Meet Arika
Arika Rapson, MA, is a Clinical Herbalist and owner of Island Herbal Consultations based on Lopez Island, Washington. Her focus as an herbalist is on holistic support for chronic diseases that impact daily living, such as autoimmune disorders, migraines and chronic pain conditions. Additionally, she is certified as a Cognitive Coach and works with clients on areas like brain fog, executive function, nervous system regulation, stress management and neurodivergent support. She lives with her husband James on the edge of the woods on a registered ARK (Acts of Restorative Kindness) – a mix of native and medicinal plants that support a diverse local ecosystem that includes wildlife, pollinators and micro-organisms.
Arika completed the Family and Community program through Commonwealth Holistic Herbalism in 2024 and continues her live mentorship and peer review process through Commonwealth’s Clinical program, which offers free and reduced fee online consultations throughout the US. Arika has also studied with the School of Forest Medicine in Portland, Oregon, and is a member of the American Herbalists Guild.
Her Story
Arika first came to herbalism as an individual with significant health challenges and chronic pain resulting from a rare genetic disorder. Conventional medical treatments had been unsuccessful, and at the worst of it she was experiencing high levels of pain four out of every 5 days.
After moving to Lopez Island in 2018, she began working with local plants on the island and felt a long awaited shift in her body. Connecting with the land opened her eyes to the medicinal plants all around her, and the forest suddenly became alive with medicine. Discovering plants growing wild in her own backyard to be more helpful for her than expensive and hard-to-access medications had ever been, she was able to reduce her medications substantially (In consultation with her medical team) and remove a number of the limitations that had been holding her back for years.
And that’s when she got the bug! Those initial encounters inspired her to go more deeply with her studies so that she could make herbs more accessible for more people. Having been on pharmaceuticals all her life, she especially wanted to bring plant medicine to those whose access had been limited due to concerns regarding herb-drug interactions or whose issues had seemed too complex for other modalities to help with. Plants are powerful, and to get safe, reliable and consistent results (especially when pharmaceuticals are in the mix), you need to get serious about training.
So it was at this point that Arika decided to pursue formal training. As a Clinical Herbalist, it is her passion to bring the best of Traditional Western Herbalism and modern science together to support the challenging health issues of our times.