What can I expect to learn?

Practical outcomes of the certificate include demonstration of innovative applications of counseling theory and practice that promote health and wellness, social and environmental justice, and, ultimately, environmental sustainability. A consensus on competencies in this area is emerging; the certificate will provide leadership on a national stage. Examples of certificate competencies include:

• Applying therapeutic interventions within an ecological conception of care (e.g., promoting stress reduction using natural settings, etc.).
• Understanding processes of affiliation with nature and development of environmental identity
• Recognition of multiple forms diversity in terms of environmental worldviews and vulnerability to impacts of environmental problems
• Understanding determinants of pro-environmental or conservation behaviors
• Integration of ecopsychology principles with other areas of counseling theory and practice including human development, marriage and family therapy, spirituality, and diversity and social justice perspectives.
• Application of psychodiagnosis and counseling interventions in the context of environmental issues (e.g., grief, despair or anxiety about environmental degradation, addressing nature phobias).
• Introduction to specialized counseling modalities such as wilderness therapy