Thank you for visiting.
I created this blog to provide some information about an emerging area of my
practice – ecotherapy. It's not much in the way of a real blog in the sense that I'm not regularly posting to it. I wanted to get the message out about applied or clinical ecopsychology - otherwise known as ecotherapy and this was a "cheap and cheerful" testing of the waters, so to speak.
I qualified as a
humanistic counsellor and reflective therapeutic practitioner in 2016 and
launched my private practice thereafter. After moving to the farm, I thought a good way of settling into the neighbourhood would be to take up some charity work. And I wanted to include my beloved dog.
I
could see that my dog was extraordinarily attuned to my affect and
displayed a nurturing quality. I began an induction to the charity Pets
As Therapy. After she was assessed and certified by a canine
behaviourist veterinarian, we began our weekly service visits at a local
hospital to provide animal assisted therapy to the delirium patients.
In
fact, we continued until the NHS closed the ward about two and a half
years later. The enthusiasm, stimulation and comaraderie among the
patients who anticipated our visits was very evident to me. And I was
so proud of my dog.
During that time, I recalled a prominent psychoanalyst at Columbia University who had inspired me when I was researching attachment theory a couple years before. His training adhered to a strict orthodoxy and was more like an indoctrination. He described finding the confidence to eschew the dogma that deems involvement, self-disclosure, authenticity and intimacy to be inappropriate for an analyst.
I identified with his academic experience to some degree and was looking to chart my own unique career path free of the self-absorption and hypocricy that pervaded the institute where I trained. That psychoanalyst became a champion in my eyes when he emboldened himself to include his dog as co-therapist in his practice.
I had been reading up on therapist facilitated "Animal
Assisted Therapy in Counselling" (AAT-C) in the professional journal of
the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and attended a day conference and workshop on AAT-C and networked with practitioners. My research, continuing education and charity work gave me the confidence and competency sufficient to bring this into my practice.
The AAT-C and attachment therapy were the first specializations I brought in to expand the focus of my practice as I individuated as a clinician. And I was really quite upbeat about those as they were my own accomplishments.
The attachment therapy came with a strong foundational knowledge acquired from a year long reflective inquiry for my BSc Honours and continued with post graduate self-guided research. The AAT-C was a lot more home schooling.
Having attended so many conferences, seminars, workshops and other events for career professional development I noticed that I placed a heavier emphasis on the context in which a client is immersed. Psychosocial factors such as the political, social, economic, cultural and - ecological are very influential to the client's psychological wellbeing. The recognition of the ecological is omitted from the counselling frame by the majority of counselling professionals.
A friend once questioned why I include my geography and urban and regional studies qualifications in my current profession, suggesting they were superfluous. Some might think it's pretension but neither are true.
Geographers study spatial relationships and urban and regional studies is concerned with the interrelationships between social and spatial patterns and generally speaking, the governance of the public realm including city planning.
You can't uneducate yourself. Knowledge is applicable and skills are transferable. Even therapists bring their subjectivity with them to the therapeutic dyad. I am the amalgam of all of my education, lifelong learning, wisdom, passion and subjective experience - and I bring that with me to my work. What's most important is what I do with it and how I do it.
A growing incongruence between my professional and personal identity compelled me to figure out how to incorporate a framework of ecological ideals and social responsibility in a therapeutic endeavour.
As I confront the
climate emergency and environment crisis, the implications of which will
reshape all life on the planet, I feel a moral imperative to contribute more to
fixing the problem. Given that we humans are the problem, I just didn’t
know how to tackle that with my clients in a non-directive, ethical and
compassionate way.
My undergraduate
training did not prepare me for this.
None of the theories or tuition incorporated nature and the concept of relationship was restricted to the self and the (human) other. I found that very straight-jacketing and I lacked the confidence or perceived security in that environment to propose that relationships could be with the other-than-human.
In retrospect, it is ironic because most of my cohort had chosen to study at the Metanoia Institute because the campus is located in a quiet residential quarter in a converted villa with a deep garden where we often conducted training exercises or took breaks.
Then I discovered
ecotherapy about two years ago and it validated what I had sensed all along. I am proud to say that some of the most significant
relationships over my lifetime have been with pets and Mother Nature.
My thoughts about my clinical work have crystallized. Ecotherapy has opened up new possibilities for me to widen the scope of my practice. Earlier this year I
entered into a referral arrangement for pet bereavement counselling with a
large veterinary practice.
I recognize the
importance of human to nonhuman relationships and the benefits of collaborating
with nature in the therapeutic pursuit. As I am in private practice, I like having a co-therapist. In AAT-C it is my therapy dog and
in ecotherapy it is an immersive process with the outdoors.
As I gravitate toward
a natural approach in my work, I feel more fully integrated with it and see in
myself a more authentic practitioner emerging. I have access to more
resources and I am engaging in something that enhances the relational therapy I
do.
I believe that by
adopting a form of counselling and psychotherapy that harmonizes with nature
and contributes to sustainable relationships with our planet, our neighbours
and ourselves, I am both working in the service of my individual clients and
the greater good of society.
I encourage you to
consider a change of mind that takes your therapy outdoors where you can feel
the healing presence of nature, ground yourself in the other-than-human world
and move toward a state of fulfilment and purpose with human – nature as your
guide.
"People Have the Power" to do so much good in the world. It begins with one person at a time. You. Look what happens when a collection of persons becomes a chorus with a little help from Patti Smith.
References
1. Smith, Patti and Fred "Sonic", (1988) "People Have the Power", BMG Rights Management.
2. Totton, N., "therapy police", in professional consultations, 2019-2020.
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