SUZANNE CATTY

DAY 2

17/2/24

Suzanne was raised connecting plants with healing and food. She learned to forage for berries, mushrooms, herbs and other wild edibles and tied to the seasons from childhood. She also used herbs and homeopathy at home, then acupuncture, TCM and massage came along in her teens to provide a life-long love of natural and plant medicine.

Sixteen years in the music industry began at college radio, later working for artists as diverse as Elton John, Metallica, Run DMC and Pulp, to name a few. Suzanne balanced the lifestyle and flying by living off-grid in the English countryside and tending her garden.

It was in 1991 that Suzanne discovered essential oils, which "changed everything", as she says. Hours of education, treatments, reading and a lifetime of herbal knowledge finally led her to pursue aromatherapy and healing as a career. Relocating to her native Toronto, Suzanne started ACQUA VITA in 1995, the first 100% organic aromatherapy company in Canada. She joined the Canadian Federation of Aromatherapists in the spring of '96 and was elected to the Board later that year. In 1997, she became President of the Federation and was part of the team responsible for raising education levels to the current 200-hour standard.

In 1998 she was elected Vice-President of the National Association of Holistic Aromatherapy in the USA, and later also to the Organic Trade Association Personal Care Task Force setting standards for organic personal care in North America.

Her interest in the clinical European-style use of essential oils led Suzanne to pursue the potential of hydrosols from the beginning. "They seemed, to me, to be the homoeopathic version of oils, no less profound in their healing abilities but more subtle. It also made sense that we must ultimately have both the oil and the hydrosol if we really want the whole plant vibration." After five years of extensive use and experiments of hydrosols on herself, friends and two and four-legged 'patients', the evidence was clear. The results of this work are compiled in her book, Hydrosols. The Next Aromatherapy (Healing Arts Press, Rochester VT, ISBN 0-89281-946-4. 352 pages, 8x10, multiple languages), the first book exclusively focused on hydrosols and their therapeutics.

In 2005, recognizing the rising environmental problems, Catty reduced her product line from 150 oils and hydrosols to only ten multi-function formulas. Today, she says, "If we still want aromatherapy in 10-15 years, we must all become climate activists. The countries where our oils are produced face extreme conditions like heat, drought, devastating floods and fires beyond our imagination. Even plants like Canada's black spruce are now threatened with extinction by our rapidly changing climate. To be sustainable, we must step up to the challenge and become guardians and protectors of the plants instead of simply consumers."

Ms Catty has taught and worked with people around the world. She has written extensively on plant medicine and health care and has more than 40,000 hours of clinical practice. She currently works and lives in a dark-sky country just outside Toronto.

New World Organics (formerly Acqua Vita)

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