Ecotherapies Certificate

We’re using knowledge about our place in the natural world to imagine new possibilities for many professions. Join us to explore the interface between humans and nature in the 21st century.


Understanding people’s emotional connections with the natural world can be integral to meeting therapeutic, educational, or sustainability goals. Lewis & Clark’s Ecotherapies Certificate program provides an opportunity for mental health practitioners and graduate students to enhance their training with an evidence-based, experiential, and socially progressive ecopsychology curriculum. Certificate coursework explores questions like:

  • How do green spaces support the healthy development of children—and of communities?
  • What happens when you bring nature into the counseling office? Or when you take therapy outdoors?
  • How can psychological insights invigorate conservation efforts and support advocacy for social justice and community well-being?

The certificate is open to:

  • Master’s students enrolled in Lewis & Clark Graduate School’s counseling programs
  • Master’s students at comparable counseling degree programs
  • Graduates of these counseling degree programs
  • Professionals seeking to expand their mental health or counseling practice and contribute to an ecologically healthy world

Program Details

  • Semester hours: 8
  • Part-time and on-campus only
  • Co-directors: Carol Doyle and Patricia Hasbach

The full program of study is available in the current catalog.

Ecotherapy In The News

Patricia Hasbach Retires from LC; Publishes New Book

Dr. Hasbach has retired after more than 13 years of service to Lewis & Clark Graduate School of Education and Counseling. She is a leading practitioner in the fields of ecopsychology and ecotherapy and has published a new book: Grounded, A Guided Journal to Help You Reconnect with the Power of Nature—and Yourself.

WebMD Asks “Do You Need a Nature Prescription?”

While accessing nature certainly doesn’t require a formal prescription, Patricia Hasbach, former certificate co-director and ecotherapist, does believe “ecotherapy is one tool that [therapists] have to draw on to strengthen and deepen the work that [they’re] doing with clients or patients.”

Doctors and Psychologists are “Prescribing Nature” to their Patients

In an article posted to their website, Columbia Sportswear discusses why spending time outside is healing with leading ecotherapists.

Human Nature

Lewis & Clark’s Ecopsychology Program draws on the healing power of the outdoors to enhance mental health.