An East Lothian business that aims to heal ailments using herbalism and nature immersion is providing support to young people suffering with anxiety and depression, service users of Women’s Aid and deprived communities through local charities and support groups. The business owner received specialist support from Business Gateway to help start-up.
Karen Jane Brown set up Herb & Soul in February 2024 in order to share the benefits of nature with her local community and beyond.
Karen’s business is focussed on herbalism, also known as herbal medicine, which uses medicinal plants as an alternative to other forms of medicine. She also encourages people to incorporate edible healing plants and flowers into their diets in order to benefit from medicinal properties.
She also shows the benefits of nature immersion, which is the practice of fully engaging with and experiencing the natural environment to enhance well-being, mindfulness, and connection with nature.
Karen believes in the power of plants and being surrounded by nature, and often forages for her own supplies. When living in India, she saw the way they used plants for medicinal purposes and decided to do a qualification in nutritional medicine when she returned to Scotland. Karen is qualified as a Community Herbalist and is studying to become a Medical Herbalist – the difference being a deeper medical knowledge and more practicing allowances in Medical Herbalism.
When she started her business running unique educational foraging and healing herb walks, Karen was approached by five separate charities who wanted to get involved and who all had eager interest in providing ‘green therapy’ to their people and in their community hubs. She now works regularly with three of them as well as running her own public Herb & Soul herbalism educational events to provide knowledge, education and workshop sessions to people really in need of this type of healing. This gives them ways of coping with their lifestyles and conditions.
Helping the local communities during a time where there is so much struggle and despair and having a charitable aspect to her business, Herb & Soul, was essential to Karen.
Karen’s workshops and walks are often socially prescribed to people who would benefit from spending more time outdoors and need the stimulation of being in nature.
Karen turned to Business Gateway when she was setting up her business, in order to get the team’s support in turning her business idea into a reality, and met her Business Gateway adviser Irene Ramsay to discuss issues such as legal status, tax, marketing, insurance, community involvement and becoming a charitable offering.
Irene signposted Karen to the UK Shared Prosperity Fund Start-up grant, which enabled Karen to undertake a first aid course and purchase insurance that was expensive because of the nature of the business. She was also given support promoting the business through leaflets and online marketing methods such as improving her social media use.
Karen Jane Brown, founder of Herb & Soul, said: “My natural healing business is really flourishing and this is largely due to the support I’ve received from Business Gateway. Without Irene’s backing of my ideas and positivity as well as certainty that my business would be received well by many, I don’t think I’d have had the courage to start up a new business.
“To be able to help guide people from all walks of life towards ways they can improve their lives in both physical and emotional ways is huge for me and a big part of the reason I set up Herb & Soul. My intention with the work I do is to connect people back to nature and it’s truly rewarding to see this happen.”
Irene Ramsay, Business Gateway adviser, said: “Watching the growth of Herb & Soul has been fantastic, and it has also allowed Karen’s confidence in her business grow. It’s fantastic to see her be able to give back to the local community and give them an alternative way of dealing with illness and ailments.”
To find out more about how Business Gateway can help your business, visit https://bgateway.com.
