ECOTHERAPY NEWS – Spring 2010
Healing our relationship with nature…
Ecopsychology in Action…
Psychotherapy as if the Whole Earth Mattered…
© April 2010Linda Buzzell, M.A., M.F.T., PDC (Permaculture Design Certificate), Editor
Founder, The International Association for Ecotherapy, 2002-present
(pre-Spring 09 newsletter issues are archived at )
Headlines:
“EMERGING TRENDS IN ECOTHERAPY” workshop April 16th in Portland, OR
INDIGENOUS PERMACULTURE
ECOPSYCHOLOGY IN THE UK
Contents:
1.QUOTES OF THE MONTH: Carl Jung
2. INDIGENOUS PERMACULTURE
3. BOOK OF THE MONTH: Beauty Muse: Painting in Communion with Nature by Lisa Lipsett
4. ECOPHILOSOPHER EDWARD CASEY ON THE PSYCHE-NATURE RELATIONSHIP
5. ECOPSYCHOLOGY IN THE U.K.
6. NEW BOOK: Jung’s Contribution to an Ecological Psychology by Jeremy Yunt
7. PSYCHOLOGY STUDENT TO SPEAK AT APA CONVENTIONON “ECO-STEW: Stirring the Pot of Environmental and Ecopsychological Literature”
8. UPCOMING EVENTS, TRAININGS
a. “Emerging trends in Ecotherapy” workshop April 16th at Lewis & Clark. Leaders: Patricia Hasbach, Ph.D. and Thomas Doherty, Psy.D.
b. “Ecotherapy: exploring our therapeutic relationship with the natural world,”StanmerPark, Brighton, UK. Leader: Martin Jordan.
c. Ecopsychology Training in the UK
9. ECOPSYCHOLOGY COURSES AND DEGREES
10. ECOPSYCHOLOGY AND ECOTHERAPY ON THE INTERNET:Cool websites to check out, including our website at and the International Community for Ecopsychology’s
The International Association for Ecotherapy is a virtual organization of psychotherapy clinicians, students and educators who are practicing or teaching in the new field of ecotherapy (clinical/applied ecopsychology). If you'd like to be removed from our mailing list, please contact the editor. Or if you’d like to send e-mail addresses to add, news to pass along, or your insights, please do so! Joining is absolutely free.
1. QUOTES OF THE MONTH – all by C.G. Jung
We keep forgetting that we are primates and have to make allowances for these layers in the psyche.
It is the body, the feeling, the instincts, which connect us with the soil. If you give up the past you naturally detach from the past; you lose your roots in the soil, your connection with the totem ancestors that dwell in your soil. You turn outward and drift away, and try to conquer other lands because you are exiled form your own soil.
Natural Life is the nourishing soil of the soil.
2. (RE)CREATING SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES: INDIGENOUS PERMACULTURE
from
The WoodbineEcologyCenterin Sedalia, Coloradowas created to address a basic question: How do we learn to live together in this place? It doesn't take very protracted observation to figure out that, as a society, we have focused much of our energy in teaching our children how to fear each other and how to exploit the natural world. The combined, and related, social and ecological crisis that we are facing is simply the product of that design. If we are to find new ways to be with each other and with the natural world, then it makes a lot of sense to start looking at how people and cultures have lived, and continue to live, in this place since time immemorial. To truly re-create sustainable communities, we must look at the sustainable communities that were here before us as well as the reasons and process through which many of those communities have been severely damaged or outrightly destroyed.
For us, indigenous peoples and cultures and their values that many still hold, are not only a historical curiosity but a living part of our everyday work. Indigenous peoples have been an active part of the formation and operation of Woodbine since day one. Woodbine has also actively included people whose ancestry and cultural upbringing originates from other lands. The Woodbine community hails from many different places. We are indigenous peoples, descendants of slaves, indentured servants, gentry, refugees, and voluntary immigrants. Regardless of how we, or our ancestors, came to this place, we find ourselves—people of all colors and nations—here to stay. This is now our home and the home of our children and great-great grandchildren. What brings us together is our common vision of a better place for our children and future generations, our desire to build a world where we are, again, a part of the natural world.
One of the prisms through which Woodbine strives to address this vision, is permaculture. As the “cutting edge of a 10,000 year old idea” permaculture offers one of the most exciting possibilities for re-learning how to become native to our places and how to integrate traditional ecological knowledge with modern science.
At Woodbine we explicitly use the term indigenous permaculture to define and describe our practice and application of permaculture… Our understanding of indigenous permaculture revolves around five basic principles:
- The recollection and recognition of, and respect for, indigenous contributions.
- Traditional Ecological Knowledge has always been specific to a place and culture.
- Decolonization of our minds, our language, our work, and our communities.
- Being and becoming native to this place.
- Eco-cultural restoration.
(Details of each of these principles may be found at Woodbine’s website,
Woodbine is organizing an Indigenous Permaculture Convergence at Woodbine, August 13-15, 2010.“We are bringing together indigenous community activists and leaders, permaculturists and anyone who is practicing or interested in indigenous permaculture, to learn from each other and share our experiences as we continue to create a better future for all of our children. We invite you to join us at the Convergence as well as participate in our ongoing development of these principles.
3. BOOK OF THE MONTH: BEAUTY MUSE: PAINTING IN COMMUNION WITH NATURE BY LISA LIPSETT(Salt Spring Island, BC, Canada: 2009)
Artist Lisa Lipsett shares a ten-year creative journey, recounting her experiences with the natural world, connecting creativity with deep ecology, education, spirituality and ecopsychology.
In a beautifully illustrated book that highlights Lisa’s amazing paintings, she offers playful exercises to help the reader engage in a highly intuitive process that brings art-making back to its living natural roots.
4. ECOPHILOSOPHER ED CASEY ON THE PSYCHE/NATURE RELATIONSHIP
Distinguished professor, ecophilosopher and author Edward Casey (The World at a Glance, The Fate of Place) offers a few thoughts on the relationship of Psyche and Nature. Dr. Casey teaches at the State University of New York Stonybrook and Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, CA.
1. Nature: how we think of nature will affect how we consider the deep self. Ecopsychology allows us to think of Nature beyond the Cartesian box of subject vs. object, mind vs. matter. Instead of viewing the natural world as a set of discrete entities (animals, humans, plants: each taken in splendid isolation), we can begin to regard this world as embracing and pervading all that lives – as well as the great elemental presence of water, air, and earth. Seeing that everything (literally, everything, including technology) is interdependent in Nature allows us to include the individual and collective unconscious within its ambience rather than to regard them as located strictly inside us.
2. Psyche: Because it is continuous with the natural world, the psyche is more an aspect or mode of Nature than something separate from it. Once this is realized, care for the soul takes on new dimensions that now include ecological equipoise, sustainability of the self, and care for the earth and its atmosphere. To go into the depths of the psyche is at the same time to go out into the horizons of the surrounding environment – and vice versa. As a consequence, psychical health can no longer be a matter of individual human beings’ prospering and profitting, all too often at the expense of the environment; now what matters is taking care of oneself and others only and first through care for the world.
5. ECOPSYCHOLOGY IN THE UK
Researcher and workshop facilitator Adrian Harris fills us in on some of the exciting activities happening in the UK:
1) UK Ecopsychology Networking Day
April 24, 2010 from 10am to 5pm @ The Psychosynthesis & Education Trust, Nr London Bridge, London, UK. Organized By: Adrian Harris, Sophie Banks and Nikki Higley.
Meet other people with an interest in ecopsychology, share what you’re doing and, perhaps, create collaborations.The day will be facilitated to make the most of our time together. Please book in advance using the Ning Event RSVP as there are only 40 placesavailable. See
Thanks to the generosity of the Trust, this event is free, but small contribution to costs (£3-10) would be appreciated.
2) Ecopsychology Groups: For anyone wishing to connect with like-minded others in their local area, there is a growing Ecopsychology community on the above website. You can also post events and discussion items up here.
3) Ecopsychology Website: . Please let us know of courses to be added to the training section; online reading or audiovisual material on Ecopsychology;
4) Lectures from the "Landscapes of the Mind" Ecopsychology conference are now published in Journal of Holistic Healthcare for £10 (plus £1 p&p)* Joanna Macy, Paul Maiteny, Nick Totton, Isobel Clarke, Martin Jordan, Mary-Jayne Rust and more. Contact Diana Brown at the BHMA office on 01278 722000 or send a cheque payable to the British Holistic Medical Association. You can also listen to some of the lectures in the audio/visual section on
6.NEW BOOK: JUNG’S CONTRIBUTION TO AN ECOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY
Jeremy Yunt sharesthis exciting news with Ecotherapy News:
I just wanted to let you know that I've recently published thefollowing book: Jung's Contribution to an EcologicalPsychology (Barred Owl Books: Santa Barbara, 2009). It can bepurchased on Amazon.com, or directly from me at a reduced rate ($9.99instead of $12.99).
I also recently published a book on ecotheology, which I'm not sure ifyour readers would be interested in or not. Its title is: TheEcotheology of Paul Tillich. It is also on Amazon.com, and it doescover the issue of ecopsychology in a few chapters.
Thanks,
Jeremy Yunt, M.A.
Santa Barbara, CA
Here is the link for the Jung book:
7. PSYCHOLOGY STUDENT TO TALK AT 2010 APA CONVENTION ON “ECO-STEW: STIRRING THE POT OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECOPSYCHOLOGICAL LITERATURE.”
Stephanie Paidas-Dukarm, a Ph.D. student in the Depth Psychology program at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, CA will present a paper at the 2010 American Psychological Association Convention in San Diego, California, August 12-15.
The abstract of her presentation can be found at
Title: “Eco-Stew: Stirring the Pot of Environmental and
EcoPsychological Literature”
Division: 34, Population and Environmental Psychology
Abstract:
In the 2008 Presidential Address at the 116th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association (APA), Alan E. Kazdin, Ph.D., explored psychology’s contributions toward the cultivation of environmental sustainability. Then-President of the APA highlighted existing research sampled broadly from the various fields of psychology and the relevance of said research to environmental issues. However, Kazdin repeatedly mentioned that psychology’s efforts have not yet reached the masses: “We have a stew full of theory and research, but it has yet to be served on a scale that feeds a very hungry world” (2009, p. 352). Having generated an astounding volume of research findings, Kazdin suggested that psychology might begin to disseminate its knowledge to the needing, awaiting public.
Perhaps nowhere else is psychological literature more fragmented and diffuse than in the branches of psychology most directly related to environmental concerns. Research efforts in Environmental and Eco-Psychologies have contributed greatly to the “stew” of theory and research that can shed light on environmental issues. However, the simultaneous arising of these subfields, the lack of recognition in the past among mainstream psychologists, as well as the often-obscure places in which this research has been published in the past, have resulted in fragmentation, marginalization, and disunity among these branches of psychology. In many ways, psychology as a whole has yet to recognize and understand the work which has already been done under the umbrella term of Environmental Psychology. As such, psychology has yet to wholly identify the ingredients these fields have brought to the stew which Kazdin called forth to feed the hungry world.
This study seeks to bring together the diffuse and disparate studies within these subfields by investigating Environmental and Eco-Psychologies using a qualitative methodological approach to identify themes in existing research. Drawing from PsychInfo databases using keywords related to “Environmental Psychology” and “Ecopsychology,” this study reviewed over 350 books and journal articles (N = 352) related to these fields. Each piece of research was evaluated and coded for qualitative themes according to methods outlined by Creswell (2009). Where books and chapters were concerned, multiple codings were allowed. Codings were then classified into overall themes for the sample.
Fifteen major themes emerged from the qualitative analysis of Environmental and Eco-Psychology literature, and are presented in order of prevalence: (a) Environmental education and program evaluation, (b) Cognitive factors related to environmental concerns and perceptions (e.g., attitudes, values, and beliefs), (c) Pro-environmental behaviors and barriers to pro-environmental behaviors (e.g., knowledge and awareness), (d) Investigations of environmental concerns and attitudes in specific locations (e.g., U.S., Mexico, Turkey, Israel, Asia, etc.), (e) Psychological significance of place and landscape, (f) Developmental and attachment issues in relating to environment, (g) Impact of environment on health/well-being, (h) Knowledge and awareness assessments, (i) Personality and identity structures, (j) Activism and political considerations, (k) Methodological and measurement issues (including the development of specific scales and indices), (l) Mass media and advertising, (m) Eco-justice, (n) Eco- and wilderness therapies, and (o) Spirituality and transpersonal considerations.
Major findings related to each theme are highlighted in this text. The paper concludes with future research directions for these fields aimed at synthesizing existing research and disseminating findings in order to best “reduce” the stew for service to Kazdin’s “very hungry world.”
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Creswell, L. W. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (3rd ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
Kazdin, A. E. (2009). Psychological science’s contributions to a sustainable environment. American Psychologist, 64(5), 339-356.
Stephanie Paidas-Dukarm
8. UPCOMING EVENTS, TRAININGS
a) “Emerging Trends in Ecotherapy”
Friday, April 16th, 2010, 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. Room 101, SouthCampusConferenceCenter, Lewis & Clark, Portland, Oregon, USA
Ecotherapy expands the scope of counsel-ing beyond family and community systems to recognize the important role that one’s relationship with the natural world can play in health, emotions and identity across the lifespan. Ecotherapy also provides ways for counselors and healthcare providers to utilize nature contacts and connections to promote physical and mental health.
This one-day experiential workshop provides an orientation to the historical background and theoretical approaches associated with ecotherapy. We will also survey psychological research regarding human-nature relationships and conservation behaviors that point to the efficacy of ecotherapy interventions. Participants willlearn applications of ecotherapy in counseling & healthcare settings and opportunities for integrating ecotherapy practices into their personal and professional lives.
Patricia Hasbach, Ph.D. & Thomas Doherty, Psy.D. developed the Ecotherapy course at Lewis & Clark’s GraduateSchool of Counseling & Education. In addition to using ecopsychological methods in their own therapy and consulting practices, Thomas coordinates Lewis & Clark’s graduate Ecopsychology Studies Program, is editor-in-chief of the internationalEcopsychologyjournal, and Patricia is writing and co-editing two books for MIT Press related to Ecopsychology and the rediscovery of the wild. Thomas & Pat's work was recently featured in theNY Times.
Fee for 6 CEUs: $125 if postmarked or faxed before March 26; $140 afterMarch 26.Lewis & Clark alumni receive a 10% discount. Lewis & Clark student fee is $40.
For more information visitgraduate.lclark.edu/programs/continuing_education
b) April 17, 2010: Workshop: “Ecotherapy: exploring our therapeutic relationship with the natural world,”StanmerPark, Brighton, UK 10-4pm. Cost £60.
A day exploring the therapeutic potential of the natural environment. Time will be given over to exploring ourselves in relation to the natural world. We will start the day with a social dreamingmatrix, taking themes that emerge into experiential exercises exploring our therapeutic relationship with the naturalworld.
Email: Martin Jordan
tel: 07876716700
c) 2010-2011: Ecopsychology training in the UK
9. ECOPSYCHOLOGY COURSES AND DEGREES
Note: we keep an informal ongoing list of college and university programs that offer ecopsychology and ecotherapy courses and/or degrees: if you’d like to receive the list or add a listing, please e-mail Linda Buzzell at
10. ECOPSYCHOLOGY AND ECOTHERAPY ON THE NET
* INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR ECOTHERAPY. Our newsletter is now at – click on “newsletter.” Issues from Spring 09 back are posted at Many thanks to Heather Witham for hosting these past issues on her site.
* ONLINE DISCUSSION GROUP: Join a list-serv where you can discuss activist ecopsychology with others interested in this topic by sending an email to
* INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY FOR ECOPSYCHOLOGY. If you haven’t yet discovered it, check out Read Gatherings journal, sign up for the list serv to chat, check out the ecopsychology blog at Sign up on the Practitioners page to tell the world about your ecopsychology or ecotherapy practice...
* HUFFINGTON POST blog on ecotherapy:
* ONLINE PERMA-PSYCHOLOGY DISCUSSION GROUP: This group discusses the connections between permaculture (permanent culture/agriculture, ecological design) and psychology. To join go to:
* ECOPSYCHOLOGY, a peer-reviewed journal.
* INNER TRANSITION. A new ning has been created at to bring together the many people in the burgeoning Transition movement who are interested in “Inner Transition,” the “heart and soul” of the transition to sustainable society. Participants include Dr. Carolyn Baker, author of Sacred Demise: Walking the Spiritual Path of Industrial Civilization’s Collapse.
* Check out the great academic search engine: Look up “ecopsychology,” “ecotherapy” for lots of interesting stuff. Also create “google alerts” for “ecotherapy” and “ecopsychology” for regular notification of new material.
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