About Samantha
I am Samantha Mayer, a Registered Nurse and Clinical and Community Herbalist. With a sincere love and reverence for the natural world, my work seeks to realign people with the natural rhythms that surround us, focusing on how the human experience intertwines with nature. Health Sovereignty is imperative to my practice, the ability to choose one’s own best plan of care, to have agency over one’s health and be allowed to research and pursue options for their own unique body in relationship with the ecology that surrounds them. I center this awareness in my practice. I enter the healing relationship as a conduit, with the knowledge that our bodies are our own best healers, to support my clients in finding tools that best suit their needs to optimize their health. Trained in modern and traditional health care, I am comfortably working with you and your plan of care through a primary care practitioner, as well as if you choose to work outside that system.
About Samantha
I am Samantha Mayer, a Registered Nurse and Clinical and Community Herbalist. With a sincere love and reverence for the natural world, my work seeks to realign people with the natural rhythms that surround us, focusing on how the human experience intertwines with nature. Health Sovereignty is imperative to my practice, the ability to choose one’s own best plan of care, to have agency over one’s health and be allowed to research and pursue options for their own unique body in relationship with the ecology that surrounds them. I center this awareness in my practice. I enter the healing relationship as a conduit, with the knowledge that our bodies are our own best healers, to support my clients in finding tools that best suit their needs to optimize their health. Trained in modern and traditional health care, I am comfortably working with you and your plan of care through a primary care practitioner, as well as if you choose to work outside that system.
I find great joy in organically growing and sustainably harvesting medicinal plants. Growing up I was surrounded by plants as my mother tended a garden at every home we had, which she had learned from her foremothers who farmed in Central PA for generations. Recognizing the spirit and needs of plants was continuously imparted on me as well as respecting the forces of natural elements and seasons. While living on Susquehannock land I was able to facilitate an edible and herbal community garden with Ngozi Inc. and am now a part of a Community Garden in S.W. Philadelphia where I seek to source the majority of my plants. I have studied and am proficient in Spanish, am continuing to practice French and Portuguese. Through over 14 years of practice of Capoeira Angola with the International Capoeira Angola Foundation, I’ve learned some conversational Brazilian Portuguese, as well as been exposed to Yoruban and West African culture and belief systems.
While journeying through the manifestation of depression and anxiety symptoms, I found comfort in plant medicines; many that my mother grew. It became my experience over the years that modern medicine did not provide me with the tools I needed to improve my health. After over 10 years of self-study in plant medicine I enrolled in a registered nurse program at Harrisburg Area Community College where I also completed a Fine Arts Associate, with the plan to eventually be able to meld the knowledge of both modern medical and naturally sourced healing. In 2017, I began formal herbal education through ArborVitae School of Traditional Medicine, studying under Claudia Keel and Richard Mandelbaum with the opportunity to study from many different renowned guest teachers. Our program trained us in European, Ayurvedic and Traditional Chinese medicine theories, as well as some study in Indigenous American, Traditional African and Islamic medical practices. This opportunity expanded and assisted the understanding of the physical body and the factors that affect and support health. After graduating Arbor Vitae in spring 2020, completing my BSN of Nursing in the fall and with over six years of clinical nursing experience I am excited to offer my knowledge and counsel to you.