Herbalists Without Borders mission is to create educational, advocacy, and grassroots model projects to empower and support community-based chapters in filling the gaps in health justice globally.
We envision a global community where all people have access to affordable natural and botanical health and wellness.
Herbalists Without Borders (HWB) works toward our goals with these primary values as our North Star:
Z HWB believes that health and wellness are human rights, not privileges
Z HWB recognizes many global citizens lack access to primary health and wellness due to economic hardship and other barriers
Z HWB promotes health justice and oppression-free local and global wellness practices
Z HWB engages in volunteer efforts focused primarily on natural and botanical health and wellness solutions via education, prevention, empowerment, grassroots advocacy and organizing
Z HWB builds a renewed consciousness about conditions created by dominant social and economic institutions that impact all human beings; emphasizing the roles of traditional herbalists and healers who live and work within those systems often experiencing social stigma, pressure, devalued status and sub-standard wages for vital services they provide
Z HWB believes that poverty is inherently violent in nature and health services must be accessible and affordable
Z HWB embraces non-violence, social justice, health and wellness as means to transform cultural and global trauma and violence
Z HWB creates and promotes inter-cultural herbal health education, herbal borderless medicine exchanges and actions via local to global chapters
Z HWB promotes the protection and preservation of indigenous herbs and healers, including intellectual property rights that honor and respect the wisdom of both traditional plants and healers globally; regenerating valuable traditional healing wisdom and practices that have been negated, oppressed, misused or extinguished
Z HWB educates the public about growing and eating of traditional local healthful natural foods and herbs; relearning and recollecting of everyday traditional cultural healing lifestyles
Z HWB supports equitable, sustainable, community-based, fair trade practices pertaining to foods, herbs and botanical products
Z HWB embraces grassroots empowerment models and actions, encouraging local people to utilize their own unique community resources to create accessible peoples’ natural medicine clinics and other innovative holistic model projects
Z HWB promotes the sharing of holistic health and wellness resources and open-source information that will assist all people and practitioners
Z HWB believes in building foundations of honesty, trust, openness, compassion, and collaboration within holistic health and wellness realms
Z HWB assists herbalists and other healers with continuous training, education, technical assistance, and resources
Z HWB believes in creating alternative natural medicine solutions that individuals, communities, and countries may begin implementing now.
Herbalists Without Borders first began as a grassroots community-based coalition of members working in their communities under a common goal in the US in the early 90’s. From there, the HWB Community Clinics Model informally began in 1995 in the upper midwest (later formalizing in 2007 and expanded to a global network) with mobile natural medicine clinic units in various locales providing accessible health and wellness education to communities, using a membership-based model.
As HWB grew, so did our reach, and we had chapters and free people’s clinics around the globe starting in 2007, expanding from our North American base and creating a global network of HWB chapters and members working in their communities.
Gigi Stafne, as the original founder and our first Executive Director, grew HWB from a single Chapter in the upper midwest until it expanded to form a 501c3 nonprofit in 2014-2015, with over 50 Chapters globally.
In 2017, Gigi stepped down as ED, and Denise Cusack was appointed, filling the role from 2017-2022. Jocelyn Perez Blanco was our ED from 2022-2023, and Denise stepped back into the role as of April 2024.
After several years of volunteering as an HWB core volunteer, Sheri Kurdakul briefly joined the board (January 2025), then stepped up as co-Executive Director in March 2025. This allowed Denise to turn her attention to enhancing programs for the organization.
HWB has over 450 members, and over 55 chapters/clinics/projects! HWB has had members respond globally and has had member exchanges around the world for 27 years.
The name Herbalists Without Borders is recognized around the world, with members in dozens of nations serving their communities for almost three decades.
Mouse over and click the dates below for more information.
Founder of Herbalists Without Borders
GLOBAL OFFICE
Please Note: We do not have a physical address office. If you wish to make a physical donation, please use the form and we will provide you with the mailing address.
USA Location: Deerfield, Wisconsin, United States
co-Executive Director (Business & Membership): Director@
co-Executive Director (Programs & Education): Programs@
CONTACTS
Please Note: All emails end in HWBglobal.org
Speaking Engagements & Media: Programs@
US Donation Network: USDonationNetwork@
Without Borders Magazine: WithoutBordersMagazine@
