The Advanced Training Certificate: Ecotherapy, Nature Connection Practices that Heal is a yearly offering by Pacifica Extension, and will be taught this year on September 28 – November 23, 2024. Pacifica has been a trailblazer in offering this yearly series of ecopsychology and ecotherapy online courses that make this material accessible to practitioners and the broader public. Linda Buzzell, LMFT, has been one of the instructors since its inception in 2015. I’m delighted to revisit some topics we’ve discussed in a previous interview, but also to hear what is new in ecopsychology and Linda’s scholarship.
Angela: You’ve been a psychotherapist for over 40 years and an early pioneer in ecotherapy since the late 1990s. The book you co-authored, Ecotherapy: Healing with Nature in Mind (Sierra Club Books, 2009), is one of the earliest in the field. What is the basic premise of ecotherapy and what is the connection between nature and healing?
Linda: Ecopsychology is the study of the human-nature relationship, and ecotherapy focuses on the healing of that relationship. There are so many ways that nature is a healing force in our lives; and of course, we’re not separate from or superior to the rest of nature. Sadly so many people have forgotten this, which is why we’re in such a mess with our relationship with nature both within ourselves and in wider contexts. It’s an axiom in ecopsychology and ecotherapy that “What we do to the rest of nature we do to ourselves.” Ecotherapy focuses on healing not only at the individual and community human levels, but also on the wider collective levels, as climate psychology does. We need to come to terms with the poor state of the health of nature within and around us—and how that’s impacting both people and other beings all over the planet.
Angela: I’m sure many people would agree that going for a hike can be magical, deeply restorative, and certainly, therapeutic. It’s hard to come away from green time without your mood lifting. Some psychologists at Pacifica posit that the natural world is part of our psyche or an extension of it. How do you see that?
Linda: I totally agree that there is no separation. Psyche is not limited to the human brain; there is psyche in all beings and things. Waking up to the awareness that all things are sentient or have soul or psyche radically changes how we feel about ourselves and the rest of existence—and how we act. It’s profoundly healing physically, emotionally, and spiritually to consciously immerse ourselves in deep connection with many aspects of the rest of nature—and scientific studies confirm this.
For example, profound communication and healing can happen between forest and human. One of the things ecotherapists often prescribe for many conditions is a healing forest walk, and as we gain a deeper respect for all life and our intimate InterBeing, we may learn to pause before entering the forest and acknowledge the psyche there and ask permission to enter. This is such a different attitude from what many of us have been brought up with—a kind of cultural humility towards all beings, human and more than human.
There are many ways that deep, heart-open communication with any aspect of the rest of nature can be profoundly healing to human beings, but there are many more issues that ecotherapy can also help us deal with. A personal and professional transformation can happen when we recover from “the big lie” that humans are separate from and superior to the rest of nature. That lie has given privileged people in industrial societies an excuse to exploit anything or anyone they want with no consequences. But we’re starting to realize that if you treat the rest of nature badly, it comes back on all of us. There is no human health possible on a sick planet. We’re in the middle of what some people call the polycrisis, as more and more of us understand that the planet is not well and neither are we. This is part of what we’re hoping to deal with in the fields of ecopsychology, ecotherapy and climate psychology: How can ecotherapists help people deal with eco-grief, eco-despair, eco-trauma, and eco-anxiety as the effects of our mistreatment of all of nature come crashing down on us? How can we find a way forward to a future where we can all thrive?
Angela: So what would an ecotherapy session look like?
Linda: Ecotherapists tend to ask different questions than traditional psychotherapists, and suggest different healing methods. For instance, in an intake session an ecotherapist might inquire not only about the client’s current and past human relationships but also about relationships with nature and other natural beings. One question that often opens the emotional floodgates is: When in your life have you felt closest to something sacred? In many cases this may involve some aspect of the rest of nature: the love of a cherished companion animal, a profoundly moving meeting with a wild creature, or a deep experience in forests, gardens, oceans or mountains. Traditional Western therapy hasn’t necessarily understood the importance or healing power of being connected to all of life.
An ecotherapist’s “prescriptions” may also differ from conventional, anthropocentric Western psychotherapy practice. Often they involve creative ways of helping people discover deep connection and communication with some aspect of the rest of nature—everything from forest walks to equine-facilitated ecotherapy to water immersion to community gardening.
And of course, not all ecotherapy involves traditional therapists or counselors. Nature guides, outdoor educators, medical professionals, nutritionists, ecospiritual practitioners and many other healers, wellness coaches, and trainers are now including this important healing work in their practices.
Just as one example, my husband and I are trained in permaculture and we have a backyard food forest. I’ve worked with clients in the outdoor ecotherapy office that is part of this forest garden. Even traditional therapy when done in an outdoor space is transformed. It’s not two or three people in a rectangular, human-created room. You’re opening up the whole session to all the entities surrounding you, and that changes the dialogue and focus of the process. Some ecotherapists consider nature as the ultimate therapist, and we discover that she is a powerful guide, teacher, and healer, no matter what the presenting problem may be. This shifts the relationship between the therapist, the client, and the rest of nature in some exciting ways.
Angela: Pacifica certainly values and carefully cares for its green spaces. How does that impact your work here?
Linda: Pacifica is such a special place. The campuses are extraordinary and the natural places are so beautifully respected and tended. The land has a special feel and the longer we’re there, the more it begins to communicate with us. The key to that communication is whether or not we’re listening. There’s something about the two Pacifica campuses that allows us to slow down, become mindful and open our souls and senses in ways that aren’t common elsewhere. For example, when we did the first Ecotherapy Certificate course in 2015, we did a lot of the work outdoors under the trees, and I think everyone felt embraced by the beauty and the land.
Angela: If nature is, indeed, intimately intertwined with our well-being, what do we owe nature? What is the agency role of the human in this dynamic?
Linda: We humans can’t exist without healthy nature within us and around us. It’s a relationship that has to be reciprocal, the same way any good human relationship is. What do we owe our mothers and fathers? What do we owe the wider “Mother” nature without whom we die? It’s a duty of care and love, and a joyful one. There are so many cultures around the world that teach this to their children. But in modern Western and even global industrial culture, we have forgotten how to teach that deep understanding and respect for nature to our children. And it’s gotten the world into a life-threatening situation.
How can we regain that sense of a duty to care? That’s what’s missing from many cultures right now. We don’t seem to think we have to care for one another or for the rest of nature, and of course that’s a recipe for disaster. In ecotherapy, climate psychology, ecopsychology, and even ecospirituality, we’re trying to help people recover from this tragic disconnection, helping us get back to a right relationship with all of nature, learning deep humility within the wider world of nature. We have to know our place within the grand scheme of the cosmos. That awreness can heal, inspire and activate us.
Angela: What will the 2024 Advanced Training Certificate “Ecotherapy, Nature Connection Practices that Heal” focus on?
Linda: In this course Jungian ecotherapist Mary-Jayne Rust and I will cover all of the basics for those who want to implement this in their own life and practice. We will share a broad understanding of the growing numbers of ecotherapies – including ecopsychotherapy. These fields are rapidly growing now as the collective need for Earth-based healing intensifies, and our focus will be on helping students discover the best ways of including the latest ecotherapy practices in their personal and professional lives.
Angela: Do you see any trends or news or world events currently impacting the direction of Ecopsychology?
Linda: Yes! The field of climate psychology, which is a form of ecotherapy, is one example of an applied ecopsychology that is growing rapidly as environmental and social conditions become more challenging and we are faced with helping our clients and communities deal more effectively with escalating crises. Some ecotherapists now find themselves becoming First Responders in their area after fires, hurricanes or floods. People need help processing their emotions after any eco-trauma and many are eager to receive training on how to build communities that support eco-resilience. The good news is that many care professionals are now eager to keep up with the changes that are happening everywhere and want to learn more about ecotherapy and ecopsychology.
Angela: Politics are currently in an uproar, more so than your average presidential race. I’ve noticed that thus far, nobody is really speaking for the wellbeing of the planet. The nature world doesn’t have voting rights as of yet. We can’t predict what will come of the election and therefore future policy of an environmental nature. Aside from voting, what are some actions we can take for our green friends, and what can we do within the context of ecopsychology and our relationship with the natural world, to counterbalance the amount of anxiety many people are feeling?
Linda: That’s a huge question that everyone in the field is grappling with right now. It’s really important for all of us to gain a deeper understanding of the metacrisis we’re living through. Up until recently, many people were focused primarily on the dangers of the climate crisis – for good reason! But the current metacrisis isn’t limited to that. Multiple systems are beginning to fail us. People are trying to figure out how we deal with this mess. What can we do? For those in the fields of ecopsychology, mental health, education, even the arts, all the things Pacifica is grounded in, we know it’s important we deal with the inner landscape as well as the outer. This crisis didn’t come out of nowhere. The thoughts and ideas in our minds led us into this mess, so some of the change needed is internal and collective. You can see this when you look around at global events, wars, elections, as people are beginning to realize what’s at stake and what jeopardy we’re in. I see ecopsychology as important to how we change the world view and help people process the deep emotions in making this inner transformation that will support an outward transformation.
One useful approach is to gain a deeper understanding of the delusion that we in industrialized western civilization have fallen victim to: the “big lie” that humans are separate from and superior to nature. The antidote for that is reclaiming ourselves as humans who are a seamless part of broader nature; one part and not necessarily a huge part. It’s shifting from ego to eco, overcoming our anthropocentric narcissism. Toxic individualism is the incredible arrogance that’s gotten us into this mess and ecopsychology can help us recover from this and get into right relationship with the rest of nature, which is what many indigenous people have been telling us in the west for hundreds of years and we haven’t listened.
Angela: Who is the right kind of person to participate in the certificate? Can anyone sign up?
Linda: We welcome everyone to get involved. In the course’s weekly live peer consultation groups, we focus on helping each student discover the ways they’re being called to do this work, whether through psychotherapy outdoors, art therapy, somatics, wilderness work, community gardening, education, health coaching or any other modality. Everyone discovers their own way to apply this learning to their lives and practices, depending on their passions, experience and special talents. So we individualize the experience. This is why we have the live online peer consultation sessions each week, in addition to the lectures, readings, and online discussion with fellow students, as this allows people to think about and go deeper into how this is going to fit into their life and how they’ll put this into practice. That’s why the course is not just limited to therapists, although of course we’ll have a lot of information for clinicians as well. I’m looking forward to meeting everyone and working together on this!
Angela: Is there anything new on the horizon for you professionally that we should be on the lookout for?
Linda: I’m happy that an article that I wrote with Craig Chalquist on eco-emotions has been published by Oxford University Press. It’s titled “From Eco Anxiety to Eco Resilience: Toward a psychology of care” and appeared in Eco-Anxiety and Pandemic Distress: Psychological Perspectives on Resilience and Interconnectedness published in 2023.
Angela: Thank you so much for your time, Linda. I always look forward to speaking with you!
For more information or to register for The Advanced Training Certificate: Ecotherapy, Nature Connection Practices that Heal, September 28 – November 23, 2024, visit us here.
Linda Buzzell, LMFT, has been a psychotherapist for more than 40 years and has specialized in ecopsychology and ecotherapy since 2000. She and Craig Chalquist edited the Sierra Club Books anthology Ecotherapy: Healing with Nature in Mind, a core text in clinical ecopsychology. She is a member of the editorial board of Ecopsychology, the peer-reviewed journal of the field. Linda is Adjunct Faculty at Pacifica Graduate Institute, where she taught Pacifica’s first Ecotherapy Certificate program in 2015. She was a featured presenter with Joanna Macy at Holos Institute’s 2017 Ecopsychology Conference in Petaluma, CA and at the 2014 Ecotherapy Symposium at the University of Brighton in the UK. In 2002, she founded The International Association for Ecotherapy and edited its journal Ecotherapy News for many years. She blogged on ecopsychology and ecotherapy for 7 years at Huffington Post and is an Admin on the 10,700+ Facebook group “Ecopsychology.”
Angela Borda is a writer for Pacifica Graduate Institute, as well as the editor of the Santa Barbara Literary Journal. Her work has been published in Food & Home, Peregrine, Hurricanes & Swan Songs, Delirium Corridor, Still Arts Quarterly, Danse Macabre, and is forthcoming in The Tertiary Lodger and Running Wild Anthology of Stories, Vol. 5.
