Michael is a Western traditional herbalist who has been practicing since 1986. He is the founder and director of Living Earth School of Herbalism, which offers in-class and online classes and workshops and a clinical diploma program in Western herbal medicine.

Michael developed Four Elements Herbal Therapy, a system of Western herbalism that integrates the physiological approach of modern European and North American traditions of herbalism within the broader holistic and spiritual paradigm of indigenous healing traditions. He has apprenticed and continues to work with elders of First Nations traditions in Ontario and central Mexico. He has also done extensive research on medicinal herbs that are native to and naturalized in northeastern North America, many of which are no longer in common use.

Michael has long been an advocate for herbs and the practice of herbalism. In the 1990s he was appointed by the federal Minister of Health as a member of the Advisory Panel on Natural Health Products and the Office of Natural Health Products Transition Team. He has served on the boards of directors of many practitioner and industry associations and continues to be a director of the Ontario Herbalists Association and the Canadian Council of Herbalist Associations.