THE ECOTHERAPY NEWSLETTER – Summer 2007
Healing our relationship with nature… Ecopsychology in Action …Psychotherapy as if the Whole Earth Mattered
© June 2007
Editor: Linda Buzzell-Saltzman, M.A., M.F.T., lbuzzell@aol.com
Founder, The International Association for Ecotherapy
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, California
OUR WEBSITE: http://thoughtoffering.blogs.com/ecotherapy
ECOPSYCH CONFERENCE June 8-10 in Portland, Oregon, USA
& NATURE AS ANTI-DEPRESSANT
Contents:
1. QUOTES OF THE MONTH: Albert Bates, Mario Savio, Bill McKibben
2. PSYCHOLOGY ECOLOGY SUSTAINABILITY conference June 8-10 in Portland, Oregon
3. NATURE’S ANTI-DEPRESSANTS: ECOTHERAPY GOES MAINSTREAM
4. NEW UK STUDIES PROVE ECOTHERAPY WORKS!
5. BEING GREEN CAN MAKE YOU HAPPY
6. AND YET MORE EVIDENCE THAT NATURE-CONNECTION HEALS
7. E-MAIL TO THE EDITOR
8. ABUSES IN WILDERNESS THERAPY PROGRAMS FOR TROUBLED TEENS?
9. CREATING AND TEACHING A UNIVERSITY COURSE ON ECOTHERAPY
10. UPCOMING EVENTS
a) ECOPSYCHOLOGY RETREAT: RECONNECTING TO OURSELVES AND NATURE, June 28 – July 2, 2007, Rivendell Retreat Centre on Bowen Island, British Columbia, Canada.
b) EVENTS WITH UK ECOPSYCHOLOGIST MARY-JAYNE RUST
11. ECOPSYCHOLOGY COURSES AND DEGREES
12. ON THE WEB: Cool websites to check out, including our website at http://thoughtoffering.blogs.com/ecotherapy where you*ll find current and past issues of this newsletter, and the International Community for Ecopsychology*s www.ecopsychology.org: the best source of ecopsychology info on the web!
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 this list, please just e-mail back. 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:
We won*t survive unless we stop consuming our seed corn. When you are running out, it isn't enough to slow down. You have to stop. Much as you think you can make it just fine in a cave, saving the whole planet involves getting engaged with public policy, not digging a bunker in Idaho, or sitting on a zafu and chanting om. Don*t get me wrong on chanting om, though. We need to begin from a clear, quiet, peaceful and respectful center. Get there how you will.
Albert Bates
There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can*t take part, you can*t even passively take part; and you*ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus and you*ve got to make it stop. And you*ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you*re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all.
Mario Savio, Free Speech Movement
Find one of the tens of millions of Americans who don*t belong to anything and convince them to join a church, a softball league, a bird-watching group. In the next year their mortality — the risk that they will die in the next year — falls by half.
Bill McKibben
2. *PSYCHOLOGY ECOLOGY SUSTAINABILITY* CONFERENCE June 8-10 in Portand, OR
Last chance to sign up for an important ecopsychology conference that will be held at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, USA on June 8-10, 2007! The conference is co-sponsored by the Center for Earth Leadership and the Department of Counseling Psychology, Graduate School of Education and Counseling, Lewis & Clark College.
As psychologists and mental health professionals, we have a special role to play in the great human endeavor to create a sustainable future. Join us for three days of presentations and small group discussions, as we consider the critical intersection between psychology, ecology, and sustainability. Through our dialogue, we hope to distill the essential components of this intersection and address three central issues: (1) Psychological concepts, theories, and research findings (2) New directions in research, therapy, and professional practices (3) How psychologists and mental health professionals can become involved
For information on registration, lodging, and continuing education opportunities, please contact Meghan Mix at the Center for Earth Leadership at meghan@nwei.org or 503-227-2807 or visit www.earthleadershipcenter.org/psf/pes.
3. NATURE’S ANTI-DEPRESSANTS: ECOTHERAPY GOES MAINSTREAM by Linda Buzzell-Saltzman
With the just-released, well-publicized ecotherapy research from the University of Essex in the UK (see report below), credible evidence about the effectiveness of nature*s simple anti-depressants and the other mental health benefits of nature-connection are beginning to accumulate and be taken seriously in both medical and psychological communities.
Walks in nature yield better results than anti-depressants. Prisoners with a view of nature are less violent. Elders* mental health improves when a pet or small child comes to visit. Children relax and become cheerful in a school garden. Patients heal faster when a tree is outside their window.
Duh!
How have we come to the absurd place where such simple, eternal verities are *news*? Didn*t we know that a walk in nature raised our mood? Surely we noticed that babies and puppies trigger joy in our hearts, bringing warmth to our souls even in dark times? Is it a surprise that plants and animals call out to us, beckoning us to connect?
Yes, but in the era of *evidence-based medicine* we must have scientific proof that nature-connection is necessary for human health and is a potent healing force when we are sick. And at last that research is available, giving mental and physical health practitioners permission to prescribe nature-connection for what ails us.
True, the definition of ecotherapy being used in the UK research is very narrow: physical exercise in nature. But it*s a start, and hopefully as ecopsychology and ecotherapy develop as accepted fields, more sophisticated definitions, diagnoses and practices will evolve.
And what about simple touch? Research is now showing the profound healing effects of soothing hands on skin. Time in the garden calms blood pressure and anxiety while raising spirits. Sleep works its magic. Natural dreaming restores and refreshes.
So how is it that we have forgotten these natural anti-depressants?
The answer, of course, is a long, long story of gradual and then rapid industrial-age disconnection from the rest of nature and our natural selves. Living as we do, caught up in the stresses of modern life, depresses us. So what*s the answer? In industrial culture we do what we always do: come up with expensive pills which will make huge profits for major pharmaceutical corporations, no matter how many deleterious side effects are revealed. The British research is challenging this costly and rather stupid solution. Especially in a country with national health care, the incentive is there to discover and use cheaper, more natural treatments like ecotherapy.
Ecotherapy offers a far more intelligent and cost-effective prescription for what ails so many of us in industrial society: encourage people to transform their lives so they can once again live naturally, in daily connection with nature, each other, our communities and loved ones, including the plants and animals with whom we share the joy of life.
4. NEW UK STUDIES PROVE ECOTHERAPY WORKS!
CALLS FOR ECOTHERAPY TO BE A RECOGNIZED TREATMENT FOR MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article2539566.ece
The Independent (UK) reports on the results of several studies at the University of Essex and increasing calls for ecotherapy to *play an important part in the future of mental health treatments*:
COUNTRY WALKS *CAN HELP REDUCE DEPRESSION*
Country walks can help reduce depression and raise self-esteem according to research published today, leading to calls for *ecotherapy* to become a recognised treatment for people with mental health problems.
Ecotherapy: the green agenda for mental health is the first study looking at how *green* exercise specifically affects those suffering from depression.
According to Mind, England and Wales' leading mental health charity, it produced *startling* results proving the need for ecotherapy to be considered a proper treatment option...
Mind describes ecotherapy as *getting outdoors and getting active in a green environment as a way of boosting mental well-being.*
Its chief executive Paul Farmer believes it will play an important part in the future of mental health treatments.
He said: *It is a credible, clinically-valid treatment option and needs to be prescribed by GPs, especially when for many people access to treatments other than anti-depressants is extremely limited.
*We're not saying that ecotherapy can replace drugs but that the debate needs to be broadened.*
If it was prescribed as part of mainstream practice, ecotherapy could potentially help millions of people across the country, he added.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article2539566.ece
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/ethicalliving/story/0,,2079203,00.html
For even more detail, read the original at
http://www.mind.org.uk/News+policy+and+campaigns/Press/Mind+Week+ecotherapy.htm
What’s amazing here is that these results are bringing calls for ecotherapy to be accepted as a clinically-proven, front-line treatment for mental health problems!
What isn*t being addressed yet, as far as I know, is WHY nature-connection heals. Perhaps we will take a look soon at how when we live in harmony with our biological natures, we heal and when we live in contradiction to our nature (unnatural lifestyles), we sicken.
5. BEING GREEN CAN MAKE YOU HAPPY
(This report is from Chris Johnstone*s excellent newsletter The Green Turning Times at www.GreatTurningTimes.org )
New research conducted by a Masters student from Imperial College London shows a significant link between environmental knowledge, attitudes and behaviours and personal well-being.
Matthew Mellen, who has just finished his MSc in Environmental Technology, conducted the research and found that people who live a more eco-friendly lifestyle have improved well being.
Matthew undertook a comprehensive survey of 700 anonymous individuals using new online research software. He analysed people*s levels of *greenness* by examining their awareness of environmental issues and their behaviour, for example the amount they cycled or walked rather than drove. The participants then reported their subjective well-being by assigning scores to statements about their life satisfaction, personal development and social well-being.
The research revealed that those people who live more *eco-lifestyles* tend to score significantly higher in subjective well-being assessments. Matthew explains: *It is really common sense, human culture is found within the natural world. At a fundamental level harm to the environment is harm to us. Conversely healthy, secure human societies require healthy, stable eco-systems. A growing body of research links planetary and personal well-being. It is fascinating to note that the solution to global warming is likely to be equitable sharing of *carbon rights* which should contribute to making the world a safer, happier place.*
The main elements of a green lifestyle that improve personal well-being highlighted in the research include a sense of connection to nature which improves health and happiness, involvement in local communities, and non-materialist values.
Matthew added that although traditional economics suggests that well-being is a function of increasing consumption and that continuous economic growth is required for on-going increases in well-being. This study suggests the opposite: *On going economic growth seems to be responsible for the twin ills of environmental degradation and declines in human well-being,* he said.
For more information about this survey or to receive a copy of the report please contact Matthew Mellen on matthew.mellen@bioregional.com
6. AND YET MORE EVIDENCE THAT NATURE-CONNECTION HEALS
A multitude of studies now exist to prove that nature-connection heals us.
http://whyfiles.org/258health_nature/index.php?g=2.txt will take you to an excellent list of this research.
(thanks to Craig Chalquist for drawing our attention to this resource)
7. E-MAIL TO THE EDITOR…
Linda,
I am always excited when I receive this newsletter from you. It helps me feel part of this movement towards teaching and counseling for a better relationship between humans and nature. But I was particularly excited this time to find that there is a fellow ecotherapist (who also specializes in addictions!) in my home town in Bristol, UK - Dr Chris Johnstone. I immediately went to the websites that you provided to look for his work only to discover that they are not his websites (though I did find the wonderful article in the UK Permaculture Magazine)… I thought I would let you know that I did find Chris' web site through Google.uk - it is: http://www.chrisjohnstone.info/index.htm
Thank you so much for the work you do.
Lorraine Fish :-)
p.s. By the way, I am teaching an Ecopsychology class in Spring at Antioch University Seattle. I guess I didn*t get around to telling you about that early enough to get it in this newsletter.
Also I just graduated with a PhD from the Union Institute & University. My dissertation title is: Nature, Culture, and Abnormal Appetites: An Ecopsychological Analysis of Addiction. If you*re interested in clips from it I can pass a few along.
Lorraine Fish, Ph.D.
Visiting Faculty
Antioch University Seattle
Graduate Programs in Environment & Community
Center for Creative Change
Antioch University Seattle
2326 Sixth Avenue
Seattle, WA 98121
(206) 268-4710
8. ABUSES IN WILDERNESS THERAPIES FOR TROUBLED TEENS?
In January 2007 Sun magazine (www.thesunmagazine.org) published an interview of author Maia Szalavitz (*Help at Any Cost* ) by Mark Polonsky on *The Myth of Tough Love* that exposes the abuses in the teen recovery *industry,* including that in the *wilderness-survival* therapy businesses. I think this is an issue that may concern those of us interested in wilderness therapies in general.
In the current March issue of Sun, many people wrote in telling of their painful experiences. For example: *My own tough-love experience was in a wilderness-survival program. I was a 13-year-old ward of the state, recently removed from an abusive home. The program*s *let*s be mean to teens in the woods* philosophy...only reinforced the distrust and anger I felt...Luckily I loved the isolation and being in the wilderness.*
A few wilderness counselors wrote in protesting the negative depiction.
Szalavitz responded: *After more than thirty years of selling *tough love* the industry cannot provide a single controlled study proving its methods to be effective, or even not harmful. This goes for wilderness programs too... I do believe some wilderness programs for troubled teens are not based on a philosophy of *let's be mean to teens in the woods,* but because the industry is unregulated, it is impossible for a parent to know what sort of treatment a child will actually get. In my book I cover a death that occurred at one of the best wilderness programs in the country...it happened because a child*s complaints were ignored by staff. Wilderness may be a healing environment for some children...(but) a child can get all the benefits of being in the wilderness by entering a program for regular teens -- or, even better, taking a family camping trip.*
What do you all think of this? Should there be some sort of standards or regulation for wilderness ecotherapies of all kinds?
9. CREATING AND TEACHING A COURSE IN ECOTHERAPY
*Creating and Teaching a Course in Ecotherapy: We Went to the Woods* is an article by Keith M. Davis and Sally S. Atkins published in the Journal of Humanistic Counseling Education and Development, v43 n2 p211 Fall 2004 that describes the creation of a graduate-level counseling course in ecotherapy.
Here is the abstract:
The authors describe the creation and implementation of a graduate-level counseling course in ecotherapy. Specifically, the rationale for the course, the selection of students, and course content and activities are outlines. In the spring of 2001, the authors developed and offered a team-taught special topics course in ecotherapy in the university*s graduate counseling program. For this course, ecotherapy was based on an organic rather than a mechanistic theory, with the living system of the earth as the focus. This article presents the story of the authors* journey, as a community of learners, into concepts of ecotherapy, the lessons of other cultural worldviews, and most basically, the lessons of the natural world.
10. UPCOMING EVENTS
a) ECOPSYCHOLOGY RETREAT: RECONNECTING TO OURSELVES AND NATURE, June 28 – July 2, 2007, Rivendell Retreat Centre on Bowen Island, British Columbia, Canada.
Ecopsychology explores the relationship between humans and the natural world. It recognizes this relationship as inherently healing, and for some people, spiritual. Experiential outdoor exercises will help deepen our connection with ourselves, the earth, and all living creatures. This retreat integrates Ecopsychology with Joanna Macy*s *Work that Reconnects,* which heightens our awareness of the condition of our world and builds community. The retreat will also include indoor group sharing, lecture, and ritual – with time to be still and on your own.
To register, contact Toni Pieroni at tonip@telus.net or Jennifer Scott at jsbc@shaw.ca or visit www.amblesidecounselling.com/retreat
b) UPCOMING EVENTS WITH UK ECOTHERAPIST MARY-JAYNE RUST
One of the most active ecotherapy practitioners in the UK, Dr. Mary-Jayne Rust is co-facilitating a number of ecopsychology events this year, each with a different perspective:
June 2, 2007. MJR & Dave Key - The Transformational Power of Wild Places:1 day workshop
July 2 – 6. MJR & Nick Totton - Living on This Earth: Exploring what it means to be Human: One week residential in North Yorkshire, UK
Aug 27 – Sept 2 Chris Johnstone, MJR, Alex Wildwood, Jo Hamilton – Gaia Shift Intensive: 6 days of Eco-spiritual empowerment for the Recovery of Our World
Sept 30 – Oct 6 MJR & Dave Key: Ecotherapy: Working with the Healing Power of Wild Places : One week residential for anyone wishing to work with people outdoors to generate heart motivation for sustainable living.
Nov 3. MJR – Ecopsychology: Bridging the Gap Between Environmental Crisis and Personal Worlds : A day workshop at Westminster Pastoral Foundation, London, exploring ecopsychology for therapists.
In 2008 Mary-Jayne will be doing a series of ecopsychology week-ends for therapists wishing to integrate ecopsychology into their work. Details on this and all other workshops are at www.mjrust.net.
She also teaches an annual Ecopsychology module as part of the Centre for Human Ecology postgraduate masters degree, based in Edinburgh, Scotland.
11. ECOPSYCHOLOGY COURSES AND DEGREES
NAROPA UNIVERSITY, Boulder, Colorado, USA.
A tremendous amount of ecopsychology activity is going on at Naropa (see letter from Jed Swift below).
Ecopsychology and Environmental Psychology is a course taught by John V. Davis. See http://www.johnvdavis.com/ep/index.htm
Ecology and psychology, having grown up on different sides of the mountain, met one day in the thick brush at the ridge line separating their home territories. Their first contact was awkward and hesitant. They began to circle, they danced, and finally they joined. Their offspring are twins. One is vigorous, skillful, joyous, and sustainable environmental action. The other is the wonder, intimacy, healing, expansion, and grace of finding ourselves at home in the world. They realized, too, that there was much work to be done together. There were other such liaisons in the thick brush at the edges, but this one was particularly juicy, wild, and fertile.
Naropa also now offers an exciting, newly revised M.A. in Environmental Leadership for a just and sustainable society. Using *an integrated, living-systems perspective, the program offers a balance of theory, skills and practical application, infused with perspectives from ecopsychology and contemplative traditions.* For more information, go to www.naropa.edu/academics/graduate/enviro/index.cfm
Naropa also offers an online course, Deep Ecology in Context (spring semesters) that provides the background for the field of ecopsychology. If you have ever wondered where ecopsychology came from, what its philosophical roots are, or what fields and movements are related to it, this course reveals all! But, through intensive study of challenging material, along with experiential and contemplative exercises, you will also find your worldview and your intimacy with nature considerably deepened. Many students have said this course is a life-changing experience. It is a required course for completion of the Master of Arts in Transpersonal Psychology with an Ecopsychology Concentration at Naropa University, but it is open to anyone with a college degree, and it can be taken for credit or noncredit from anywhere in the world. The course description for ENV520e Deep Ecology in Context is at http://www.naropa.edu/academics/graduate/psychology/tcp/ecoc/courses.cfm#env520
The bio for the instructor, Suzanne Duarte, is at http://www.naropa.edu/distancelearning/faculty/duarte.cfm
you may register at http://www.naropa.edu/distancelearning/register.cfm
Since permission for non-program students is required, you may write Suzanne at sduarte@xs4all.nl
E-MAIL FROM JED SWIFT
Hi Linda
Thank you so much for the book ideas and the update. I wish I could attend the Pacifica event as it sounds wonderful and right up my alley.
Most of my time and energy is going into the Naropa low residency Ecopsychology program www.naropa.edu/academics/graduate/psychology/tcp/ecoc/index.cfm
which this year has applicants coming from everywhere. We are experiencing an explosion of growth in this our fourth year and will have students from all over the world coming. This is very satisfying as we have worked hard to build a program that addresses the needs of today's students and today's world. I am also enjoying keeping up with all of the new reading in Ecopsychology and related fields.
Have a wonderful time at the event in Santa Barbara and please say hello to Andy Fisher and David Abram for me.
Best To You,
Jed
Jed Scott Swift
Naropa University
www.naropa.edu/academics/graduate/psychology/tcp/ecoc/index.cfm
ANIMAS VALLEY INSTITUTE, Durango, Colorado. Founded by psychologist and wilderness guide Bill Plotkin, the author of Soulcraft, the Institute offers a nature-path to spirituality and soul development. www.animas.org
ENDICOTT COLLEGE, Beverly, Massachusetts and The Institute for Educational Studies (TIES) now offer a new variation of their online Master of Education in Integrative Learning program that may be of special interest to students of ecopsychology. This initiative is being led by Core Faculty member Lauren de Boer, former editor of EarthLight Magazine, and additional faculty with backgrounds in adult and childhood education, science, philosophy, and social change.
Established in 1996, this innovative *all on-line* program has attracted learners from all over the world. Students have always chosen an Emphasis Area that focuses on their individual interests and accounts for one third of the credits toward graduation. In this new program, this Emphasis Area is developed from the learner*s Great Work, or *allurement,* a passionate life interest to which they feel committed. The larger framework for integrative learning is provided by the remainder of the course, which is identified as *eco-cosmological.* An eco-cosmological context is one which stretches our thinking beyond *sustainability* by presenting cosmology as the fundamental and unifying context for the learner as an integral part of Earth's larger ecological community.
For more information: www.ties-edu.org
PACIFICA GRADUATE INSTITUTE, Santa Barbara, California. Dr. Ed Casey teaches *Psyche and Nature,* which has three parts: exploring ancient notions of the natural and the psychical in myth and philosophy; the ingrediency of place in nature and contemporary life; the wild and wilderness. Water as a basic element is discussed at each phase throughout. Authors range from Plato to Gary Snyder, Ivan Illich to Keith Basso, Susan Griffin to Paul Shepard. www.pacifica.edu
PROJECT NATURE CONNECT*S INSTITUTE OF GLOBAL EDUCATION now has grants that can provide FULL FUNDING of a degree or certification program for those who need it. PNC offers many excellent programs in nature-connected counseling, education and self-help. http://www.ecopsych.com
Note: I keep an ongoing list of college and university programs that offer ecopsychology courses and/or degrees: if you’d like to receive the list, please e-mail me. Also, if you’re teaching a class, let me know!
12. ON THE WEB…
* INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR ECOTHERAPY. Our website at http://thoughtoffering.blogs.com/ecotherapy has current and past issues of Ecotherapy News. Many, many heartfelt thanks to ecopsychology maven Heather Witham for creating and hosting our site! Heather is an amazingly creative person who has some wonderful web offerings and gifts for us all. Check out: www.mymoonster.com a delightful way to get yourself back in sync with nature*s cycles and explore radical ecopsychology.
* ONLINE DISCUSSION GROUPS: Join one or both of our LIST-SERVS where you can discuss activist ecopsychology with others interested in this topic:
act_ecopsy-subscribe@yahoogroups.com This group is working collectively to develop ecopsychological resources to assist in The Great Turning from life-destroying society to life-sustaining culture.
chat_act_ecopsy-subscribe@yahoogroups.com This group is a chat group where activist ecopsychological folk can discuss their activities and interests.
* INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY FOR ECOPSYCHOLOGY. If you haven’t yet discovered it, check out www.ecopsychology.org: the best ecopsychology site on the web! Read *Gatherings* journal; sign up for the list serv to chat, check out the ecopsychology blog at http://thoughtoffering.blogs.com/ice_seeds. Sign up on the Practitioners page to tell the world about your ecopsychology or ecotherapy practice...
* Check out the great academic search engine: http://scholar.google.com. Look up *ecopsychology,* *ecotherapy* for lots of interesting stuff…
* * * * *
Ecopsychology holds the promise of offering original practices for personal, social and ecological renewal.
Andy Fisher, author of Radical Ecopsychology (2002)
How does health care change when symptoms are seen as signals from the larger world or signs of disconnection from it?
Sarah A. Conn, Ph.D., The Ecopsychology Institute at the Center for Psychological & Social Change; Instructor in Psychology at Harvard Medical School.
How is it that psychology is the last of the social sciences to acknowledge the environmental crisis?
John Seed
Psychology, so dedicated to awakening human consciousness, needs to wake itself up to one of the most ancient human truths: we cannot be studied or cured apart from the planet.
James Hillman
