Herbalists & Nutritionists: In the Clinic with Camille

I got a great question from Cora about whether I recommend that practitioners put their prices on their websites. Short answer: yes, I think it makes sense to publish your prices. In this episode I walk through why I feel strongly about this, what can happen when you don't share prices upfront, and how transparency frees up time and makes discovery calls more meaningful. 
Links and Resources
Sign up for my weekly Practitioner Notes newsletter at camillefreeman.com
Submit a question for the podcast at intheclinic.com
Find all episodes and show notes at intheclinic.com
About Me
I'm Camille Freeman, DCN, RH, and I host In the Clinic with Camille, a podcast for herbalists and nutritionists in private practice. I've been in clinical practice since 2003 with a focus on fertility, pregnancy, and menstrual health, and I love sharing the business and clinical lessons I've learned along the way.

I got a question in a recent Q&A call about wild yam (Dioscorea villosa) cream and progesterone. A client felt the cream was helping raise their progesterone, but the practitioner had questions about whether that was realistically happening. So what's the deal? I share a few thoughts on why a client might be noticing a difference and things to be on the lookout for as an herbalist or nutritionist if your client is using wild yam cream. 
Key Takeaways
Wild yam (Dioscorea villosa) contains diosgenin, which can be converted to progesterone in a laboratory setting, but the human body does not have the enzymes to make that conversion.
If a wild yam cream seems to be helping with progesterone-related symptoms, the cream may actually contain progesterone (check the active ingredient label - some do).
Lower-quality or less transparent products can sometimes contain undisclosed ingredients or contaminants, including hormones, so it's worth investigating the brand and looking for third-party testing.
The placebo effect is a thing and may be at play here.
Wild yam does contain phytoestrogens, and while topical absorption levels are unclear, this is a more physiologically plausible mechanism than progesterone conversion.
Progesterone blood levels are pulsatile (they fluctuate roughly every 45-60 minutes), so a single lab draw in the luteal phase should not be interpreted as evidence of "low progesterone" without proper clinical context.
Links and Resources Mentioned
Sign up for Camille's weekly Practitioner Notes newsletter at camillefreeman.com
Submit a question for the podcast at intheclinic.com
Find all episodes and show notes at intheclinic.com
About Camille
Camille Freeman, DCN, RH, is the founder of Bloom and Grow, offering continuing education and community resources for herbalists and nutritionists in clinical practice. She has been in practice since 2003 with a focus on fertility, pregnancy, and menstrual health.

As I was out on a walk this morning, something I heard on Cal Newport's podcast resonated with me. I'm sharing a small takeaway point regarding over-optimizing and how I think that applies both to our clinical work and to everything that goes on behind the scenes to keep a clinical practice running. 
Key Takeaways
The optimization paradox: over-optimizing a single area can throw the whole system out of balance
In client work, you don't need to move every health pillar from a 2 to a 10. Moving several from a 2 to a 5 or 7 often produces better outcomes.
In your practice, "good enough" marketing across multiple channels beats getting one area in tip-top shape. 
This framework is especially useful for solo practitioners without formal business or marketing training as it takes some pressure off and offers multiple ways to improve
Links and Resources Mentioned
Cal Newport's Deep Questions podcast: Optimization Paradox episode with Brad Stulberg
Sign up for Camille's weekly Practitioner Notes newsletter at camillefreeman.com
Find all episodes and show notes at intheclinic.com
About Camille
Camille Freeman, DCN, RH, is the founder of Bloom and Grow, offering continuing education and community resources for herbalists and nutritionists in clinical practice. She has been in practice since 2003 with a focus on fertility, pregnancy, and menstrual health.
 

If you were trained to recommend RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) for strains and sprains, it may be time to update your knowledge a bit. In this episode, I share what came up in a recent Monday Mentoring session: the shift from RICE to PEACE & LOVE, why icing and total rest can slow tissue healing, and steps to promote recovery from soft tissue injury. 
In this episode, we cover:
Why the medical community moved away from RICE for soft tissue injuries
The PEACE acronym explained: Protection, Elevation, Avoid Anti-inflammatories, Compression, Education
The LOVE acronym explained: Load, Optimism, Vascularization, Exercise
Why suppressing inflammation with ice or NSAIDs may extend healing time
When gentle movement and load are better than total rest
My clinical additions: topical herbs and nutrient density for tissue repair
Where to find the BMJ graphic to share with clients
Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction: soft tissue injuries in Monday Mentoring
01:00 - The RICE paradigm and why it's becoming outdated
02:05 - Introducing PEACE & LOVE as the updated framework
02:40 - P for Protection: why total rest slows healing
03:33 - E for Elevation: managing swelling without stopping inflammation
04:00 - A for Avoid Anti-inflammatories: ice and NSAIDs reconsidered
04:38 - C for Compression: gentle support and lymphatic flow
05:02 - E for Education: trusting the body's healing capacity
05:50 - Moving into LOVE: the sub-acute and recovery phase
06:06 - L for Load: reintroducing movement without pain
06:48 - O for Optimism: mindset and conditioned recovery
07:23 - V for Vascularization: blood flow, cardio, and circulatory stimulants
08:05 - E for Exercise: returning to strength and mobility
08:30 - Herbal topicals and nutrition support for tissue healing
09:10 - Link to the BMJ graphic and client handout resources
Links Mentioned:
PEACE & LOVE blog post and graphic (BMJ)
Submit a Question
Have a clinical or business question you'd like me to answer on a future episode? I'd love to answer it. Click on the "Submit a Question to Camille" button at intheclinic.com.
Join the Practitioner Notes Newsletter
Want more clinical tips and practice-building resources? Join my practitioner email list, sent out every Thursday with a short note and three specific recommendations to make running your practice a little easier. Sign up at intheclinic.com or camillefreeman.com.

Gummy multivitamins are everywhere now, from adult formulas to prenatal and senior blends - but are they actually a good substitute for capsules or tablets? In this episode, I discuss clinical considerations, including quality control findings, sugar content, and formulation limits that affect dosing and nutrient stability.
In this episode, we cover:
When gummy multivitamins might be the best (or only) tolerable option for a client
Sugar and non-nutritive sweetener content to review before recommending
Why iron and higher-dose B vitamins may be missing from gummy formulations
Why gummy multis tend to have lower overall nutrient doses than capsules or tablets (which isn't necessarily a bad thing)
Consumer Lab quality findings: degradation issues, overages, and what they mean clinically
Upcoming Multivitamin Deep Dive class details
Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction: answering questions about gummy multivitamins
01:00 - When gummies are a reasonable alternative (dysphagia, pregnancy aversions, palatability)
01:50 - Sugar, non-nutritive sweeteners, and blood sugar considerations
02:55 - Missing ingredients: why iron and higher-dose B vitamins rarely make the cut
04:10 - Lower nutrient density: how the gummy base limits room for active ingredients
05:00 - Consumer Lab findings on quality control, degradation, and nutrient overages
06:45 - Clinical bottom line: who gummies work for and when to supplement separately
07:50 - Other ingredients to review: dyes, excipients, and lower-quality fillers
08:30 - Multivitamin Deep Dive class invitation: July 13th, 5:00 - 6:30 PM Eastern
Links Mentioned:
Consumer Lab summary of gummy multivitamin quality testing
Multivitamin Deep Dive class (July 13th, 2026 from 5-6:30 pm; 1.5 NPCE available through Dec 2028)
All-Access 2026 Supplement Deep Dive Pass
Submit a Question
Have a clinical or business question you'd like me to answer on a future episode? I'd love to answer it. Click on the "Submit a Question to Camille" button at intheclinic.com.
Join the Practitioner Notes Newsletter
Want more clinical tips and practice-building resources? Join my practitioner email list, sent out every Thursday with a short note and three specific recommendations to make running your practice a little easier. Sign up at intheclinic.com or camillefreeman.com.

Lots of us get brilliant ideas for new courses and programs in the summer. Here, I share why I strongly recommend that you don't build the course or program before you know if people will sign up for it. Instead of spending dozens or even hundreds of hours creating a course, consider running a pilot version and making sure at least a few people are willing to pay for the program before you start creating it.
See also episode 39 from way back in 2022: Why You Shouldn't Create an Online Course 
In this episode, we cover:
Why the surge of summer creative energy can lead to a very expensive mistake.
Why "that sounds interesting!" is not the same as confirmed interest.
How to put your idea out there before investing time and money in creating something new.
What to do if nobody signs up or if a handful of people do.
Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction
0:11 - Summer and the creative energy surge
1:04 - Building something nobody buys
2:18 - What "interest" actually means (hint: $$)
2:59 - Co-creation vs. building in a silo
4:11 - Start with a Google doc and a price
5:32 - If nobody signs up, at least you know 
6:31 - If five people sign up: build it simply, together
7:15 - Make it fancier in round two
Submit a Question
Have a clinical or business question you'd like me to answer on a future episode? I'd love to answer it. Click on the "Submit a Question to Camille" button at intheclinic.com.
Join the Practitioner Notes Newsletter
Want more clinical tips and practice-building resources? Join my practitioner email list, sent out every Thursday with a short note and three specific recommendations to make running your practice a little easier. You can sign up at intheclinic.com or camillefreeman.com.
 

Whether you use AI tools yourself or want nothing to do with them, if you share educational materials, run a community, or work with clients, you may want to have a written AI policy. In this episode, I share the one I created for Bloom and Grow, which is still very much a working draft. 
In this episode, we cover:
Why practitioners who don't use AI still need a policy 
The four parts of the Bloom and Grow AI policy: note-takers in live sessions, scraping and uploading community content, disclosing AI use when sharing case studies, and keeping forum interactions human.
The existence of invisible AI note-takers (the kind that don't show up as Zoom participants) 
What I can and can't control, and why I chose to include these things in my policy anyway.
The difference between a community/course AI policy and a personal AI policy
One way that I'm experimenting with AI in my own practice: SOAP note drafting from session transcripts, using a HIPAA-compliant tool with client disclosure.
Resources mentioned:
Off the Grid Podcast with Amelia Hruby - especially the episodes about how to write a thoughtful AI policy (and the others in the AI series!) 
Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction
0:11 - Why you should keep listening even if you hate AI discourse
0:56 - Credit to Off the Grid podcast for shaping my thinking
1:29 - Two policies I'm working on: community vs. personal
3:33 - Reading the Bloom and Grow AI policy
3:45 - No AI note-takers in live sessions 
6:17 - No scraping or uploading B&G content to LLMs
8:32 - Disclose AI use when sharing case studies for feedback
8:46 - Keep forum and chat interactions human
9:48 - What's coming: my personal AI policy for the website
10:07 - What I'm actually experimenting with right now (SOAP notes)
10:55 - Why your AI stance is worth making visible
Submit a Question
Have a clinical or business question you'd like me to answer on a future episode? I'd love to answer it. Click on the "Submit a Question to Camille" button at intheclinic.com.
 
Join the Practitioner Notes Newsletter
Want more clinical tips and practice-building resources? Join my practitioner email list, sent out every Thursday with a short note and three specific recommendations to make running your practice a little easier. Never written by AI 😆 You can sign up at intheclinic.com or camillefreeman.com.
 

After years of training to be a clinical herbalist or nutritionist, you might find yourself on the other side wondering if this is something you want to or can realistically do right now. Many people don't realize what goes into running a solo practice when they sign up for a training program. Once you learn more about what's involved, you may make a different choice than you originally expected, and that's okay. 
In this episode, we cover:
Why so many trained herbalists and nutritionists hit a wall after graduation
Why choosing not to run a full-time clinical practice doesn't make you a failure or mean your training was wasted.
The factors that allow some practitioners to build a solo practice and why they're not equally available to everyone.
Other ways to stay connected to this work: volunteering, community education, occasional referral-based visits, or simply setting it aside for now.
Why your clinical education still counts, still grows you, and still matters regardless of what you decide to do with it.
Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction
0:09 - The situation nobody warns you about before you start training
1:07 - The gap between finishing school and running a practice
2:52 - It's okay if full-time solo practice isn't the path right now
4:47 - Other ways to use your clinical education
6:05 - Why the practitioners who "made it" aren't always the whole picture
7:49 - Seeing your options clearly
 
Submit a Question
Have a clinical or business question you'd like me to answer on a future episode? I'd love to answer it. Click on the "Submit a Question to Camille" button at intheclinic.com.
 
Join the Practitioner Notes Newsletter
Want more clinical tips and practice-building resources? Join my practitioner email list, sent out every Thursday with a short note and three specific recommendations to make running your practice a little easier. You can sign up at intheclinic.com or camillefreeman.com.
 

This is one of my most controversial clinical opinions: I don't work with functional lab tests, including DUTCH testing, GI Map, organic acids, and microbiome panels. In this episode, I walk through exactly why and some considerations for those who do work with these tests.
In this episode, we cover:
What I mean by "functional labs" and which tests fall under that umbrella.
Why I only recommend tests when the results will actually change what I do.
The validity problem, with fecal samples for microbiome testing as an example.
Why "accurate results" and "clinically actionable results" are two very different things.
The evidence problem: how recommendations attached to these labs are often theoretical rather than based on clinical data.
The conflict of interest issue.
A harder question for practitioners: if a lab is telling your client what to take, what exactly are they paying you for?
Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction
0:10 - My most controversial clinical opinion
0:35 - On not judging practitioners who use these labs
1:38 - Reason 1: I don't think I need them
2:03 - When I think testing matters (iron as an example)
4:07 - Reason 2: Validity concerns
5:01 - Reason 3: The "what do we do about it" data is mostly theoretical
6:05 - The supplement recommendation problem
9:38 - A question for practitioners who rely on labs to guide recommendations
10:45 - What I'd rather clients spend that money on
Submit a Question
Have a clinical or business question you'd like me to answer on a future episode? I'd love to answer it. Click on the "Submit a Question to Camille" button at intheclinic.com.
 
Join the Practitioner Notes Newsletter
Want more clinical tips and practice-building resources? Join my practitioner email list, sent out every Thursday with a short note and three specific recommendations to make running your practice a little easier. You can sign up at intheclinic.com or camillefreeman.com.
 

It's a beautiful day outside, your brain is blank, and you're supposed to write a newsletter (or record a podcast). So, do you give yourself a pass? In this episode, I make the case for showing up even when you have nothing to say. 
In this episode, we cover:
Why "I don't feel like it" is different from a real reason to skip your content commitment.
The distinction between a well-deserved day off and letting your marketing/promotion plans fall off the radar.
Why your "not my best" content sometimes lands better than the pieces you agonized over.
How to think about consistency as a skill.
When it is appropriate to revisit your content commitments. 
A simple prompt to get unstuck: write about something that happened to you this week and connect it to your community.
Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction
0:14 - The summer content slump
1:01 - When taking a day off is fine - and when it isn't
1:57 - Why consistency is a practice, not a personality trait
3:33 - Showing up for your community even on the hard days
4:50 - When to actually re-evaluate your content strategy (hint: not today)
6:35 - The easiest prompt for getting unstuck
Submit a Question
Have a clinical or business question you'd like me to answer on a future episode? I'd love to answer it. Click on the "Submit a Question to Camille" button at intheclinic.com.
 
Join the Practitioner Notes Newsletter
Want more clinical tips and practice-building resources? Join my practitioner email list, sent out every Thursday with a short note and three specific recommendations to make running your practice a little easier. You can sign up at intheclinic.com or camillefreeman.com.