Race, class, socioeconomic status, and access to resources shouldn't exclude you from getting the support you need.
The prices listed on the services page reflect the true cost. If you pay higher than this, you are helping me to support people who otherwise couldn't access these services, and I can continue to set up pop up clinics for unhoused people, queer and trans people, poc, and other people experiencing state oppression.
So How Much Do I Pay?
My sliding scale differs for classes, herbal intakes, and other services offered.
Consultations are $75-$250 for a 1.5-2hr initial meeting, including the research and time spent going over your case to create your personal herbal care plan. Herbal products are not included in this price.
Consultations are $75-$250 for a 1.5-2hr initial meeting, including the research and time spent going over your case to create your personal herbal care plan. Herbal products are not included in this price.
If some or most of these are true for you, consider paying on the higher end of the sliding scale.
Some ideas borrowed from my favorite massage therapist at Threshold Bodywork and Ride Free Fearless. |
Consider paying the middle of the sliding scale if some or most of these are true.
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Consider paying on the lower end of the sliding scale of some or most of these are true
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What's class mean?
Class is relative status according to income, wealth, power and/or position.
What do we mean by working class, low-income, middle class, and owning class?
The U.S. has no hard and fast divisions between class groups. Income and wealth are both on spectrums, and most of us move a little up or down the spectrums during our lifetimes. Some people grow up in one class and live as adults in another.
For immigrants, there's another layer of confusion, as their class status in their country of origin is often different from their class status in the U.S.
Nevertheless, it can be useful for understanding class dynamics to clump people roughly into these four groups.
Owning Class: Investors and their family members with enough income from assets that they don't have to work to pay basic bills. A subset have positions of power or vast wealth that put them in the ruling class.
Signs that someone might belong to the owning class can include:
Owning class people are disproportionately white; they are varied in culture, values and political beliefs.
Professional Middle Class: College-educated, salaried professionals and managers and their family members.
Signs that someone might belong to the professional middle class can include:
Upper-middle-class families have more in common with owning class families, such as more luxuries and travel, than most middle-class families.
Lower-middle-class: Families are somewhat more prosperous and secure than working class families, but they have a lot in common with working class people, such as less college than a BA, and/or less control over their work, and/or fewer assets than professional middle-class families. If they own a small business, it can only survive by the proprietor's hands-on work.
Working-class people are varied in race, culture, values and political belief. They are majority white, but compared with the composition of the whole population, they are disproportionately people of color and women. Working-class people are more likely to have strong ethnic and religious identities than middle-class people.
Working Class: People who have some or all of these class indicators, and their family members:
Low-Income or Poor: A subset of working class people who chronically can't get income sufficient to cover all their basic needs.
Signs that someone might belong to this class can include:
Because some low-income people see "poor" as a negatively loaded term, many activists use "low-income" as a more respectful term.
Borrowed from Class Matters
What do we mean by working class, low-income, middle class, and owning class?
The U.S. has no hard and fast divisions between class groups. Income and wealth are both on spectrums, and most of us move a little up or down the spectrums during our lifetimes. Some people grow up in one class and live as adults in another.
For immigrants, there's another layer of confusion, as their class status in their country of origin is often different from their class status in the U.S.
Nevertheless, it can be useful for understanding class dynamics to clump people roughly into these four groups.
Owning Class: Investors and their family members with enough income from assets that they don't have to work to pay basic bills. A subset have positions of power or vast wealth that put them in the ruling class.
Signs that someone might belong to the owning class can include:
- elite private schools and colleges;
- large inheritances;
- luxuries and international travel;
- owning multiple homes.
Owning class people are disproportionately white; they are varied in culture, values and political beliefs.
Professional Middle Class: College-educated, salaried professionals and managers and their family members.
Signs that someone might belong to the professional middle class can include:
- 4-year college, especially at private and/or residential schools, sometimes professional school;
- secure homeownership, often with several moves up to bigger houses in a lifetime;
- more control over the hours and methods of work than working-class people, and/or control over others' work;
- more economic security than working class people (although that difference is eroding), but no way to pay bills without working.
Upper-middle-class families have more in common with owning class families, such as more luxuries and travel, than most middle-class families.
Lower-middle-class: Families are somewhat more prosperous and secure than working class families, but they have a lot in common with working class people, such as less college than a BA, and/or less control over their work, and/or fewer assets than professional middle-class families. If they own a small business, it can only survive by the proprietor's hands-on work.
Working-class people are varied in race, culture, values and political belief. They are majority white, but compared with the composition of the whole population, they are disproportionately people of color and women. Working-class people are more likely to have strong ethnic and religious identities than middle-class people.
Working Class: People who have some or all of these class indicators, and their family members:
- little or no college education; in particular no BA from a 4-year college;
- low or negative net worth (assets minus debts);
- rental housing, or one non-luxury home long saved for and lived in for decades;
- occupations involving physical work and/or little control in the workplace
Low-Income or Poor: A subset of working class people who chronically can't get income sufficient to cover all their basic needs.
Signs that someone might belong to this class can include:
- substandard housing or homelessness;
- long-time use of public benefits, such as welfare, or charity;
- chronic unmet needs for health care, food, or other necessities;
- frequent involuntary moves, chaos and disruption of life.
Because some low-income people see "poor" as a negatively loaded term, many activists use "low-income" as a more respectful term.
Borrowed from Class Matters
I am not going to check, or ask for proof. I operate on the honor system, and trust people to honestly assess where they are, and what they can pay. The reason I offer sliding scale and donation based care is because I believe no one should be without support, and no one should be turned away. I reserve 1 new client spot every month for a Black and/or Indigenous person of color, for free, in an attempt at reparations (read more about reparations and why they are necessary here). I participate in a few different mutual aid projects, I donate my time and herbal products to disaster relief and community projects, and I set up free pop up clinics. I wish capitalism didn't exist, but for now it still does, so let's find a way to work together and make sure our needs are met.