Herbal medicine consultations.
Herbal medicine consultations at Helenium Clinic run as a three to five month programme rather than one-off appointments. The £438 fee covers an initial two-hour consultation, two follow-up appointments of up to one hour, clinical assessment, review of your existing blood test results, and all herbal formulations dispensed throughout. There are no separate dispensary charges.
Consultations take place in person in Beckenham, South East London, or online.
What the programme includes
Initial consultation, up to 2 hours
Covering your health concern, full medical history and clinical assessment2 Follow-up appointments up to 1 hour each
In person or online, whichever suits youAll herbal formulations for the programme
Herbal tonics, tinctures, capsules, infusions or combinationsContact between appointments
For questions as they come upAdjustments to formulations
Prescription changes alongside your health
Where supplements are clinically indicated, these can be purchased with 12.5% discount through a supplement dispensary I work with.
Your formulation
Your prescription is built around the actions we want the herbs to perform. The choice reflects how particular herbs act on specific tissues and organs, and how they work together in combination. I review any interactions with prescribed medications or supplements you're taking.
Formulations may be dispensed as a tincture, capsules, a herbal infusion, a topical cream, or a combination. The form is chosen clinically rather than by preference, and the cost is covered by the programme either way.
The formulation changes as your health picture moves.
Prescribed medicines and NHS care
Medical herbalism works alongside conventional treatment rather than in place of it. Many of my patients are under NHS or specialist care and take prescribed medication, and that shapes how I formulate.
Every formulation is reviewed for potential interactions with your prescribed medicines before it is dispensed, using clinical interaction databases and herbal literature. The review covers how a substance moves throughout the body, focused on absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion.
Working knowledge of over 150 herbs means there is usually considerable choice in how a formulation can be built.
Where a herb isn't suitable alongside a particular medication, there is almost always an alternative that helps us achieve a similar clinical aim.
Follow-up appointments
The programme includes two follow-up appointments of up to an hour each, in person or online, usually four to six weeks apart.
We review what has changed since we last met: what has shifted, what has emerged, what hasn't moved. From there I adjust and dispense your formulation, and set out any dietary or lifestyle changes to work with until we meet again.
After the second follow-up we decide together whether to continue. For some people that means a check-in around eight weeks later, with or without a further formulation; for others the programme is a complete piece of work in itself.
Your first consultation
The first appointment takes up to two hours, so we can go over the detail that may lead us to a range of causes contributing to how you feel.
We discuss the area concerning you and go through each body system. We cover energy, stress, sleep, digestion, family history, your daily habits, and your own sense of what’s happening.
I check your blood pressure, pulse, examine your tongue, along with anything further relevant to what you are presenting with.
I also review your blood tests, as reviewing those alongside your health history is often where the picture starts to come together.
In person in Beckenham, or online
My preference is always to see you in person. The first appointment is in person as it gives us the time and the space to go through your health properly.
For follow-up appointments the choice is yours. Distances and the general business of life are real, so whether we meet at the clinic or online is entirely up to you. The appointment is the same either way, and formulations are dispensed and sent to you regardless.
The clinic is in Beckenham, South East London, within easy reach of Bromley, Lewisham, Greenwich, Blackheath, Brockley, Peckham, Deptford and Bexley. Clinic hours are Mondays and Fridays, 10am to 5pm, and Saturdays, 10am to 2pm.