Hello Friend,

I'm Justene. I’m an herbalist, medicine maker and herbal educator based in Missoula, Montana. (Nmesulétkw, which means “the place of freezing water”)

My practice focus is in menstrual and reproductive health. I help women get to the root of their reproductive imbalances and with the assistance of herbal medicine, I support them in bringing their bodies back into balance. 

I believe herbs shine when it comes to hormonal health and have experienced first hand the positive shifts that can occur with using herbs. I am passionate about helping folks find herbs that support their unique selves, in hopes of inspiring a lost human-plant connection I believe is a birthright. My complementary focus to women's herbal medicine is helping those understand the menstrual cycle on both the physiological and emotional levels. I encourage cycle tracking with clients as an empowering way to map symptoms and inconsistencies in the cycle.

Since 2015, I have served as a dedicated community herbalist at Meadowsweet in Missoula as well as seen clients in a clinical setting since 2016.

​You are powerful, your body is capable of healing, herbs can help.

I was born and raised in the beautiful and varied landscape of the southern interior of British Columbia (Tkʼemlúps te Secwépemc). I truly credit this land and the plants of this region as my first teachers on the path of a plant person.

I believe I have the traveler spirit of my settler ancestors and after years of roaming the mountains and valleys of BC in my 20’s, as life would have it, I found myself in Montana. My connection to the land in BC and Montana was always present, as it felt important to me to know the history of the landscape, the people, the animals and the plants of the area I was living. It helped give a sense of belonging to my wandering soul.

At the same time , my connection to my own body was not present, it was very much lacking. Since menarche and adolescence I had never had “regular” periods, in fact they were absent for months at a time. I didn’t track my cycle so I never knew when and if I actually ovulated, and some ovulation times came with intense pain and cramping. With suggestion from my family doctor, I tried the birth control pill to “regulate” my cycle. I used it for about four years and when I stopped using it because I didn’t like how it made me feel on a emotional level, my hormonal imbalance resurfaced with new symptoms like painful cystic acne.

In my disconnection to my own body, I didn’t value my health, mental and physical. I had allowed and played a part in a toxic relationship that overall dimmed my light. I had lost some of my zest for life and my passion to explore… but there was still a little spark of spirit left that eventually pulled me out if it.

I began seeking help for my hormonal imbalances from a naturopath and other traditional medicine practitioners. My naturopath educated me about the four distinct phases of the menstrual cycle, needless to say I was a range of emotion after learning this, anger that I hadn’t been taught this earlier in life and yet excitement to delve deeper. She sent me home with a myriad of remedies, two of them being wonderful herbal formulas for my follicular and luteal phases. This was the start of my education in herbal medicine.

I went on to study Rosemary Gladstar’s correspondence course; The Science and Art of Herbalism. It satisfied my desire to study the subject and I was enthusiastic, yet all the while I knew I wanted more; an in-person herbal program.

I attended my first herb gathering in 2013, my heart and mind were blown wide open as I was beginning to see how the world of plant medicine is so much more than simply using herbs to bandage symptoms or just as replacements for pharmaceuticals. It went so much deeper. I was beginning to see the sentience of plants and our ability to connect with them on a spirit level.

The herb gathering is where I met my first herb teachers, Elaine and John of Green Path Herb School. These two are wonderful mentors and their curriculum is comprehensive with a large emphasis on Western and bio-regional herbalism.

The following year I made big changes in my life, I left the toxic relationship and moved from Bozeman to Missoula and enrolled in Green Path Herb School’s immersive certificate program. Newly divorced and fairly scattered may have seemed like a rough time to start something new like school, but I assure you, tuning in to my desires and what I needed for my own mental health proved to be a big step in the healing process.

Simply being in touch with one's own body is healing medicine.

I was finding myself again, tuning into my body’s rhythms and my cycle was improving! I was tracking my cycle, becoming aware of each phase and choosing foods and herbs accordingly. Ovulation is a very important sign of overall health in one’s fertile years and I was ovulating more regularly! Things weren’t perfect and the improvements didn’t happen overnight, but I felt safe and I was in the perfect environment to form relationships with so many new herbal allies. I was finding myself as an herbalist. And it lit me up.

In order to keep my enthusiasm rolling, upon graduating from Green Path, I sought out an apprenticeship at the Kootenay School of Herbal Medicine. It was there that I immersed myself in the lush forests, rivers and plant life of the Selkirk Mountians (unceded Sinixt land). Garliq, the founder of KSHM offers a curriculum deeply rooted in activism, NVC (Non-Violent Communication) and plant spirit medicine. Working with Garliq and the other students in the program helped instill my confidence for the path I was on, the path of a plant person.

My continued studies have blessed me with numerous other teachers with traditions across East and West, making my own approach a well rounded blend of evidence based and intuitive. I am always continuing my education in this field so that I can serve my community to the best of my ability.

Present day me has put down roots in Missoula, where I am happily partnered and raising a family as closely connected to nature as possible. Some of my proud parenting moments include seeing my young children identify plants and know their medicinal properties, as well as show gratitude and reciprocity to this Great Web of Life.