Ecopsychology in Counseling

Program Philosophy

As a rule, mental health counseling and therapy approaches, even those featuring a systemic or ecological perspective, have not included the natural world, other species, or environmental sustainability in their theories, practices and outcomes. Given the current state of our populous and interconnected planet, all enterprises need to attend to the ecological bottom line, and psychology and counseling are no different. We do not believe that every counselor should re-tool their practice to become an eco-counselor—most are busy with needed and important work. However, we do believe that a cadre of well-informed and empowered counselors is needed to effectively engage the pressing social and environmental issues of our time, issues that manifest globally and at the most intimate levels of emotion, identity and meaning—hence the creation of the Ecopsychology in Counseling Certificate Program.

Understanding Ecopsychology

Most broadly, ecopsychology refers to a worldview and social movement that recognizes a synergy between human mental health and wellbeing and the health and ecological integrity of the natural environment. Bridging ecology and psychology allows counselors to bring nature into their practices; it can also engender a radical shift in the way that we go about counseling.

In addition to its intuitive and conceptual appeal, ecopsychology rests on a robust and growing body of empirical support in the social, natural and health sciences, in particular regarding the health benefits of time spent in green spaces, the effectiveness of ecotherapy and wilderness therapy, and the important linkages between one’s emotions and beliefs about environmental issues, their identity, and their propensity toward conservation behavior.

As an interdisciplinary and integrative endeavor, ecopsychology shares a philosophical heritage with deep ecology, environmental phenomenology, ecofeminism, and critical psychology. As a field of study, ecopsychology overlaps with other environmentally focused initiatives in psychological science including environmental psychology and the interdisciplinary areas of conservation psychology and human ecology. Ecopsychology is unique in its primary focus on the personal, embodied, and existential aspects of our connectedness to nature and emotional responses to issues like species extinction or global climate change. In terms of psychotherapy and counseling techniques, ecopsychology is potentially quite eclectic, and has traditionally highlighted experiential, humanistic and depth psychology approaches.

A Pragmatic and Values-oriented Mission

As educators, we hold a pragmatic and values-oriented vision of ecopsychology training. We coach students to openly explore their diverse environmental worldviews. In addition to course content, students gain a personal, gut-level sense of how ecopsychology relates to their life and identity and ways to integrate ecopsychology into their academic and professional development.

We recognize the value of science and the ability to empirically document outcomes in service of effective counseling practice, advancing an understanding of ecopsychology as a discipline, and informing counseling and health care policy. We also recognize that science has done a far better job taking the world apart than putting it together, and the hence the value of the holistic and integral perspectives that ecopsychology is known for. Further, our approach is informed by social constructionist and critical-realist philosophies that recognize humans’ understanding of nature and their individual and collective actions regarding the more-than-human world are inextricably bound up with systems of political and economic power, diversity, identity and cultural narratives.

A psychotherapeutic stance is a central feature of ecopsychology. Few would deny that the long-term pursuit of actions that are detrimental to one’s health or relationships can ultimately be self-destructive. Ecopsychology holds up a similar lens to humankind’s actions regarding the natural environment and other species. Because this stance ultimately confronts institutionalized forms of environmental degradation and injustice, and requires speaking truth to power, the therapeutic focus of ecopsychology ultimately becomes a political one.

Key Values

• Academic rigor: Students are challenged to demonstrate the theoretical and empirical grounding of their work, use discipline in their language (e.g., recognizing multiple meanings of commonly used terms such as “nature”), and recognize the opportunities and pitfalls of working in interdisciplinary modes.

• Theoretical and methodological pluralism: Our coursework recognizes the value of diverse theoretical and practical applications within counseling psychology and ecopsychology.

• Self-reflection and collaboration: Students examine their personal and professional motivations regarding ecopsychology and opportunities for collaboration across value systems.

• Effective application: The importance of practical and measurable outcomes when working with individuals and the local community is recognized.

• Ethical thinking: Decision-making recognizes the principles of counseling ethics and the appropriate use of ethics codes to provide guidance for ecopsychology interventions.

Foundational Texts

We draw on a rich literature in our ecopsychology courses. This includes the excellent surveys of environmental issues and psychology provided by Koger and Winter’s The Psychology of Environmental Problems, Clayton and Myers’ Conservation Psychology, and Roszak, Gomes and Kanner’s Ecopsychology. In our introduction course, we spend time with core ecopsychology texts such as Nicholsen’s The Love of Nature and the End of the World, Fisher’s Radical Ecopsychology, and Kidner’s Nature and Psyche. Students are introduced to the pioneers of ecopsychology theory including David Abram, Sarah Conn, James Hillman, Joanna Macy, Bill Plotkin, Rosemary Randall, Laura Sewell, and Paul Shepard. The science of human-environment interactions is explored through works like Gardner and Stern’s Environmental Problems and Human Behavior and Gifford’s Environmental Psychology. Evolutionary psychology and biophilia is highlighted through works of thinkers like E. O. Wilson, Stephen Kellert and Peter Kahn. The tradition of environmental studies and philosophy is recognized through the contributions of individuals such as William Cronon, Neil Evernden, Susan Griffin, Carolyn Merchant, David Orr, Mitchel Thomashow, and Paul Wapner. We look at leading edge works on environmental health, sustainability and climate change by thinkers like Julian Agyeman, Howard Frumkin, Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger, Mike Hulme, and Kari Norgaard.

See examples of student and faculty activities on our Ecopsychology Community page.