.
- ● Referrals
o AHG Members shall recognize their own limitations of practice. When they believe a condition is beyond their scope of expertise as an herbalist, or when it is clear that a client is not responding positively to therapy, they will encourage clients to seek further support from other qualified professionals. - ● Avoiding Needless Therapy
o Recommendations shall be based solely on the specific needs of the client, avoiding excessive or potentially needless supplementation. - ● Informed Consent/Full Disclosure
o AHG Members will provide their clients, potential clients and students with truthful and non-misleading information about their experience, training, services, pricing structure and practices, as well as disclosure of financial interests if they offer a conflict in practice; and will inform their clients that redress of grievances is available through the American Herbalists Guild or through the appropriate agency where the member is operating under a state license. - ● Professional Courtesy
o AHG Members shall present opinions about and experiences with other practitioners and healing modalities in an ethical and honorable manner. - ● Humanitarian Service
o AHG Members are ready to be open and willing to attend to those in need of help without making monetary compensation the primary consideration.
● Practitioner as Educator
o Practicing AHG Members shall assume the role of educators, doing their best to empower clients in mobilizing their own innate healing abilities and promoting the responsibility of clients to heal themselves.