Chemistry Certification Program with Dr. Joy Bowles, PhD, BSc Hons
In these two courses, Dr. Joy Bowles, scientist and aromatherapist, will take you down the wonderful rabbit hole of organic chemistry – all the way down to the molecular level – and illustrate in understandable terms ‘how’ essential oils are able to deliver therapeutic effects.
Fundamental Chemistry (Level 1) is a three-part online course that serves as an introduction to organic chemistry and the building blocks of essential oils. Joy will share her unique insights into how essential oils interact with the body on a cellular level, focusing on five key essential oil constituents we wouldn’t want to live without. Completion of this course is a prerequisite for Level 2.
Molecular Dynamics (Level 2) builds on the first course, and goes into chemical structures, nomenclature, and analysis of essential oils. It delves into the relationships between chemical families, and the chemical changes that typically occur over the lifecycle of the whole essential oil – from the plant material to body metabolism after application.
With her signature enthusiasm, Dr. Joy will demystify the molecular makeup of essential oils so you can make better therapeutic decisions and more accurate safety assessments.
Two Course Bundle
- Price of courses sold separately: $320
Bundle Payment Plan
Fundamental Chemistry Only
Chemistry Certification Program with Dr. Joy Bowles, PhD, BSc Hons
In these two courses, Dr. Joy Bowles, scientist and aromatherapist, will take you down the wonderful rabbit hole of organic chemistry – all the way down to the molecular level – and illustrate in understandable terms ‘how’ essential oils are able to deliver therapeutic effects.
Fundamental Chemistry (Level 1) is a three-part online course that serves as an introduction to organic chemistry and the building blocks of essential oils. Joy will share her unique insights into how essential oils interact with the body on a cellular level, focusing on five key essential oil constituents we wouldn’t want to live without. Completion of this course is a prerequisite for Level 2.
Molecular Dynamics (Level 2) builds on the first course, and goes into chemical structures, nomenclature, and analysis of essential oils. It delves into the relationships between chemical families, and the chemical changes that typically occur over the lifecycle of the whole essential oil – from the plant material to body metabolism after application.
With her signature enthusiasm, Joy will demystify the molecular makeup of essential oils so you can make better therapeutic decisions and more accurate safety assessments.
Two Course Bundle
- Price of courses sold separately: $320
Bundle Payment Plan
Fundamental Chemistry Only
What You Get in the Program
(hover over each box to learn more)
Weekly Lessons
Weekly Lessons
Level 1: Three 60-minute pre-recorded lessons.
Level 2: Four 60-minute LIVE lessons with Q&A.
Q&A Sessions
Q&A Sessions
Level 1: Three pre-recorded Q&A sessions.
Level 2: Four LIVE Q&A sessions – one at the end of each lesson.
Printable Course Material
Printable Course Material
Extensive downloadable handouts and course notes with links to additional research and resources.
Dedicated Group Discussions
Dedicated Group Discussions
Access to our private online forum to ask questions and interact with Joy, the TI team, and classmates.
Constituent Profiles
Constituent Profiles
Concise profiles of the essential oil constituents discussed in the program.
4 Extra Weeks!
Ongoing Course Access
Ongoing access to the learning platform for four weeks after course completion.
When You Complete the Course
Certification
Safety Certification
A signed Certificate of Completion issued by the Tisserand Institute for each course.
Glossary of Chemistry Terms
Glossary of Chemistry Terms
A handy quick reference for deciphering words such as aliphatic, carboxylic, methylation, oxygenation, and more!
Unique Knowledge
Unique Knowledge
The program will empower you with thorough, evidence-based chemistry information.
Fundamental Chemistry & Molecular Dynamics Certification
Your certificates will be signed by Dr. Joy Bowles and Robert Tisserand. These demonstrate your knowledge of essential oil chemistry basics (Level 1: Fundamental Chemistry) and the dynamic molecular makeup of essential oils (Level 2: Molecular Dynamics).
Course Breakdown:
FUNDAMENTAL CHEMISTRY (Level 1)
Recorded Lessons
- What chemistry helps us to explain
- Types of atoms found in essential oils
- The bonding capacity of hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen atoms
- Why most atoms form bonds to make molecules, and examples of molecular bonds
- Using symbols to represent atoms and molecules, including simple carbon-based molecules
- Types of molecules found in essential oils
- Molecular features that impact therapeutic properties
- Overview of essential oil chemical families and their biological effects
- The clinical significance of relationships between essential oil chemical families, such as alcohols and esters, phenols and phenyl-methyl ethers, and more
- The therapeutic properties of five key constituents: Limonene, Linalool, Terpinen-4-ol, 1,8-cineole, and Beta-caryophyllene
- Summary of essential oils where these key constituents are typically found
- Comparison of the therapeutic activities of these essential oils in relation to the proportion of their active constituents
MOLECULAR DYNAMICS (Level 2)
Live Lessons
- GC-MS analysis and examples of whole essential oils and their constituents
- Acids, lactones, furans, furanocoumarins, diterpenes, diketones, peroxides and sulfur compounds
- Differences in composition of steam-distilled essential oils, solvent-extracted absolutes, super- and sub-critical C02 extracts
- Effects of constituent concentration on essential oil properties
- Constituent profiles: bergapten and coumarin
- Chemical names that sound similar but have different endings
- Close relationships that are not obvious from their common names, such as limonene and perillyl alcohol
- Why isomers matter, and molecules that have (and don’t have) optical isomers
- Constituent profiles: carvone isomers, carvacrol, and thymol
- Overview of chemical changes that occur over the lifecycle of an essential oil: within the plant, on distillation, through storage, and on application to the body
- Explanation of degradation and catalysis
- Processes involved in chemical changes, including hydrolysis, reduction, and oxidation
- Constituent profiles: menthol, citral, and citronellal
- Molecular features that might influence biological effect
- Synergy versus antagonism, and the challenges of predicting effect
- The risks of extrapolation from constituent to whole essential oil, and the need for good clinical studies
- Constituent profiles: eugenol and methyl salicylate
About Your Tutor:
Dr. Joy Bowles; PhD, BSc Hons
Aromatherapist and International Speaker
In 1991, Dr. Joy Bowles wrote the first course in essential oil chemistry in Australia. Her book The Chemistry of Aromatherapeutic Oils, published in 2003, is a standard text for aromatherapy courses around the world. This work moves step-by-step at the molecular level through 89 essential oils, along with techniques for applying the benefits of aromatherapy to the various body systems.
For her PhD, awarded in 2007, Dr. Joy investigated the effects of essential oils on cognitive function in dementia. After several years in primary healthcare, she’s returned to the field of essential oil chemistry, training practitioners on the evidence-based therapeutic effects of essential oils. Helping people understand the chemistry and pharmacology of essential oils is one of her life’s passions.
What previous students say about our courses:
It’s packed with very important and trustworthy information, and it is presented in a very nice and appealing way!! Makes me want to learn more, plus: never ever ever I would have imagined to smile so much during chemistry lessons! 🙂
I’ve been staring at these words for years trying to make sense of them and this is the first time I’m able to. Thank you! I have Joy’s book but have gotten MUCH more out of the course, especially being a visual learner. Everything is very well organized and easy to navigate, a big plus. You are both charming and knowledgeable which makes it more fun and less intimidating. I’d highly recommend this course!
This was the first time I felt I could grasp any part of chemistry, so many, many thanks! 3D models were crucial for understanding concepts. Really helpful to apply to EO deeper understanding and chemical constituents I see again and again. Only thing I’d like is to see a 3D tinker toy demo of a chemical reaction in action between molecules, to see exactly how electrons are exchanged, shared, lost, double bonds are broken, etc. (maybe two people needed for the interactive exercise!)
Thoroughly enjoying the course. Absolutely love chemistry and Joy Bowles is a great pleasure to have as an instructor.
Dr. Joy is very clear and organizes the material in a way that’s understandable for someone with absolutely no previous knowledge of chemistry.
Don’t miss your chance to uncover the science behind ‘how’ essential oils work, and make more accurate therapeutic choices. Join Dr. Joy Bowles as she draws on her unique experience as a scientist and aromatherapist to unlock the fascinating mysteries of essential oil chemistry.
And remember, when you sign up for BOTH courses – Fundamental Chemistry (Level 1) and Molecular Dynamics (Level 2) – you’ll discover even more and save a bundle, too!
FAQ
The lessons will be live on Tuesdays starting March 10, at 11am PST. Afterwards a recording will be posted so you can watch later if you cannot attend live, or you can rewatch as many times as you need.
Not a problem. Each live webinar lesson will be recorded so you can watch it later, and you will be able to ask questions through our learning portal. The recordings will be available to you for the remainder of the course, plus an extra six weeks after the last lesson at least.
Yes. Each lesson comes with printable handouts of the slides used in the lesson, and additional lesson notes. These are sent to you before each lesson and are for you to keep and refer to at any time.
Many of our students have commented that our courses helped them grasp what they learned elsewhere in more detail, or complemented their previous education. Some of our students are lifelong learners, and some are teachers.
We will let one of our previous students answer this one:
“The information presented is appropriate for all levels, and although I am just beginning my aromatherapy journey it all makes sense.”
Each weekly lesson is followed by a multiple choice quiz, and there is a summary test at the end of each of the two courses. Passing both the weekly quizzes and the final tests is a requirement for certification.
There will be live Q&As after each of the live lessons. You can ask questions any time on our online platform.
Absolutely! In addition to the live Q&A sessions, you can post your questions in the dedicated student forums.
The lessons are first done as live webinars, and then posted as recordings within a few hours.
Because we have students from all over the world and of many professions we are not able to offer credits for specific organizations – there are simply too many. However, we issue a confirmation of CE hours gained on the course that you can apply with your professional organization and will be happy to assist with any additional documentation.
We have found that running classes on specific dates works best to help you finish a program. You join a class of students, and learn along with them. Many students help each other with queries, and of course our tutors are there too. That said, if you miss a few classes you should be still able to comfortably jump right back in and if you do fall behind you can request extra time. Of course this cannot be indefinite, but we do our best to help you get your certificate.