Episode 60 - Berenice Dimas: Connecting with Plant Medicine
Berenice (she/they/ella) is a queer herbalist, educator, founder of Hood Herbalism, and soon to be midwife. Today's conversation focuses on plants, including building a relationship with plants, healing on your own terms, making offerings to plants, and how plants connect with queer fertility.
[ID: A beige background and orange semi-circle. Text reads: The Intersectional Fertility Podcast Episode 60: Berenice Dimas @hoodherbalism and Josie Rodriguez-Bouchier @intersectionalfertility.]
Episode Transcript:
Disclaimer: This is an automatically generated transcript edited to be more readable. It may not be 100% accurate.
[00:00:00] Josie: I am Josie Rodriguez-Bouchier, and this is the Intersectional Fertility Podcast, where ideas and identities intersect to deepen our understanding of fertility and ultimately our Whole Selves.
[00:00:32] Hello friend, I'm popping in to remind you to come join ou qmunity if you haven't already. I've talked about it in the last couple episodes, and it is an online global community that's spelled with a Q for us queer folks, and it's growing. I'm so excited y'all are coming over and it's growing.
[00:00:53] This is for you, I created this community for you. So definitely come utilize this free resource where you can meet your fellow podcast listeners, other queer folks who are either on their fertility journey or will be or connected to queer fertility in some way. I've also been inviting all of the podcast guests, so a lot of them have come over. Some of them are there as well.
[00:01:16] You can comment under each podcast episode and keep the conversation going. And then for the paid version, which right now is $26 a month, I've added a bunch of upcoming events which I'm really excited about. So for the next six months, I've added some events, I'll be doing a monthly information share.
[00:01:36] So some of the topics are: how to do acupressure to increase your fertility, what boundaries have to do with fertility, and how to improve yours, that's one of my favorite ones. Inclusive practices for healthcare providers and support people, when thinking positive feels stressful while trying to conceive and what to do instead.
[00:01:56] That's something that comes up a lot, especially in my private practice when I'm working with folks that everyone's gotten this message that they need to think positive while trying to conceive and it's so much pressure. So, yeah, it actually, ironically feels kind of stressful. So we'll talk about what to do instead of that.
[00:02:14] And then sugar cravings all about them. Why do we get them? What do they mean? How can we reduce them? I love that one as well. And then how stress impacts fertility and how to reduce it. So those are just some kind of samples of what's coming up in the paid membership in our community. And then I also added first Friday coffee hour.
[00:02:36] So, of course it doesn't have to be coffee. You can bring your favorite beverage and hang out with me on the first Friday of every month, except for August, we're gonna do the second Friday, but usually it'll be the first Friday of the month where we can just hang out in real time, get to know each other, and we can bring any questions or discussion topics that you'd like us to go over.
[00:02:56] Whether you're on your fertility journey or you are supporting someone who's on their fertility journey as a care or support person, or if you've become certified in my whole self fertility method and you've got some questions about how to implement that in your clinical practice we can talk about that.
[00:03:13] Or if you have any questions that have come up from any classes you've taken from me in the past, we can certainly talk about those or we can just hang out and be queer together in the same space in real time. The same virtual space, I should say. So head on over to my website, intersectionalfertility.com, and click on qmunity.
[00:03:34] And remember, that's spelled with a Q for Queer community and it will prompt you to create an account. And then you'll be in. You'll be in our free community membership. And then if you'd like to upgrade, once you're in there, you can click on the paid Membership community and that will prompt you to upgrade, which is right now $26 a month and you can cancel at any time.
[00:03:57] So you can also find that link to join in my Instagram @intersectionalfertility, and the link is in my bio. So website or Instagram, two different places you can come join us. Really excited to see you over there, it's been really cool to watch it grow. It's just really an exciting new community that I think that we've needed, right?
[00:04:20] This is something that I've been craving so selfishly, I've created it for because that's something I've been really wanting is queer community that we can all connect with and have some shared experience and support each other. So I'm really excited for this. We'll see you over there and I hope you enjoy today's episode with Berenice Dimas.
[00:04:40] It's so good, and I would love to hear your thoughts about this episode in our qmunity. You can come and comment directly underneath the episode and continue the conversation. So I hope you enjoy today and I will see you soon in our qmunity.
[00:05:04] Berenice Dima is a queer herbalist, birth worker and published writer. She's also the founder of Hood Herbalism, a community based herbal education project. You can learn more about Berenice's work by visiting her websites, berenicedimas.com, hoodherbalism.com, and her Instagram page, @hoodherbalism.
[00:05:27] Welcome Berenice.
[00:05:28] Berenice: Hi.
[00:05:30] Josie: Thanks so much for being here. Can you share with us your pronouns and where you're joining us from today?
[00:05:36] Berenice: Yeah, I use she, they, ella pronouns and I'm joining you today from Tongva Land, El Monte, in the San Gabriel Valley of Los San Angeles.
[00:05:44] Josie: So I would love to know what is your story that led you to become a full spectrum birth worker, an herbalist, a published writer, and now a soon to be midwife?
[00:05:57] Berenice: I was like, wow. Where do I start? Just to preface that, I did write a whole piece on my journey of evolving into my herbalism path with the American Herbalist Guild for their fall 2022 issue. So if folks are interested in reading more about that, they can go on the American Herbalist Guild, the journal website, and the latest one is the one where I wrote like a whole six pages on that.
[00:06:26] And I guess I'll start with that cuz I feel like that sets the framework for everything else that I do. I didn't necessarily become, or like, am I a certified herbalist? Like I've had herbs in my life since I was a kid. My mom raised me on herbal medicine and she grew plants.
[00:06:43] And so for me, rather than like how I became, it's like how they chose me more than anything. To be someone in this realm that talks and shares with other people like their medicine, you know? And so I feel more than anything, the plants chose me. To be someone that bridges that connection between the plants and them.
[00:07:07] So a lot of the work that I do with herbalism is about that, bridging connections between plants and people rather than being an herbalist, you know? I think herbalist as a term is one that best encompasses in the English language, kind of what I do, or, it's a term that people recognize and can identify.
[00:07:29] And so I use it in that way. But I feel like for me, like the relationship that I have with plants and the earth is way, way deeper than that, you know? But it's the closest kind of term that I could use to identify that relationship. I mean, I've been writing and journaling since, also since I could write, you know, I have like boxes of journals and so I'm a writer cause I write.
[00:07:53] But, I have been asked by different mentors and people that know of the work that I do in terms of writing and have asked me to submit to different anthologies. And so I don't do too much of that necessarily, although I've kind of like fantasized about just writing, you know?
[00:08:10] Maybe I'll do that later in my life where I just write and that sustains me. Up until this point, I write more from a place of like a lot of love for myself. It's a space of being able to process. And also it's a space of sharing for me. So I have several publications in different books, actually in different anthologies.
[00:08:31] Those you can find on my website, berenicedimas.com. So you can look at some of the books that've been published. And then recently I feel like I'm dabbling more in like, just writing for journals and doing some writing. I've been asked to write for magazines like back maybe like a couple of years ago.
[00:08:49] I just didn't have capacity for it, you know, so I've sent a lot to writing projects or people wanting to hire me for writing because I was so focused on Hood Herbalism as a project for me. So when I was being asked to write, I would say no. But lately I've been kind of saying yes.
[00:09:06] So, I wrote for the American Herbalist Guild. I'm writing another piece for them at the moment right now. And so, they've asked me, "Hey, will you write for us?" And I'm like, okay, I'll make time for that. You know? So that's keeping me busy this summer. I'm getting that article done. But yeah, I definitely feel like writing kind of comes and goes in my life more than anything.
[00:09:27] And I enjoy it for personal reasons, but I really like, when folks are like, "Hey, you should, we wanna hear your thoughts on this, can you write a piece on it?" And I'm like, if I have capacity for it, I'll say yes. And I wanna say yes more to that in the future for sure. You know?
[00:09:41] Josie: Oh, I love that.
[00:09:42] Berenice: For midwifery and birth. I've been kind of thinking about this a lot. I actually just came back from an indigenous birth conference in Phoenix that happened this past weekend. I was one of like the seven students that got accepted to be part of that conference. Most of the people there were already midwives in the community.
[00:10:04] People that are involved in birth work in different capacities. And it was really amazing just to be around so many people that have been doing this for a long time in all these different realms. People that work in policy, to like birth centers, to like elders in the community that've been receiving babies for 20, 30 plus years.
[00:10:22] And it was just amazing to be in their space. I feel like a little baby there, you know? I'm still, I feel like a little baby in life in general, but I've been witnessing babies coming to the world now for a decade, you know, for almost, almost 10 years when I became like a doula, you know?
[00:10:41] And so what actually happened, so the story of how I even got into like a, like a doula program was that my grandmother passed away in in 2014, January 8th, 2014. And this was my maternal grandmother, my mom's mom, and I, you know, I had a really close relationship with her, but a very distant one.
[00:11:04] I was born in Mexico and she raised me with my mom. And when my mom came to the US because she needed to, like everybody else had to migrate for economic reasons, or because there was a lot of violence in the communities. My mom left, and left me in Mexico and my grandmother took care of me while my mom was out here trying to figure out job situations and all of that.
[00:11:29] And my mom tells me that she missed me a lot. And so she asked, you know, she told my grandma she was gonna bring me over and my grandma had a really hard time with that separation. And so I grew up over here because I wasn't documented, or undocumented, right?
[00:11:43] I wasn't able to go visit my grandmother for many years, so it wasn't until I was in my early twenties where I got my residency status, that my mom was able to take me back to visit my grandmother for the first time. And so between the time that I was able to travel back to the time where she passed away, I got to see her several times. Not too many, but I got to spend a couple Christmases with her.
[00:12:06] And I remember the first time I went back, like she saw me and we cried. Like she cried, I still remembered her. Like I have very few but vivid memories of her from when I was like three, you know, two, three. And one of the things she told me, she was like, "mija, como te lloré" like, "I cried for you so much when you left."
[00:12:24] I was her first grandkid, you know? Yeah. And she's like, "te lloré, te lloré, te lloré, cuando te fuistes por meses" like, "I cried and cried and cried and I missed you for months." You know? And I remember just holding her and that first hug that she gave me, I felt so angry. I felt so angry at these imposed borders that really kept me from having, like really experiencing my grandmother's love, you know?
[00:12:48] Experiencing, having her in my life because I just couldn't go visit her. So when she passed away, it was really hard for me. Like I was really, I think before feeling sad, it felt rageful that that got taken from me so early and that I didn't get to experience her fully, you know?
[00:13:06] And I cried a lot, and I remember like making an altar for her and I would like play her music every night we have a practice of like honoring our elders or when anybody transitions for like nine days we don't ask them of anything. And we light 'em candles and we do an altar for them so that we can help the spirit cross over.
[00:13:25] And I remember I made her her altar and I really, really just grieved her. And I was telling her how sad I was that I couldn't, that I didn't get to really experience her, you know? And then I feel like two months after that happened, she came into a dream of mine.
[00:13:42] And at that time it was in my early thirties. As a queer person, I feel like pregnancy and family planning is really different for me and for us because we don't, like, we see that more now and that's recent. But like family planning or family building just was pretty inexistent. Like publicly. Like I don't see queer families making babies or creating families or, or any of that, right.
[00:14:08] And so for me, I was always really confused about that. I wasn't sure if I wanted to ever have like a family in that way, or birth children in that way. I felt like it wasn't for me, you know? So I hadn't thought about it. And birth work wasn't even in my radar in terms of something I would be doing in my life.
[00:14:25] But she passed away and she came into my dream. And around that time I was having what people call like baby fever a little bit, cause I was curious. I was thinking about it like, could I ever get pregnant? With who? How would that look like? Could it happen for me? And kind of moving through some of my own stuff around parenting and being a parent or even like helping to raise or tend to, to a little one, you know?
[00:14:49] And so she passes away. She comes into this dream, and then in the dream, like she's looking at me and she grabs me. And one of the things she tells me, she told me a lot of things. We were sitting like in a sidewalk, and she comes up to me and she got my attention. I looked up at her and I got up, and when I got up she like put her hands in my shoulder and she was giving me consejos was like telling me stuff.
[00:15:10] And one of the things she tells me is like, "mija, tienes que aprender mas sobre el parto." Like "you have to learn more about birth." And I remember my dream going like, okay. And that was one of the last things she said before I woke up. And when I woke up I was like, am I gonna get pregnant? Was she talking about like a baby I'm gonna have, or? So like just wondering like, what was that about?
[00:15:30] And I just sat with it, I didn't tell anybody and didn't really talk about it too much, any of that. And then within like a week of that, when a friend, like a friend of mine sends me an email and is like, "Hey, Bere, there's this like a doula training I think you should apply." And I was like, what, doula? What is that?
[00:15:50] So I looked it up and it was The Birth Justice Project and the Black Women Birthing Justice in the Bay Area work bridging, coming together with UCSF, and they were creating a one year long doula training program for BIPOC folks and people that have been previously incarcerated, to go in to either the prisons or into communities and help support birthing people.
[00:16:15] And it was like one of it's kind at the time, this was 10 years ago, right? Like one of it's kind at the time. I hadn't seen anything like that before. And I was kind of like doula, like what is itt? I heard about it, I knew of people that support birth, like birth workers and stuff, but I was kind of like, I don't really know what that is or what they do, you know?
[00:16:32] And so I looked at the application and I was like, oh, that's really cool. Like being able to help folks that are either in the prisons, or that are like in the foster care system. Or folks that have been system impacted in some way and just help support them while they're pregnant.
[00:16:48] And I was like, yeah, why not? So I applied and I get in, I get accepted into this program and I'm sitting there on the first day and I'm like around a lot of people talking about what, what's calling them? And I was like, well, my grandma, I actually had a dream with my grandmother and now I'm here.
[00:17:03] I don't even know how this happened from January to June and July because the program started in July. But as soon as I started talking about the politic of what's happening, like the state of, like the very critical state of maternal and fetal mortality for communities of color, specifically Black folks, you know, in this country.
[00:17:22] I was just so, I was really upset about that, and I've already been politicized by them, so it's like, yeah, this isn't okay. And so one thing that we were able to do is think about our birth story. And I had already done some work with my birth story and, you know, being someone that was born in Mexico in the eighties, where the, you know, it was like forced C-sections and they slit my mom down actually from her, from her, like where her diaphragm is down.
[00:17:50] Josie: Right, instead of across.
[00:17:52] Berenice: Instead of across, right. So I had grown up with my mom talking about that scar most of my life, right? And talking about how I got taken out and all these stories around it. So I had that story with kind of like where like some of the work I was doing in the community some of the healing work as a practitioner.
[00:18:09] I had been having a lot of pregnant people come to me for limpias for just herbal cleansings from like susto or the stuff postpartum. So I had already been like having pregnant people in my aura in a particular way. And I feel like, now I know that was preparing me for the work I was gonna do.
[00:18:27] So I did the doula training program and I thought it was really good. They gave us a mentor for a whole year then we had to do free births in the community. It wasn't like you get certified over a weekend and you're done. No, you gotta like, offer community support. You're gonna be overseen by a mentor.
[00:18:42] And we're doing a ceremony the year later, like to really like, you know, support you on this way. Wow. And so we had a whole system in place through that program where I feel like I felt really held. And when I saw that first baby come out into the world, I was in like, it just, it did something for me.
[00:19:02] Like, it activated something in my brain, in my heart, in my spirit, where I was like, I need to be seeing this, supporting this, this thing birthing, whatever this is. Like, I wanna do this. Like I wanna be here, you know? A couple years after that, I knew. I knew I had already seen myself through being a midwife, but I kept say no.
[00:19:24] I kept saying no. I would tell the spirits, I don't wanna do it. It's too much responsibility. Like, I'll just stay in the background as a doula or as a birth supporter and just kind of like help. But there was so many moments where I just wanted to be there. Like, I felt called by the babies to be closer.
[00:19:39] Which was in a different role, you know? And then I had a client that was, well client, but it was a friend of mine that asked me to be at their birth. Two friends that I'd known for a long time. And when that baby came out, this was four years ago. When that baby came out, I knew it was time.
[00:19:57] And I always tell them that, like, this baby initiated me into like the decision of, of thinking about midwifery, taking it seriously and saying yes to a calling that I heard, that I've had for a while. For a long time. You know? And so I enrolled in the school because unfortunately traditional midwifery can't be practiced in the US legally.
[00:20:18] We can't even be licensed midwives in most, in a lot of states actually in the US Right. And that's a whole other conversation. But, you know, having to go through the licensing process out of protection, you know, cause it's like, I'm no good doing this and being in prison for my community.
[00:20:33] And so I was like, all right, what way can I do this? And maybe not have to think about that in the same way, you know? And so I, I feel like I'm, I'm still in a very complicated place with the licensing part of this, but I know that that's what's gonna gimme a little bit more access.
[00:20:47] It still can get taken away, right. That's, we're still always like, that's still always very much contended upon X, Y, or Z, but I know it gives me a different type of access to be able to do the work and protection. When, you know, in other countries, like traditional midwives are honored, you know, and they are respected and they, it's one of the oldest professions that exist.
[00:21:07] Is people attending births, you know? So that's where I'm at right now where I've, you know, I said yes to that journey. I've been saying no to a lot of things since then. But, you know, just because this licensing process is so tedious to say the least, you know? It's a medical degree really, you know?
[00:21:28] You have to learn a lot. Like your brain needs to really take in a lot, but also your heart and your spirit, you know? And so I've been kind of doing that. So I started that two years ago. I enrolled in a school, I found an apprenticeship and a clinical site, and I moved from LA to San Diego, and I've been in San Diego since today I'm in my mom's house because, you know, it was, it was Dia de Las Madres yesterday.
[00:21:50] It was Mother's Day for us yesterday, May 10th. So I'm here in LA but yeah, I've been living in San Diego now for two years and just, just finished like my observation and my assist phase of the licensing process. Now I'm at my primary phase which means that I am, you know, just kind of like really close to being done.
[00:22:08] So hopefully in within the next year, I'll be able to take the test and be licensed and just kind of move on with my life and just do this work, you know? So that's where I'm at. So right now I'm kind of like getting ready. That's why I was telling you I'm getting ready to move. I'm getting ready to like, say no to everything and just really immerse myself in the final phase of this. So that I can just get it done. And that's where I'm at.
[00:22:29] Josie: Nice, wow. What a story. That's incredible. I just loved hearing about your grandmother and that just powerful relationship Yeah. And guidance from he, that's so, so
[00:22:44] Berenice: cool.Wow. Amazing.
[00:22:45] She knew. She knew.
[00:22:47] Josie: Yeah, she did. She did. Yeah. I love that.
[00:22:51] Will you share about what Hood Herbalism is and how it came to be? That's how I learned about you is through Hood Herbalism. Yeah.
[00:23:00] Berenice: Aww, yes. Hood Herbalism is its own energy right now. I'm like, what is it? I don't know. It's evolving and changing, it has its own spirit. When I was in the Bay Area, this is around the time that I was going through that doula training program.
[00:23:13] A couple years before that I had got into the Bay Area right out of my master's degree. So I had my master's degree and I moved to the Bay to do this film program with the QWOCMAP, the Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project. I did a little film for them. I got into that program and so that's actually what led me to the Bay Area in the first place, you know?
[00:23:33] Oh, I did that right at the grad school. And then I had someone that I knew over there that was like subbing at a high school and they needed substitutes. And so it's important because I feel like that that can, that story is where Hood Herbalism came from, and so I was a high school teacher up in the Bay and every Thursday, you know, I found like a little space for me to do my thing for me because teaching was just a lot.
[00:23:56] I have so much respect for people that work in education, you know? It's a tough job. It's a tough gig for sure. But I loved it. I feel like I grew as a person, I learned so much about teaching, about content, about holding space from the students, you know, and so I did that for a while.
[00:24:13] But it was, you know, it was also just the grading and the rigor of the responsibility of being a teacher and an advisor and doing all these things, you know, where I definitely needed space for me. And so I was looking for things to do in the Bay Area and a friend of mine told me about these herbal classes that, that were being taught in the community by Atava Garcia.
[00:24:36] Oh. Who is the author of The Curanderx Toolkit. And so Atava had actually just stopped working for an herbal school and started her own program. And I was in her second cohort. So I was like, oh, herbalism. That sounds cool. Like I know plants, like I grew up with them, like, I know of them.
[00:24:52] And when I was taking those classes, I felt like, Atava was helping to give language to a lot of things I already knew. That I had seen my mom make, my mom made all kinds, til the day, she still makes all kinds of things in the kitchen, right. And I feel like that those classes gave me structure and gave me language and technique and skill.
[00:25:10] To things that I had already lived out and grew up with, you know? And I really thank Atava and I always like to talk about her because she created that environment that allowed me to remember. That didn't I know what was gonna happen. And so every Thursday I would, you know, take classes with her at some point.
[00:25:26] She wanted me to teach for the school and I didn't feel ready. I feel like, I can be very outspoken in certain spaces. But like in my core, I like to take my time with things, I like to take my time with learning. I like to be really observant, I like to just say yes, just to say yes because of whatever.
[00:25:45] Like when I do things I do it with a lot of intention. I like to structure it, you know, and really particular with that stuff. I have some Virgo in my chart, so I think it also comes from that.
[00:25:54] Josie: I was just gonna ask if you had some Virgo in your chart.
[00:25:57] Berenice: I have some Virgo in my chart one placement, and that's all I need.
[00:26:01] But I'm very detail oriented with things like that. I like things to be done well and that feel good for me, you know? And so I kept saying no to her and then at one point, you know, she ended up getting really sick and she asked if I would teach the class for her. And I was like, yeah.
[00:26:14] You know, at that point I said, yeah, I'll teach the class for you. And I taught the class for her to support her in her in her own process of recovering, you know? And when I was teaching the classes, it was really beautiful to teach like the way things, someone else wanted me to do it.
[00:26:27] But as a teacher of course, I was like, oh, like if I was to do this, how would I introduce plant medicine to people? And I would journal a lot. I would journal a lot, cause I had a lot of feedback, or like for myself, it was like my own process that happened. And after I finished teaching that class, I like made some time to write, right?
[00:26:46] My little, my, my little safe space, my writing space. And I remember writing in my journal, Hood Herbalism. And I wrote that because I grew up in El Monte, you know, in LA and in these communities where our relationship to land is so complex. We don't have a lot of parks. Our communities don't invest in like green space for us.
[00:27:05] There wasn't community gardens. The only community garden we had was the South Central LA farm. And that one, there was like a whole uprising that happened when they took that land away from the community, you know? And so that was. Like what I knew around like urban farming in, in the area where I grew up is that we didn't have access to land.
[00:27:23] We didn't have access to have plants in that same way, but that everywhere in the hood there was the señoras with their pots, with their rose bushes, with their romero in the front of their houses, like my mom, right?
[00:27:36] Where we didn't have large space, but we made use of what we did have, and my mom did a lot of container gardening. That's what they call, it in her macetas. She did a lot of container gardening because that's how she could, we didn't have money for that, you know?
[00:27:49] And so I had wrote like Hood Herbalism as like a concept of like, this is what I would call it. This thing, I don't know what it is. And so in 2016 when I moved back to LA, I put it out there on Facebook. I was like, I wanna start this thing and teach these classes. I did like a baby fundraiser. I think I raised like $1,200. To get like a herbal press and like a couple of supplies to like teach the class.
[00:28:14] And, and then I put it out in the community and all my friends signed up for it was really beautiful. And people that I had like, been like known of my work and all of that in the community. And it was a nine week class at the time. And I mostly just wanted a space for us to talk about this stuff in the community.
[00:28:30] I really envision like being in a home setting in a backyard. So my friend Brenda who was like a high school teacher you know, Brenda has a special place in my heart too. She opened her backyard and she was like, you can come and teach it here. Like, I would love to host you here. And I was like, cool. And then when we were done with those classes, everybody was like, is that it? That's it?
[00:28:51] Josie: Yeah, what's next?
[00:28:53] Berenice: I was like uh, I dunno? It went from, Nine weeks to now. It's like a whole other thing, right. There's like four facilitators total. We have a graphic designer and a beautiful, like web designer as well. And I'm really hoping, like, wanting to expand it and, and doing more. I feel like my goal and my vision for Hood Herbalism really is for us to have a, like an urban, medicinal farm. For folks to come in.
[00:29:18] And so I really wanna see that. I really wanna see that come out, but we don't have the land for that. I'm trying to figure out, I see people getting access to land right now in a particular way and I'm like, how are they doing it? I feel like I'm at the Cool Kids club and everybody's inside.
[00:29:34] And I'm right outside kind of just needing like the invite, the invite to come in. Because I feel like we really need that in the community, you know? And other folks are now, there's like a lot more grant funding for like community gardens and all of that. But Hood Herbalism, I didn't wanna go through the structure of the nonprofit for many reasons cause I really wanted to have autonomy with like the curriculum and all of that.
[00:29:55] But right now I'm at like a place where I'm trying to figure out how to get support to get land so that we can create this environment and the community for folks to come in and really delve into this work with the lands, but also like, have that autonomy at the same time.
[00:30:10] And so I'm figuring that out right now. That's kind of where Hood Herbalism is. It's still like a vision. I wanna bridge it to like my birth work and hoping that I could have the birth center close by and more than anything, what I'm dreaming about right now, like fantasizing about is like more like a space for midwives to come and also like harvest their own medicine and stock up their birth kits with medicine that they're harvesting and making themselves.
[00:30:33] Cause a lot of the midwives, like we just, it's like a lot of stuff is bought from companies. Especially the herbs that we use. And our birth kits, a lot of it, if it's not homeopathic or flower essences, a lot of the stuff is like, you know, things that are already purchased from companies that make it.
[00:30:47] I'm like, what would it be like for, because I understand the depth of birth work for us to have a space to come in and make our own medicines, you know? So when I have that alongside with the Hood Herbalism as like still a project where folks have access to medicine, making in the community and land, you know?
[00:31:04] But through our perspective and through our lens. So that's kind of where I'm at right now. I'm trying to figure out how to do that while I'm still getting licensed, you know? And expanding hood in that way, and getting access to land so that we can have folks come in and work with the lands.
[00:31:20] So that's kind of where I'm at right now. I'm putting it out there in case anybody hears me and they're like, here Bere, we wanna invest in this project. We wanna see it come to.
[00:31:32] Josie: Go to your website, contact you, yeah.
[00:31:36] Berenice: Yeah. I'm like, I need the cool kid invite to this party.
[00:31:41] Josie: Exactly. Cool, kid. If you're out there, reach out to us.
[00:31:45] Berenice: Let us know.
[00:31:46] Josie: Yeah, yeah. I love that you seem to sort of have the vision first of what's coming next, and then you trust that vision and then you move towards it and it happens. It seems like that comes first is like, I don't know why I am getting this, but this is what I'm getting and I'm just gonna trust it. And then it, it unfolds. Also, I'm taking the Curanderx Toolkit with Atava right now, she's the best.
[00:32:16] Berenice: She is.
[00:32:18] Josie: So something I read that you wrote, that I loved was that the concept of healing is ableist. Will you expand on that and what you meant by that?
[00:32:29] Berenice: Yeah. I think you got that from my consultations page, right? Where I wrote my individual support involves a combination of conversations, kind of the work I do one-on-one with people, right? Conversations, different healing therapies. Herbal medicine, people that experience my practice often become inspired to begin a healing process, continue a healing journey already in progress, or take a new direction in that journey by gaining new insights of the self.
[00:32:57] I also like to complicate the term healing by recognizing how ableist can be to assume that everyone can or wants to heal. Or that healing is an ending point of any process. I wrote that because right now, white wellness, rhetoric is really taking over like a lot of healing modalities.
[00:33:17] Where you're seeing people going like, self-care is like the new hashtag, and looking at me taking care of myself by vacationing or getting a facial and all of that when healing for communities of color has very much been very politicized for us.
[00:33:30] Because we've experienced colonialism in a particular way. So our unlearning and undoing and healing process is very different. And a lot of the wellness, healing culture is very much centered around like the financial capacity that you have to go vacation, go into this boujee resort and get those $500 massages and like facial packages.
[00:33:53] And it's like, that's not necessarily what's happening for us. What we're doing in our community is like calling our spirit back from violence, is unlearning and reshifting our understanding of different, very difficulties we've had. And so healing is complicated, right. And then alongside that, it's like, yeah.
[00:34:10] Where, where does the, the conversation with disability justice come into this? And I feel like that's something that's still very much like, parallel, right? And then we have things like, you know, the word Miriam Webster dictionary defining healing. Right? And I think it's really funny when you look at, okay, so how does, like mainstream culture, like, how does that language impact, like, how we understand, you know?
[00:34:35] And like even with the Miriam Webster dictionary identifies healing is to make free from injury or disease or to make sound or whole, right? It's like we can't, we can't unlearn and undo these things, right? And so much of the healing rhetoric is like, you're gonna go to a new state or a state before then.
[00:34:56] Of like a different type of equilibrium. And so I write that more because I feel like everybody can define what that journey's gonna be for them. Again, healing as a term, like we do healing work or we offer healing support, it's really around, like we create space for folks to explore.
[00:35:13] What's happening, what has happened, what from that, what has felt hurtful, what it feels like, things you wanna move through and move out of. Right? And what can we do to support and how do we bring in the plants and these ceremonies to help guide and ground and hold that? And so for me, that's why I added that in my website around like, It can be ableist to think and to define that.
[00:35:37] So for me and my work is like folks get to define that for themselves. Folks get to use the language that they want to describe their process for themselves. Right. And what I really do is like, I kind of meet them in that place and I'm like, okay, where do you wanna go? What are your goals?
[00:35:53] What are your visions for how you wanna feel in your body in relationship to this person or this situation? And you know, these are some of the things we could use, these, we can bring in the medicine of the water, of the fire, of the earth, of the wind. We could bring in the medicine of plants to support.
[00:36:09] We can go to the ocean, right? We can do these different things and have them help support you in that process. And so, I think that's why I wrote it in that way, but more than anything, like really honoring the complexity of our relationship to quote unquote healing. And that is very much, it's very complex for communities that have experienced violence, systemic violence, colonial violence and that it's a different journey for us.
[00:36:34] We can't just like go get a massage and feel renewed. Right. Right. Because it, it lives in our bodies in a different way. Now that doesn't mean that those things can't, can't be worked through, right? It doesn't mean there aren't people in our community really actively doing work to like, hold conversations and spaces for generational healing.
[00:36:53] Of colonial violence like that is happening. We see that in a lot of modalities, but, It also means that we have to understand that for everybody it's gonna be different and everybody's going to be bring, come into this conversation for themselves and in their body in a different way. And that it's okay, you know?
[00:37:08] Josie: Yeah. I love that so much.
[00:37:11] Berenice: Why did you love that?
[00:37:12] Josie: Yes, I loved that for the reasons that you just described. And I also loved, for me, I felt like there's sort of this end goal in mind in white culture of healing, and also that we have more value if we're healed, you know, quote unquote healed. It's like there's this assumption that it should be everyone's goal to like heal themselves or like to arrive at healing where you just described, it's like this journey. It's not like you're gonna come in and out of it and it's this whole process.
[00:37:45] It's not like, oh, okay, now I'm healed. And it's also like we don't owe that to anybody, you know, to be healed, quote unquote. Yes, I just, I liked that and it made me feel that it's challenging this narrative of what healing means in white culture, basically. And ableist culture.
[00:38:06] Something that I learned from you in one of the classes that I took from you as you asked us what does it mean to be in relationship with plants?
[00:38:14] And I loved, boy, some of the answers that folks came up with. I was like, wow. So I would love to ask you the same question. What does it mean for you to be in relationship with plants? And how has that relationship shifted or evolved over time?
[00:38:28] Berenice: Oh, I'm like, I think about it and I feel like I wanna cry just because of the way that plant medicine has supported me most of my life, you know?
[00:38:39] And I journaled about this a while back. I'm like to be like in relationship with plants. It's like to really know pure love. Pure, deep, intentional love. You know, and that's why it makes me feel like I wanna cry because the plants offer so gracefully. They're so generous, so patient.
[00:39:03] And you see that in your relationship with them. Like you don't water them for some times. And like with some plants, like they know I'm traveling, they know I'm gone, they know I've been at a birth for thirty six, forty eight hours and they've needed water and they wait for me.
[00:39:16] You know, they wait for me and they're like, we love you and yeah, I need water, but I also know you're busy. So like both and I come home, I'm like, I'm sorry I haven't been here. And like, and you know, I feel like I learned so much from the around how not to be that apologetic. And not to like, have to explain myself to them.
[00:39:38] Like they just know and they get it, you know? And I love that about my relationship with plants. Wow. Is that, that the genuine type of love that I feel from them, very reciprocal. And I talk about this in the classes all the time. I'm actually writing a whole book on it right around the ways that plants teaches us about consent and reciprocity and building relationships.
[00:39:58] Right. And, and understanding like, you know, like reciprocal exchange. And they have taught me all of that throughout my life. I have all these memories of like tending to them when I was a kid and watching them grow and being really silly with them and seeing that they have a personality and they have a sense of humor.
[00:40:21] They're hilarious, but then also finding myself in different ceremonies with some of these plants that take you into different journeys and watching the depth of the medicine that they offer, right? Watching their generosity. Having them go into my digestive system and clearing out really old stuff, you know?
[00:40:43] And having them take me into different realms and, and show me all these things. You know, I've had plant medicine that has shown me, given me like an anatomy lesson of the body. And they're like, what you know about anatomy and those books is not what the body looks like here, let me show you.
[00:41:00] And that happened recently, like within a year that I've been really in midwifery. I was having my own process around some of the stuff I was learning in schooling. And it was related to some questions I had around anatomy and like really meditating with some of these plants and them giving me, they're like, we're gonna show you. Let us give you the lesson. Let us teach you.
[00:41:21] And so in my classes, when I asked that question like what has it, what is it like to be in relationship with plants? It's for people to, first of all, I acknowledge that it is a relationship. It's not a take, take, take. And often I see that, right.
[00:41:34] It's very much extractive. Take the medicine, harvest the plant, and there's like no, no conversation around offering, right? So that's the first thing we do in our Hood Herbalism class that we talk about what do you do to offer to the earth? And gratitude for that medicine. You don't just go and harvest that flower like you ask for permission.
[00:41:53] You give an offering, you show up. You don't just go in there and take, that's not how this is. And they've taught me that, right. And when you are in that relationship, I've learned from them is that there is so much more generosity. They share more when they know that you have a genuine pure intention to be in a relationship with them and not just take from them.
[00:42:11] And I've learned that from them, you know? And they always amaze me. I'm always in awe with what I learned from plants. As I deepen and deepen and deepen my relationship with them, you know?
[00:42:22] Josie: Incredible. I have two questions. Can you give us some examples of what would be an offering and how to ask, you know, how to ask for consent with plants?
[00:42:32] And then I'm also wondering like when plants show you things, is it in meditation or is it in a dream or all of the above?
[00:42:42] Berenice: All of the above. So I love asking this question cuz for people that have like culturally have had land-based relationships, we know like our ancestors did all kinds of offerings, right? We offered food, different types of food for the plants. I tell folks like coffee grinds, like shells, like different things, fertilizers, whatever type of food you wanna give to your plants. Compost is always really good, to offer plants learning about what plants need to grow.
[00:43:07] And so again, giving them that. Also things like that come from the elements, right? So sunlight, if they need. If they need sunlight, right? That's also an offering. Sometimes taking some plants out for a little bit, bringing them back in. Water, like taking them out when it's raining so they can get some rain water.
[00:43:23] Giving them water in general, if you're like gonna take plants from an outdoor area, like offering water is always good, especially in areas where there's a drought. Like here in California, water's always a great offering to plant if you're making an offering. If you're gonna harvest anything.
[00:43:36] And then culturally, people offer different things. Cornmeal, different types of powders like almond powder. Some of us offer tobacco, right. That we've grown ideally from our gardens as a form of like sharing that reciprocity with the plants, you know.
[00:43:51] Songs, things that are like unseen right, necessarily things that are more vibrational. So songs, touch, they love to be touched. Plants love to be caressed blowing at them. You know, just kind of creating that, that intimacy with them, singing songs to them. And then other things like blood, they love blood. Also really good nutrient rich, interesting food for them.
[00:44:13] So I tell 'em, sometimes, I always wait and sometimes somebody will say like, People say like menstrual blood. And it's like, yeah. But they like blood too, you know? If you bleed, it's nice to gather that blood and give it to the earth. It's a great fertilizer for your plants.
[00:44:27] So I'll wait and people are like, ah, it sounds like that sounds some witchy levels. Like our, you know, we used to go out and just bleed on the earth, like it's fine. Give the earth's some blood. It's a little, I mean, might not feel like something you could do now because like, like the social stigmas around it, but people are doing that still.
[00:44:44] We don't, not gonna romanticize that these things are not things that people actively do. Because there's people right now all over the world that are still very much in an active close relationship with the earth. And I have long practices of doing many, many things to offer gratitude to the earth, you know?
[00:45:00] What we do know is that we don't just take, we always give something, you know? And ask for permission. And then how do you know that the plant consents to you harvesting from it? Is a journey that everybody's gonna have to take. Paying attention is so important. You know, really paying attention to when the plants say yes.
[00:45:17] And people are like, well, how do you know? I was like, well, how do you know if you ask someone, may I touch you? That they say yes. What if they don't verbally communicate that? And what other ways do people consent and show you consent? Body language, yeah. Eye contact, yeah. Like, so think about that expansively also with plants.
[00:45:37] When you ask for consent, the plants not just gonna say yes in the English language and you're gonna hear a voice. Just like with, with humans, that might not always be the case. We wait for that consent to happen and with plants we do that. So that's why I'm like that's how plants can teach you a lot about consent.
[00:45:53] You have to pay attention, you have to have a relationship with them. You have to know what's a yes, what's a know from the plants. And for all of us, it's gonna be different. So I can't really answer that question for everybody, right. But I can know that for me it's different for plants.
[00:46:10] You know, it's different if I'm regionally in one place versus another. I've noticed some plants say yes to me in different ways. And so it's, and it's always evolving and changing. So I tell folks, how do you know the plants can say yes, and I've had that question. I was like, that's for you to find out. That's your life journey with the plants.
[00:46:27] Josie: Yeah. Okay. That's helpful. Thank you. I've always wondered that.
[00:46:36] So I would love to know, what do you think plants have to teach us about fertility and trying to conceive, the course I took from you was about reproductive loss. So we talked about how plants show us about grief and loss, like through the life cycle. So I'm wondering if you have thoughts around what plants have to teach us about fertility and and conception.
[00:46:58] Berenice: Was that the one I helped support with king?
[00:47:01] Josie: Yes. Yeah, with king yaa. Yeah.
[00:47:03] Berenice: Yeah, king yaa, yeah. Queer birth worker. Just putting their name out there. For folks that haven't like, heard about their work. They do like a series of classes around fertility for queer and trans folks. And they had me come in to talk specifically around plant support for when folks experience reproductive loss.
[00:47:21] And so, Fertility is so complex. I think so layered, right? Because so much of like fertility awareness is really centered around like sperm and eggs. So much fertility awareness is centered around nutrition. And like body composition, so much new fertility awareness is also centered around all the things that are wrong with our bodies, you know?
[00:47:45] Which is all very valid in, in one conversation. But I think when we bring in the plants to be part of that conversation, what we're learning is like there's a way to bring different types of equilibriums to the bodies in a different way. That they are really coming in to look at like what's happening for people at the spiritual level, at the emotional level that might be impacting them not being able to conceive.
[00:48:16] And then this is conception for queer and trans folks too. I just took at the indigenous birth conference, actually took a workshop with Andrea. Andrea has partera midwifery. As a practice, as a midwife, queer midwife in the Bay Area. And Andrea did like a queer fertility workshop for us.
[00:48:36] And one of the things that she shared is that oftentimes for queer and trans families, it's not really about like folks being infertile, or having fertility issues, it's just having access to things like sperm. Or like somebody to carry the baby, because either one person can't, or, or both can't.
[00:48:58] So it's not always around fertility, but yet a lot of the, the rhetoric or dialogue is very centered around like, y'all are infertile. We can't do it cuz you're queer and trans. So of course you're gonna struggle through that process. Or for some folks it's very real. Like, I've had clients that, that asked me to support them as a doula or like birth worker for their journey.
[00:49:17] And yeah, they, they tried and tried and tried and they just couldn't, you know, or they, one partner tried and they couldn't, then the other one did, you know? Right. So I think with the plants, what I'm learning and I'm still feeling very, very new in that conversation, just personally, you know.
[00:49:32] But what I do know is that what is part of the big conversation around fertility is definitely around the, the equilibrium and the body has, to be in a, like in a particular state where everything is aligned for things to fertilize and, and then move in and then grow in a way that that can then lead to like potentially a full term pregnancy for anybody. Or full term gestation.
[00:50:01] And so I love the plants and a lot of the plants, I think if you do like fertility plants for fertility support, like just general Dr. Google search, most of those plants, most of those plants are gonna be like Chaste Berry, very common on those lists. Saw Palm Meadows, very common on the list.
[00:50:16] Red clovers, metals, moringa, maca, root, like all those plants, like you go to like Link, link, link, link. And it's like the same five, 10 plants. But what they all have in common is that they're all highly nutritious. They're all high in calcium. They're all high in vitamins. Minerals.
[00:50:33] And so even the plants are telling us like we're here to nourish. Like we are gonna support through nourishment. And when I do work with folks that are thinking about fertility, I'm asking about their history. What's your history to your relationship to birth? To pregnancy, what was your, what's your birth story?
[00:50:56] For queer and trans folks, for me, that was really important because I, when I was thinking about looking for fertility support, trying to find a queer person to hold that space for me, what I was kind of grappling with more was around like, could I do this as a queer person? What is it like to be a parent as a queer person?
[00:51:16] What are the resources out there who can hold that space? Who can have the right language for like me or my partner that'll feel safe? Like, it wasn't necessarily around, like, I wasn't thinking like, am I fertile enough yet? I was thinking all these other things that were related to more the state of my spirit and my heart.
[00:51:34] So when I work with folks, or folks come to see me for stuff like that, and I'm continuing to want to be a resource once I get licensed too, for those types of conversations with my background and like in herbalism and all of that is really holding the space for the conversation with the spirits.
[00:51:50] Around what does your spirit need to feel ready and fertile to start this journey if that's what you want. And that's different. And how do the plants come in to help calibrate the spirit? Which is a little bit, this doesn't dismiss the rest of the conversations about the very real things people are experiencing with their bodies.
[00:52:11] The stuff around going on with their reproductive health, right? It's just saying, can we also talk about the spirit? Can we also bring in the constant support with the spirit stuff, with the emotional calibration as well? And it makes me excited cuz it's way more expansive.
[00:52:30] And then to have the right language for thinking, I'm talking about anatomy doing intakes right, that are gender inclusive. That are queer, trans friendly, like all that stuff. Like I had to do that in midwifery. One of our assignments was to write out a document with our intake form. My document was like 10 pages long and the professor was like, oh, I'm never, well, they were like, the professor was like, can I borrow this for my, they're another queer person in the community.
[00:52:59] And I was like, yeah. Cuz it was so intentional with language. With thinking about sexual acts. Cause the question is, are you sexually active? Yeah. Are you married? The question is like, you know, people are like, you married single, there's no nothing. Like, I have multiple partners. Or I am asexual.
[00:53:17] Like, oh no. Like, there's, like, even with the intake form is so different, so then wanting to talk about fertility or anything really related to, to reproductive health. Also, those are barriers for us, you know, because we don't have the space, honoring us even at the, the basic level of just like an intake form.
[00:53:34] So I'm thinking about that as a midwife, like, you know, and I'm excited for this license. Cause with this license I could offer STI testing for the community. So I'm excited to host clinics where folks will come in and get STI tested. I could offer Paps. It would be really beautiful to do, you know, what people are calling, like trauma-informed paps, like folks who were really taking our time, honoring the body, asking for permission and consent to do an exam like that.
[00:54:00] I'm so excited to host clinics like that. To host clinics with student midwives to help youth come in and get tested. And for people that are gonna get their first pap, imagine to have that experience. You're laying in a bed, there's like a heating pad, there's somebody like asking you for permission every step of the way, honoring anything that's coming up for you, saying, okay, we don't have to do this today.
[00:54:21] Versus having somebody open your legs and just stick something in. And you're just like, cringing and you don't know what's happening. So that makes me super excited. Like reading labs is another cool thing I'm excited about. Having folks come in and it's like, oh, you checked your iron levels, you checked your, whatever, your vitamin D levels, and you don't know what the heck that means.
[00:54:42] Can somebody explain that to me? And being able to like have a space at the clinic, at the birth center where people can come in and we can have those conversations along with. Fertility stuff along with birth related things, along with postpartum care. Like I'm super excited to have access to be able to offer all these other resources aside from like just helping people birth babies, you know?
[00:55:03] That's like one of the cool ones, but I'm thinking of all these other cool things I wanna do with this license, you know? So, I'm excited.
[00:55:09] Josie: Oh my god. I'm excited. I wish that I could like duplicate you and put you everywhere, all around the country, in the world.
[00:55:16] Berenice: There's, I mean, there's amazing people doing this work. As like even being at the Indigenous Birth Conference, I was like, wow, there's so many folks that are in incredible, doing this work. I wanna be cool like them, you know? Yeah, I was like, wow, it's just amazing.
[00:55:31] I was in awe of the types of people that were there and the work that they're doing in the community. Super cool. So I'm excited to just be a part of that. And offer that for the community.
[00:55:42] Josie: That's so excitng, yes. Well, how can people find you and support you and buy all your things?
[00:55:49] Berenice: I am not selling anything, like things right now. I do have a shop that's where, you know, we're gonna launch maybe once I'm done with my license.
[00:55:56] But there is something really important happening right now. So I think one thing I'm learning right now in this midwifery path is definitely like how to honor like the time that it requires me. It's been a lot, you know, I've been like, putting myself through this program, working full-time, being a student full-time, and then being at a clinic full-time, three full-time things.
[00:56:17] Like literally filling me to my capacity and two weeks ago where I was just so overwhelmed with planning to leave to do my last phase of the clinical license, and then also just working full-time and doing like the studying stuff for this test and like all the things that I need to do that I had a pretty severe panic attack actually, to the point where I felt like I was gonna go into paralysis.
[00:56:41] And I've never experienced anything like that. The only time I remember having a similar feeling was after a car accident made like eight years ago. But I was in the middle of like that, like almost paralysis panic attack where a friend of mine who's a midwife called me and she was just like, I had this really weird, like, urge instinct to call you.
[00:57:00] And I was like, and I told her what was happening and she like helped me kind of deescalate and like, come out of that. And I was just talking to her and crying and I was just like, I feel really tired. Like I really, I'm getting ready to move and to do this and to do that. And she's just like, you really need support.
[00:57:16] Like, you don't have to do this alone. And I'm the type of person that's like, no, if I need something, I gotta work for it. So I'll teach another class. I'll do this, I'll do that, I'll do a workshop, I'll do what I need to do. But I don't just like to do things like, I always feel like I don't need, I can't do anything without offering something in return, right?
[00:57:32] It's like the both ends, right? And she's like, you know, have you thought about doing like a GoFundMe or anything like that? And I was like, that wasn't even a, no. Like, that's not an option. Like, I gotta work. She's like, you don't always have to work to, to receive support. And I had a really like aha moment with her around that.
[00:57:51] And she's just mirroring that like you always do a lot. You always do a lot. And it's okay to ask for support right now just so you can finish this last phase of this license. And it's an investment that we're gonna all make. Not in you, but in all the, all the resource you're gonna bring back.
[00:58:07] All the families, you're gonna support all the babies, all the people. And like, she really kind of encouraged me, highly encouraged me to do a GoFundMe. So I did, you know. I listened to her, I put up a GoFundMe and the GoFundMe is really gonna help to, help me get to Texas help me kind of to support me with some of my basic needs so that I can work a little bit less and just focus on finishing.
[00:58:34] Cuz that's why I feel like I haven't really been able to fully immerse myself because I'm like immersed in three full-time things at the same time, you know? And I've done that before with my master's degree and my B.A., And I feel like this does, this deserves another, another me. Yeah. Because of the love that I have for this work, you know?
[00:58:53] And so I'm calling that in for myself. So I did a GoFundMe, so if folks wanna go in and read more about my story, that would be really helpful. And it's also gonna help pay for the licensing part of it. The test is super expensive. The supplies that I'm gonna need. It's still like a lot, like midwifery supplies is really expensive.
[00:59:09] So I think the fundraiser is bringing in all of that, like helping me with the move with some of my basic needs for the next couple of months while I finish. And then also helping me pay for the test I'm gonna have to take, and also the supplies I need for my primary bag, which is the bag that I need in this phase of the, of the licensing journey.
[00:59:28] So I need a lot of equipment that I haven't been able to get because I haven't, you know, I haven't had that right capacity to do that. And so, yeah. I'm fundraising for that, so I have the link on the Hood Herbalism instagram, if they click the link in the bio, the first tab is the GoFundMe link.
[00:59:45] And I'm really wanting to meet my goal in the next month and a half before I leave. So I got, my, my clinic start date is July 15th. Oh my, my gosh. So I'm really hoping I can meet my goal by, by before July 15th so I can just get there and, and get it done, you know? So that's, that's where I'm at right now.
[01:00:02] That's what I'm doing. I'm sharing a little bit about my story on my social media platform and just really calling some folks to, to see me and to support me. And I've, I don't feel like I've ever really done that in this way before, you know? Not without feeling like I need a teach or, do something for it, you know?
[01:00:17] So it's new for me and yeah, I've had to like, work through a lot of my stuff. Oh, be like they, my therapy sessions for it, even my therapist yesterday, I actually had a session yesterday with my therapist and she was really like, just like honoring me and, and like mirroring that back to me and saying that she was excited that I was giving myself that permission, that space to just receive a little bit, you know, so in this way at least.
[01:00:39] Josie: So it's time to water you. Give you the water.
[01:00:42] Berenice: Yes. I need water.
[01:00:44] Josie: The nutrients. Yeah. Yes, exactly.
[01:00:47] Berenice: You know? Yeah, I do. And I feel like I'm finally saying like, yeah, that would be really nice to feel, you know, and I'm excited. So that's where I'm at right now.
[01:00:56] Josie: Nice. Oh, great. I'm so glad you shared about that. So everyone who's listening, please go to the GoFundMe and I'm gonna put the actual link in the show notes on this episode. And then it will be on my website as well for this episode. So it'll be easy for people to get to.
[01:01:13] Berenice: And then, of course, Instagram Hood Herbalism.
[01:01:16] I had another Instagram that I shut down temporarily until I'm done with the license too. But I definitely have my website up, hoodherbalism.com or berenicedimas.com for more of my personal work. Eventually I'll add the midwifery stuff in there once it's time and the clinic stuff and the paps and all that stuff in there.
[01:01:35] But for now, I'm just doing more like online things until, until I'm done with the license. But I have consultations with folks want, like herbal consultations, wanna talk more about things that are happening with their health and maybe how to bring in plant medicine. Like I do have availability for the summer. In my appointment books. So folks can go in and you can set up an appointment for herbal consultation and things like that.
[01:01:56] Josie: Amazing. And it's virtual too?
[01:01:57] Berenice: Yeah, I'll of it as virtual for now. Virtual. Once I'm done, I'll be doing more in person stuff, but for now I'm really kind of like trying to do things just within my capacity, just do what I can online for sure. Even the classes are still online.
[01:02:13] Josie: Amazing. Well, I've kept you so long. Thank you so much for being with us today. This has just been an incredible conversation, which I knew it would be. I learned so much again from you.
[01:02:24] Berenice: Aw. Thank you, Josie, for your invitation and for Yeah, come, you know, just wanting to share space with me.
[01:02:30] I really appreciate it.
[01:02:31] Josie: Yeah, absolutely.
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