Maine Ecotherapy Learning Circle

A supportive learning community for New England therapists interested in integrating nature based and climate aware approaches into their work.

Gather once each season to support and deepen your nature based clinical work

REGISTER HERE

    • Specific practices for building your personal relationship with nature
    • Experience and practice nature based interventions
    • Connect with others interested in nature based clinical work
    • Shared inquiry around the role of therapists in a time of climate change
    • Discussion of ethics (from both human and more than human lenses) particular to clinical ecotherapy/ecopsychology
    • Exploration of opportunities and challenges specific to practicing nature based therapy in Maine (e.g., distinct seasonality, local climate change experiences, what about winter, etc.)

  • Participants do not need to be experienced ecotherapy practitioners, but should have some familiarity with the basic principles of ecopsychology.  (We will provide a suggested reading/resource list to all participants.  Resources are chosen with brevity and accessibility in mind.)
  • Our intention is to co-create a consistent, supportive community in which we can explore how to authentically and ethically enact principles of ecopsychology in a clinical realm.  The basic principles are simple.  Living them out, especially in the tight frame of the modern mental health industry and a cultural context divorced from meaningful connection with nature, can be complicated.

Why Clincial Ecotherapy Community Matters

  • Ecotherapy/nature based therapy is a powerful approach to clinical work; one that profoundly expands the physical clinical container and the traditional therapeutic conception of well-being.  I believe this to be an important and necessary shift in clinical practice, particularly now when social injustice and climate change illuminate so clearly the failings of dominant cultural approaches to pretty much everything.  There are several books, trainings, articles, etc. about clinical ecotherapy, but it is an emerging field with plenty of room for growth and clarity.  What an exciting time to come together and explore some of the possibilities of ecotherapy specific to our bioregion!  
  • I have an ecotherapy certification from Wilderness Reflections in California and currently run a private practice in Maine that is mostly outdoors/in relationship with nature.  Although I may have more ecotherapy practice than many, I am not an expert.  The principles of ecotherapy are actually pretty basic and accessible to all of us–the ethical and effective implementation of these principles is what can be complicated, and what we hope to create more structure around.  I am very open to evolving the structure of this learning circle based on participant need and energy.   I believe this type of community holds great potential for contributing to individual and structural shifts, as we can support, challenge, and push each other and the field in meaningful ways.
  • We need community!  For our personal sustainability and to be ethical/effective ecotherapists, we need a community in the clinical world that holds curiosity, creativity and care around ecopsychology/ecotherapy.
  • If we are genuinely engaged with ecotherapy we can’t help but be engaged with climate change.  This is tremendously challenging and necessary work.  It is work that can tax our nervous systems and souls to the max if we try to do it alone. I believe ecotherapists have so much to contribute in a time of climate crisis, and I believe community and connection is what helps us sustain our ability to contribute.

Details/Next Steps

 

  • NEXT CIRCLE: Freeport Area                                                        Summer: Friday, July 19th, 9:00AM-12:30PM
  • 3.5 contact hours
  • Conditionally and fully licensed social workers/counselors, as well as graduate level interns in those fields, are welcome to attend.  Folks in related professions–email me, we’ll figure out if it feels like enough overlap to make sense.
  • Cost: offered per session on a sliding scale: $50/$65/$80.  The cost to run the program is the middle amount.  If you are able, please consider paying more to support those with fewer resources.  Nobody with interest will be turned away for lack of funds–please reach out if payment creates a hardship.
  • 10% of proceeds will be donated to Wabanaki land reparations work.
  • I will hold a loose structure for the circle, and very much welcome attendees to facilitate an activity, discussion, meditation, etc.  We have so much to learn from each other, and these circles are a great place to practice something new before taking it to clients.  The registration form will have a spot to indicate interest in facilitation.
  • TO REGISTER, CLICK HERE

“Grace happens when we act with others on behalf of our world.”

-Joanna Macy