Advanced Training Certificate in Ecopsychology

This Advanced Training Certificate in Ecopsychology, offered online over 13 weeks, has the distinct advantage of combining four perspectives from four internationally renowned authors, educators, and transformational leaders in the fields of Ecopsychology and Ecotherapy. Ecopsychology brings ecology and psychology together to create novel and exciting approaches to the urgent needs of our time. Although its most visible face is the practice of Ecotherapy, which emphasizes the synergy between human well-being and the health of the planet, a number of other avenues have been developed, including those involving depth-psychological, multicultural, transpersonal, community, and liberatory engagement with earthly places, thereby cultivating personal and cultural transformation. In this program, we will also explore Ecopsychology considered as a socially and philosophically radical project that integrates psychology and ecology by questioning much of the conventional thought and practice currently found in these two arenas.

Because the practices and ideas of Ecopsychology are open to everyone, this Certificate neither requires nor confers a license or degree. It is designed as an overview offering a range of concepts, techniques, and strategies by surveying a number of key approaches to Ecopsychology. It will be of interest to everyone—clinicians, coaches, activists, and curious others—looking for a more holistic and engaged way forward. The Certificate offers a range of readings, lectures, weekly reflections, and live sessions, so participants will need to make sufficient space in their schedules to learn as much as they can over the 13 weeks.

Each week you will learn from: an audio or video presentation by Andy, Jeanine, Mary-Jayne, or Garret; a list of required or recommended Readings/Videos/Resources; online Discussion with the other participants and instructors, based on the responses you post each week to that week’s assignment; and a Live session with one of the instructors. Live sessions will be scheduled at varying times in order to maximize participation, and will be recorded for those who cannot attend a given week. Assignments include indoor and outdoor exercises designed to deepen learning and enrich nature connection.

What you will receive:

• 15 Live Interactive Discussion Groups (via Zoom) with Q&A (listed in Pacific time)
• 13 Pre-Recorded Learning Sessions
• A Private, online Discussion Forum
• A Graduate Certificate in Ecopsychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute
• 13 CECs

This course is ideal if you:

• Seek to deepen your understanding of the relationship between psyche and nature—and explore how ecological awareness transforms psychology, culture, and community life.
• Work in a helping or healing profession (such as psychotherapy, counseling, coaching, education, or community engagement) and wish to integrate ecopsychological and nature-based practices into your work.
• Are passionate about social and environmental justice and want to explore how psychological insight and ecological awareness can support decolonization, resilience, and collective healing.
• Desire a transformative learning experience that blends academic rigor, personal reflection, and cross-cultural, interdisciplinary perspectives from leading voices in the field.
• Value flexible, interactive online learning with live sessions, recorded lectures, and global dialogue among an international community of learners.

 

Individual Session Descriptions

The Project of Ecopsychology: History of the Field, and Ecopsychology Viewed as a Radical Transformation of Psychology

Andy Fisher

Andy’s work in ecopsychology is about the project of ecopsychology as a whole, including how it has developed as a field over the last three decades. The sessions with Andy therefore provide a background history to ecopsychology (Week 1) and an introduction to Radical Ecopsychology, which is his term for the field of ecopsychology viewed as a radical project (weeks 2, 4, and 5). The emphasis here is on how a radical, coherent image of ecopsychology allows us to see deeply into the current historical moment and to discern the precise tasks and opportunities the field may best self-organize around. These sessions also stress how the numerous intersecting social issues of our times—the unfinished business of history—are unavoidably at the center of the ecopsychological project. A final goal is to help participants build a sense of confidence with the difficult conversations and unconventional methods necessary for transforming psychology into ecopsychology.

 

Conceptions and Practices of the Self in Ecopsychology: Ecological, Multicultural, Transformative

Jeanine M. Canty

Participants will work with Jeanine for three weeks, segmented throughout our time together, weaving together concepts and practices that expand our sense of self for the greater whole.  In week three, we will get a strong sense of moving beyond a limited sense of ego to one that is embedded within the ecological realm.  In week six, we will build on this work, diving into issues of social justice and how to engage multiple perspectives.  Finally, during week ten, we will pull this together with a more transpersonal sense of self.  Each of these weeks will require a willingness to work with difficult emotions, compassion, and mindful change.

 

The Many Practices of Ecotherapy 

Mary-Jayne Rust

In Weeks 7,8 & 9 we will explore some of the many and varied ecotherapy practices which deepen – and potentially transform – our relationship with Nature (that is, nature ‘out there’ as well as our own human nature). We will be drawing on Jungian ideas to explore experiences we have when spending time in nature, such as synchronicity, the numinous, or the shadow of our relationship with Nature. A central question throughout will be how the work of ecotherapy can help us face into the shadow of industrial growth culture and bring about health – for individuals, community and culture – in which reciprocity is central.

 

Earth Accompaniment: Integrating Liberatory and Community Practices

Garret Barnwell

In this part of the program (weeks 11, 12, and 13) we will learn several reflective and community-level practices and ideas for being in accompaniment with the Earth. We will first begin with Terrapsychology, exploring how, through folklore, dreams or local motifs, we are in continuous conversation with the world around. In response to some of this and new material (such as the climate and environmental justice struggles taking place around the world), we move deeper into the praxis and integration of Earth Accompaniment and Community Psychologies. Students will become aware of how people, often psychologists themselves and at times practicing from an ecopsychological position, are standing in solidarity with people, mountains, rivers, and trees, and our planet for the flourishing of all life.

 

Introduction Panel with All Faculty:

Live Zoom session January 26, 2026, 9:00 – 11:00 AM PT

This 2-hour orientation will welcome you to the course and offer an opportunity to connect with the faculty and other students in the program. Please plan on attending (or watching the recording) prior to the Week 1 live lecture.

 

Week 1: The History of Ecopsychology (and the Ecopsychology of History)

Instructor: Andy Fisher, Ph.D.

Live Zoom session January 30, 2026, 9:00 – 10:30 AM PT

This certificate program presents four different perspectives on ecopsychology. As a way to provide a common context for the program and to set the stage for thinking about ecopsychology, we begin by providing a brief history of the field. First named as such in the early 1990s, it has “first generation” and “second generation” camps, among others. This session also presents the idea that a third, more social justice-oriented generation of ecopsychology is on the rise.

 

Week 2: Ecopsychology as a Radical Project

Instructor: Andy Fisher, Ph.D.

Live Zoom session February 6, 2026, 9:00 – 10:30 AM PT

Radical ecopsychology views ecopsychology as a radical ecological transformation of psychology. This session, then, is about reconstructing psychology in light of an ecological view of reality. This makes ecopsychology something very different than psychology as we have come to know it. We will give careful attention to the meaning of the word radical (“going to the roots”) and to the challenges that a radical approach involves.

 

Week 3: From Ego to Ecological Self

Instructor: Jeanine Canty, Ph.D.

Live Zoom session February 13, 2026, 10:00 – 11:30 AM PT

A key need is for individuals within our society to develop from the small ego to the ecological self.  Within this week, we will examine how western, globalized corporate culture has over-developed our individual egos, minimizing our ability to connect with nature including other humans.  A strong component of this work will be to develop our ecological self and establish a mindfulness practice. Key concepts: self, arrested development, narcissism, consumerism, ecological self, mindfulness.

 

Week 4: Recollective Ecopsychology

Instructor: Andy Fisher, Ph.D.

Live Zoom session February 20, 2026, 9:00 – 10:30 AM PT

Ecopsychology is about remembering the deep interconnection between psyche and nature. Radical ecopsychology frames this as the recollective dimension or side of ecopsychology. What difference does this make?

 

Week 5: Critical Ecopsychology and Integrative Praxis

Instructor: Andy Fisher, Ph.D.

Live Zoom session February 27, 2026, 9:00 – 10:30 AM PT

The other main side of Radical Ecopsychology is Critical Ecopsychology. It joins critical psychology and radical ecology in order to produce a unique and powerful critical perspective on our historical moment. Radical Ecopsychology as a whole then involves a praxis (theory and practice) for integrating the recollective and critical sides of the field into a specifically ecopsychological form of politics. We will focus on decolonization as a particular integrative term.

 

Week 6: The Multicultural Self

Instructor: Jeanine Canty, Ph.D.

Live Zoom session March 6, 2026, 10:00 – 11:30 AM PT

Picking up on our work with developing our ecological selves (week 3), this week  work to identify and strengthen our multicultural self.  We will gain awareness of how the ecological crisis affects diverse positionalities, in particular communities of color, indigenous communities, and women. Then we will turn to work with our capacity to hold more than one perspective at once, our multicultural self.  Key concepts: environmental justice, indigenous issues, ecofeminism, white fragility, multicultural self.

 

Week 7: The Many Practices of Ecotherapy

Instructor: Mary-Jayne Rust

Live Zoom session March 13, 2026, 9:00 – 10:30am PT

We will begin with a Jungian view of the archetypal forces at play that have led us to this place of ‘separation sickness’. We will then learn about the history of ecotherapy, the many kinds of practices that are emerging, who and what it’s for. Then we look in more detail at some of the more popular forms of ecotherapy, such as animal facilitated therapy and horticulture therapy, along with the research that supports the healing power of nature. We will learn the practice of ‘Telling Our Earth Stories’. Finally, we will look at some of the issues we need to face in our profession: the shadow of ecotherapy itself.

 

Week 8: Understanding ecoanxiety and what helps. The Healing power of Wilderness Practice.

Instructor: Mary-Jayne Rust

Live Zoom session March 20, 2026, 9:00 – 10:30am PT

When we have the courage to face into the shadow of industrial growth culture and witness the eco-social devastation around the world, we might have a multitude of emotional responses, often grouped under the term ‘eco-anxiety’. We will learn to understand the range of eco-anxieties and the practices which help us move, in Joanna Macy’s words, from despair to empowerment. We will then look at Wilderness practice, one of the earlier forms of ecotherapy, which has the potential for deep spiritual healing in community. Finally we will learn about The Natural Change Project – work that has grown out of wilderness practice offering organizational change based on ecopsychology principles.

 

Week 9: Widening the view of ecotherapy

Instructor: Mary-Jayne Rust

Live Zoom session March 27, 2026, 9:00 – 10:30am PT

There are many forms of ecotherapy that do not depend on being outdoors; these include Ecopsychotherapy, Wild Therapy, Buddhist Ecotherapy, Eco-Systemic Psychotherapy and more. We will look at some examples of these practises, such as: encountering the more-than-human world in dreams; working with ceremony; communication with animals and plants; finding our gifts for the earth at this time of crisis. Finally we will address how to train as an ecotherapist.

 

Week 10: The Transpersonal Self

Instructor: Jeanine M. Canty, Ph.D. 

Live Zoom session April 3, 2026, 10:00 – 11:30am PT         

 Bringing together our work with developing both our ecological self and multicultural self, within this week, we will weave these identities together and dive into the transpersonal self and the role this might play in collective healing.  Understanding our relationship to these widening circles will be engaged through readings, lecture, reflection, and mindful practice. Key concepts:  transpersonal self, Self, transformative Self, spirituality.

 

Week 11: Terrapsychology: Working with the Soul of Place

Instructor: Garret Barnwell, PhD.

Live Zoom session April 10, 2026, 8:30 – 10:00am PT

We will learn about the profound influences exerted on mind and body by the places where we live, influences mostly unconscious but accessible through work with dreams, local images and motifs.

 

Week 12: Ecopsychology Accompaniment

Instructor: Garret Barnwell, PhD.

Live Zoom session April 17, 2026, 8:30 – 10:00am PT

We will learn about the praxis of liberatory psychologies, which emerged from struggles in Latin America and Africa. Ecopsychosocial accompaniment as a way of being with others, including the more-than-human world, will be outlined. Historical and present vignettes of Earth Accompaniment will be used to show how different peoples are standing in solidarities with other-than-human life.

 

Week 13: Integrating Ecopsychology and Community Psychology

Instructor: Garret Barnwell, PhD.

Live Zoom session April 24, 2026, 8:30 – 10:00am PT

We will explore how ecopsychology and community psychologies are being used and at times integrated for the ends of climate justice. In doing so, we will learn and reflect on how bearing witness to the climate justice struggle may be an important part of our work as ecopsychologists.

 

Final Panel with All Faculty:

Live Zoom session May 1, 2026, 9:00 – 10:30am PT

This final session will wrap-up the course and provide an opportunity to meet again with all the faculty present, having now been through the thirteen weeks with them separately. Bring your final questions.

 

Career Competencies:

1. Ecopsychological Knowledge: Understanding the psychological relationship between humans and the environment, including the theoretical frameworks and practical applications of ecopsychology.
2. Therapeutic Skills: Developing skills to facilitate healing processes that connect individuals with nature, using ecotherapy practices and nature-based interventions.
3. Interdisciplinary Perspective: Integrating knowledge from psychology, ecology, and social sciences to address complex environmental and psychological issues.
4. Community Engagement: Skills in fostering community connections and facilitating discussions around ecological well-being and mental health, promoting sustainability and social justice within diverse groups.

 

Learning Objectives for CEC Attendees (13 Hours):

1. Identify and describe the different “generations” of ecopsychology (module 1)
2. Name at least two challenges of the radical approach to ecopsychology (module 2)
3. Discuss how western, globalized corporate culture has affected our individual egos and the impact this has on our ability to connect with nature (module 3)
4. Describe three characteristics of the recollective dimension of ecopsychology  (module 4)
5. Identify integrative praxis in radical ecopsychology  (module 5)
6. Identify three ways that the ecological crisis affects communities of color, indigenous communities and women (module 6)
7. Name three eco therapy practices and describe the ways in which they are reciprocal, healing humans AND the rest of nature. (module 7)
8. Assess how eco anxiety manifests within you and which eco-therapy practices help you to live with it. (module 8)
9. Identify three forms of eco-therapy that do not depend on being outdoors. Discuss how each form of practice helps to deepen our relationship with the more-than-human-world. (module 9)
10. Discuss the role that the transpersonal self plays in collective healing (module 10)
11. Describe two influences exerted on the mind and body that originate from where we live (module 11)
12. Name three characteristics of ecopsychosocial accompaniment (module 12)
13. Discuss the importance of witnessing the climate justice struggle from an ecopsychological perspective (module 13)

Continuing Education Credits apply for Weeks 1 – 13 only (excludes opening and closing panels). Live Participation on Zoom is Required during Weeks 1-13 for Continuing Education Credits (excludes opening and closing panels)

 

 

SCHEDULE FOR LIVE ONLINE LEARNING SESSIONS

****Please note: During March, the time difference between the USA and the UK will temporarily shift due to differing daylight saving time changes. For this period, UK time will be 7 hours ahead of Pacific Time (PT) instead of the usual 8 hours.

All webinar times listed are in Pacific Time (PT).

Introduction Panel with All Faculty – January 26, 9 AM – 11 AM PT

Week 1: Zoom Session – January 30, 2026 – 9:00 am – 10:30am PT – Andy Fisher

Week 2: Zoom Session – February 6, 2026 – 9:00 am -10:30 am PT- Andy Fisher

Week 3: Zoom Session – February 13, 2026 – 10:00 am – 11:30 am PT – Jeanine Canty

Week 4: Zoom Session – February 20, 2026 – 9:00 am – 10:30 am PT- Andy Fisher

Week 5: Zoom Session – February 27, 2026 – 9:00 am – 10:30 am PT- Andy Fisher

Week 6: Zoom Session – March 6, 2026 – 10:00 am – 11:30 am PT – Jeanine Canty

Week 7: Zoom Session – March 13, 2026 – 9:00 am – 10:30 am PT – Mary-Jayne Rust

Week 8: Zoom Session – March 20, 2026 – 9:00 am – 10:30 am PT – Mary-Jayne Rust

Week 9: Zoom Session – March 27, 2026 – 9:00 am – 10:30 am PT – Mary-Jayne Rust

Week 10: Zoom Session – April 3, 2026 – 10:00 am – 11:30 am PT – Jeanine Canty

Week 11: Zoom Session – April 6, 2026 – 8:30 am – 10:00 am PT- Garret Barnwell

Week 12: Zoom Session – April 17, 2026 – 8:30 am – 10:00 am PT- Garret Barnwell

Week 13: Zoom Session – April 24, 2026 – 8:30 am – 10:00 am PT- Garret Barnwell

Final Panel with all Faculty – May 1, 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM PT

Live Participation on Zoom is Required during Weeks 1-13 for Continuing Education Credits (excludes opening and closing panels)

The deadline to complete all assignments to earn the Certificate of Completion is May 2, 2025.

 

Required Readings:

Required texts for Andy’s part of the course:  Radical Ecopsychology: Psychology in the Service of Life, 2nd ed. (SUNY Press, 2013).

Required texts for Jeanine’s part of the course: Returning the Self to Nature: Undoing Our Collective Narcissism and Healing Our Planet (Shambhala Publications, 2022).

Required texts for Mary-Jayne’s part of the course:

Rust, M-J. (2020). Towards an Ecopsychotherapy. London: Confer Books.

Week 7:

Hall, K. (2012). Remembering the Forgotten Tongue. In M. J. Rust & N. Totton (Eds.),

           Vital Signs: psychological responses to ecological crisis. London: Karnac.

Linden, S. & Grut, J. (2002) Chapter 3 in The Natural Growth Project in The Healing Fields: working with psychotherapy and nature to rebuild shattered lives. London:

           Frances Lincoln.

West, Rinda (2008) Out of the Shadow: Ecopsychology, Story and Encounters with the Land.  pp 1-23 University of Virginia Press.

https://books.google.me/books?id=h9vEZoA0b2MC&printsec=copyright&hl=sr#v=onepage&q&f=false

Week 8:

Erlich, P. & Reed, J. (2020) My Octopus Teacher [Film]. Netflix.

Greenway, R. (1995) The Wilderness Effect and Ecopsychology in T. Roszak, M.E.

Gomes, & A.D. Kanner (Eds) Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind (pp. 122-135). San Francisco: Sierra Club Books.

Rust, M-J. (2020). Chapter 4: Psychological Responses to Ecological Crisis. In Towards an Ecopsychotherapy. London: Confer Books.

Week 9:

Armstrong, J. (1995) Keepers of the Earth in Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind, eds. Roszak, T., Gomes M.E., & Kanner, A.D.,  (pp. 316-324). San

Francisco: Sierra Club Books.

https://sacredland.org/wp-content/PDFs/KeepersoftheEarth.pdf

Foster, C. & Thiyagarajan, S. (Directors) (2012). The Animal Communicator [Film].  Natural History Unit, Africa.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T2vhV63lx2k

Peters, R. (1987) The Eagle and the Serpent.  Journal of Analytical Psychology, 32, 359-381.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8aOzZVZvUmiX3BBT1kwSlZCTm8/view

Totton, N. (2011) Wild Therapy. Therapy Today.

http://homepages.3-c.coop/erthworks/Wild%20therapy.pdf

 

Also recommended for this certificate:

Jeanine M. Canty, ed., Ecological and Social Healing: Multicultural Women’s Voices (Routledge, 2017)

Linda Buzzell & Craig Chalquist, eds., Ecotherapy: Healing with Nature in Mind (Sierra Club Books, 2009)

Craig Chalquist, Terrapsychological Inquiry: Restorying Our Relationship with Nature, Place, and Planet (Routledge, 2020)

Mary Watkins, Mutual Accompaniment and the Creation of the Commons (Yale, 2019).

Baring, A & Cashford, J (1991) The Myth of the Goddess: Evolution of an Image. London: Penguin.

Buzzell & Chalquist Eds (2009) Ecotherapy: Healing with Nature in Mind. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books.

Clinebell, Howard. (1996) Ecotherapy: Healing Ourselves, Healing the Earth. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press

Cooper Marcus, C. & Barnes, M. (1998) Healing Gardens. NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Jordan, Martin & Joe Hinds. (2016) Ecotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Jung, C.G. (1961). Memories, Dreams, Reflections. New York: Random House.

Kimmerer, Robin Wall. (2013) Braiding Sweet Grass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, Minneapolis, MN: Milkweed Editions.

Louv, R. (2005) Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder. NC: Algonquin.

Rust, M-J. (2020).  Chapter 2: The Diverse Range of Ecotherapy Practises in Towards an Ecopsychotherapy. London: Confer Books.

Siddons Heginworth, I. (2008) Environmental Arts Therapy and the Tree of Life. Exeter: Spirits Rest Books

Sabini, Meredith (Ed.) (2002)  The Earth has a Soul: The Nature Writings of C.G.Jung.  North Atlantic Books.

Tarnas, R. (2007) Two Paradigms of History. Ch in Cosmos and Psyche. NY: Penguin.

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=OLaJ2HhW2zcC&pg=PR3&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q&f=false

Pinkola Estes, Clarissa (1998)  Women Who Run with the Wolves: Contacting the Power of the Wild Woman. NY: Rider.

Key, D. (2003). The Ecology of Adventure. Master of Science Thesis, Edinburgh: The Centre for Human Ecology.

https://www.ecoself.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Key-2003-The-Ecology-of-Adventure.pdf

Macy, J. & Young-Brown, M. (1998) Coming Back to Life.  Gabriola Island: New society Pub.

Tacey, D. (2009). The Edge of the Sacred: Jung, Psyche, Earth.  Switzerland: Daimon Verlag.

The Natural Change Project  https://www.ecoself.net/the-natural-change-project-wwf/

Bernstein, Jerome (2006) Living in the Borderland: The Evolution of Consciousness and the Challenge of Healing Trauma.  Hove: Routledge

Brazier, C. (2018) Ecotherapy in Practice: A buddhist Model. NY: Routledge.

Duncan, R. (2018) Systems Thinking and Imagination in Ecopsychology and Nature-Based Practice. Oxford: Routledge.

Eyers, P. (2016) Ancient Spirit Rising. Ontario: Stone Circle Press.

Griffin, S. (1978) Women and Nature: The Roaring Inside Her. NY: Harper and Row.

Jordan, M. (2014) Nature and Therapy: Understanding Psychotherapy and Counselling in Outdoor Spaces. London: Routledge.

Some, M. (1995) Of Water and the Spirit. London: Penguin.

 

What people are saying about the program                                        

“High caliber teaching, fascinating subject matter, wonderful interactions with other students. All four professors fostered heart-felt connection and each offered something unique to the program.”

“The program was INSPIRING. The truth that “we are nature” is now forever stamped on my soul and the basis of my motivations now. I think I knew this in my body, but these words gave me language to describe my experience of the more than human natural world. I really enjoyed hearing from various professors throughout the course, each with unique expertise in ecopsychology.”

“I thought the program was well organized and structured especially for working professionals such as myself. I was able to pace myself in a way that worked well for me while being a full-time educator.”

“Overall, the program was an incredible experience that expanded my understanding of ecopsychology and helped me develop the direction I want to take my career. All instructors were clearly passionate about their work and I am so grateful for their contribution to this experience.”

“A fascinating, far-ranging survey of ecopsychology that effectively spoke to both therapists and individuals.”