Ecopsychology (Roszak; Gomes, Kanner)

1. Introduction

Version followed: Theodore Roszak's statement of ecopsychology's principles in "The Voice of the Earth: Discovering the Ecological Ego" (Trumpeter, 1992), which accompanies his book The Voice of the Earth (Simon & Schuster, 1992), and the anthology he edited with Mary E. Gomes and Allen D. Kanner, Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind (Sierra Club Books, 1995). The clinical procedures come from the applied tradition the field calls ecotherapy: Buzzell and Chalquist (eds), Ecotherapy: Healing with Nature in Mind (Sierra Club Books, 2009), the summary of ecotherapy practice in Berry (2023, Counselling Australia), Hasbach's graduate ecotherapy curriculum, and an NHS feasibility study of outdoor psychology sessions (James et al., 2021). [source: Roszak 1992 Trumpeter; Kirkus review of The Voice of the Earth; library records for the 1995 and 2009 books; Berry 2023; Hasbach syllabus 2017; James et al. 2021]

Ecopsychology is a theoretical framework and a movement, not a manualised psychotherapy. Roszak's book introduced the term, and his principles are his own. He holds that the core of the mind is an "ecological unconscious". On his view, industrial society represses this layer, and that repression is the deepest root of collective madness. Healing therefore means reawakening an inborn sense of reciprocity with the natural world, which he says is most alive in childhood. He also holds that personal and planetary well-being are synergistic, so recovering the "ecological ego" should mature into felt ethical responsibility towards the planet. These are claims of a theory, attributed to Roszak, and are neither established fact nor dismissed here. [source: Roszak 1992 Trumpeter; Kirkus review]

In practice, change is understood to happen in three ways: through renewed, direct and attentive contact with the natural world; through placing the client's distress in its ecological as well as its personal and social context; and through turning that renewed relationship into care and action in the client's life and community. Ecotherapy, which Chalquist's book page calls "applied ecopsychology", is the clinical arm: a family of nature-based methods (walking therapy, horticulture and community gardening, animal-assisted work, wilderness experience, rites of passage, contemplative nature practice) that therapists bring into ordinary therapy. [source: CIIS record of Buzzell and Chalquist 2009; Berry 2023]

Evidence status in one line: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 50 studies found that nature-based interventions (gardening, green exercise and nature-based therapy) improved depressive mood, anxiety and affect in adults, including those with existing mental health problems, with low-to-moderate risk of bias in the RCTs and higher risk in the other designs (Coventry et al., 2021, SSM - Population Health). That review covers nature-based activities broadly, not ecopsychology's theory of the ecological unconscious, which is not an empirical finding. [source: Coventry et al. 2021 abstract]

Related guides: Work That Reconnects (Macy), forest bathing, horticultural therapy and care farming, green social prescribing (015), walk-and-talk, blue care and open-water swimming (022; cold-water immersion and its harm account are in X 196), wilderness and adventure programmes, animal-assisted interventions, and VIII 183 ecoarts.

2. Framework

The originating authors do not publish phases, a session count or a format, so the framework below is a working structure for a psychotherapist adding ecopsychological work to ordinary therapy. Each phase draws on the cited sources, but the sequence is [synthesis]. Session counts and durations are not specified in the sources and are not given here.

Phase 1: Assessment and formulation that includes the natural world. Goal: understand the client's relationship with the more-than-human world alongside the usual history. This covers environmental identity, sense of place, childhood contact with nature, current access to green and blue space, and eco-related distress (eco-anxiety, eco-grief, solastalgia, in Buzzell's terms). Hasbach's ecotherapy curriculum includes environmental identity and sense of place. Format: ordinary indoor sessions. Move on when the client is interested in working this way, the formulation shows a plausible role for nature-based work, and there are no unaddressed safety contraindications. [source: Hasbach syllabus 2017; Pacifica interview with Buzzell; synthesis]

Phase 2: Contracting and safety planning. Goal: agree in writing whether, where and how nature will enter the work. This covers indoor nature-informed exercises only, sessions outdoors, or referral to a programme, and it includes confidentiality, boundaries, weather plans and medical and risk factors. In James et al. (2021), psychologists agreed a contract with each service user before the first outdoor session, based on British Psychological Society guidance, and re-contracted as needed. Move on when consent is informed, risks are assessed (with the multidisciplinary team where there is one), and there is an indoor fallback. [source: James et al. 2021]

Phase 3: Nature-informed work. Goal: carry out the chosen practices, indoors, outdoors or both (section 4). Nature may be a backdrop or an active part of the therapy, and both can be effective. Format: individual, couple, family or group. Keep reviewing comfort, boundaries and benefit at every outdoor session. [source: Berry 2023; James et al. 2021]

Phase 4: Integration, community and action. Goal: carry what the client has gained into everyday life. This can include ongoing personal practice, connection with community gardens, climate groups or conservation work, and, where the client chooses it, ecological responsibility in social and civic life, which Roszak calls the maturation of the ecological ego. Move on when the client has a self-directed practice and the agreed goals are met. [source: Roszak 1992; Berry 2023; Buzzell and Chalquist 2009 table of contents ("Community as ecotherapy"); synthesis]

Phase 5: Ending and handover. Goal: review change, consolidate practices the client can sustain alone, and make referrals (programmes, groups, other clinicians). [synthesis]

3. Guiding principles

Roszak's principles are given first, attributed and paraphrased, each with what it means for a clinician's stance. The practice principles that follow come from the clinical sources or are marked [synthesis]. [source: Roszak 1992 Trumpeter]

The ecological unconscious is the core of the mind (Roszak). In practice, ask about the client's relationship with land, weather, animals and place as routinely as you ask about family. Hold it as a hypothesis to explore, not a diagnosis.
Ecopsychology aims to make felt, not merely known, the person's belonging to an evolving cosmos (Roszak). In practice, favour direct sensory experience over discussion about nature.
The aim is to reawaken an innate sense of reciprocity with the environment, as other therapies recover repressed material (Roszak). In practice, treat estrangement from nature as possible material for the work, alongside other kinds of alienation.
Childhood is the critical stage, and the child's enchanted sense of the world regenerates the ecological unconscious (Roszak). In practice, explore childhood places and nature memories as a resource. Some clients' childhood places were unsafe, so screen for that.
Adults can recover this experience through traditional healing, nature mysticism, wilderness experience and deep ecology (Roszak). In practice, know the range of referral routes and respect traditions you do not belong to. Do not borrow Indigenous ceremonies. [synthesis on the last point]
The ecological ego matures into ethical responsibility to the planet that feels as immediate as responsibility to people (Roszak). In practice, treat a client's environmental concern as a sign of care, not as a symptom to be removed.
Compulsively "masculine" traits that drive domination of nature should be re-evaluated (Roszak, drawing on ecofeminism). In practice, make room to explore patterns of control, conquest and overwork when the client brings them, without imposing the frame.
Small-scale, empowering social forms nourish the ecological ego (Roszak: "scale down, slow down, decentralize, democratize"). In practice, local, small-group and community involvement can be therapeutic goals. This is the client's choice, not the therapist's politics.
Personal and planetary well-being are synergistic (Roszak). In practice, look for goals that serve both the client's recovery and their care for place. Never make the client's treatment conditional on environmental commitments. [synthesis on the last point]
Nature can be backdrop or active participant (Berry; James et al.). In practice, decide with the client whether the setting simply holds the work or is used deliberately (grounding, metaphor, sensory practice).
Clients do their own work and track their own results (Berry, on mindfulness in nature). In practice, keep exercises simple and safe, and ask the client to notice how they feel before and after.
"Homework" is a way of living, not a set task (Berry). In practice, invite deep listening and expanded awareness in daily life rather than assigning CBT-style worksheets.
The therapist should have "done the work" and be trained (Berry). In practice, get training and supervision in ecotherapy before taking clients outdoors. Berry notes the lack of training regimes in Australia. Hasbach's curriculum covers ethics specific to ecotherapy.
Contract explicitly and re-contract (James et al.). In practice, agree in advance where you will meet, what happens if someone approaches, how weather is handled, and that the client can ask to adjust or go indoors at any time.
Safety and competence matter more outdoors, where settings are less predictable (Cooley et al. 2020, as cited by Berry). In practice, assess risks before every outdoor session and keep within your competence. [source: Berry 2023 citing Cooley et al. 2020; original [uncertain: not verified]]
Boundaries can blur outdoors (James et al.). In practice, the informal setting can feel collaborative but can drift towards friendship, so actively keep the therapeutic frame.
Multiple relationships and competence. If you also hold another role (forest therapy guide, retreat leader, climate café facilitator, fellow volunteer), assess dual-role risks under APA Ethics Code Standard 3.05 (Multiple Relationships) or your own professional code. Practise each role only within the training and certification its body requires, and check that your professional indemnity insurance explicitly covers outdoor work and any added role. [source: APA Ethics Code; synthesis on insurance]
Groups for climate distress are not therapy. In practice, when referring a client to a peer or facilitated climate group, be clear about what it is and is not, and continue clinical care where needed. Both the Good Grief Network and Climate Psychology Alliance North America state that their groups are not therapy. [source: GGN 10 Steps page; CPA-NA climate café workshop page]

4. Intervention inventory

The founding texts are theoretical and do not set out step-by-step techniques. The named practices below (sit spot, mindfulness in nature, nature-guided therapy, indoor and urban ecotherapy, metaphor work, walking therapy, community gardening, climate distress groups) are attributed to the clinical sources that describe them. The procedural steps, and the therapist-side procedures (assessment, contracting, preparation, debriefing, referral), are [synthesis] unless a source is given. Example language is illustrative throughout.

4.1 Ecological history and human-nature relationship assessment

Purpose and when: at intake or when you start working this way. It maps the client's environmental identity, sense of place, nature memories, current access and eco-related distress (topics in Hasbach's curriculum and Buzzell's vocabulary). [source: Hasbach syllabus 2017; Pacifica interview; steps synthesis]
Steps: (1) Ask where the client grew up and which outdoor places mattered, good or bad. (2) Ask about current contact: home, commute, window view, parks, gardens, animals, water. (3) Ask how environmental news affects them: worry, grief, anger, numbness, guilt, or feeling cut off. (4) Ask about access barriers: disability, cost, transport, safety in public space, racism or harassment outdoors, caring duties. (5) Ask about physical factors relevant to any outdoor work: allergies (including pollen and insect stings), mobility, heat or cold sensitivity, medical conditions and medications, and fears (dogs, insects, open spaces, water). (6) Add a short ecological paragraph to the formulation.
Example language (illustrative): "Some people find their relationship with places, weather or animals matters a lot to how they feel. Is there a place, now or from childhood, that comes to mind?"
Watch for: outdoor places tied to trauma (assault, neglect, being shut out of the house, war, displacement). Treat these as trauma material, not resources. Some clients feel the questions are irrelevant; accept that. It is working when the client links mood or meaning to place in their own words.

4.2 Childhood nature memory work

Purpose and when: to reach the childhood sense of an enchanted, alive world that Roszak calls the regenerating source of the ecological unconscious, as a resource for adults who feel flat or disconnected. [source: Roszak 1992 for the concept; steps synthesis]
Steps: (1) Invite one specific memory of a natural place from childhood. (2) Slow down into sensory detail: what the client saw, heard, smelled and touched, and their body posture. (3) Ask what that child knew or felt that the adult has lost touch with. (4) Ask how a little of that could be lived now. (5) Close by returning attention to the room.
Example language (illustrative): "Take your time. When you picture that stream, what do you notice first? ... What did that younger you feel there that you'd like more of now?"
Watch for: grief at loss of the place (built over, family break-up, migration). Make space for it. Screen first for places linked to abuse. It is working when affect softens or brightens and the client names a concrete way to reconnect.

4.3 Sit spot

Purpose and when: to build attentive, regular belonging to one place. Berry calls it "one core exercise" in ecotherapy programmes worldwide. Use it for clients who want a sustained, self-directed practice. [source: Berry 2023]
Steps: (1) The client chooses one accessible, safe outdoor (or window) spot they can return to. (2) They agree with you a regular rhythm that suits their life; the sources set no fixed time. (3) At each visit they sit, notice what arises outside and inside, and do not try to achieve anything. (4) Optional journalling afterwards (Berry notes journalling is common). (5) In session, review what they noticed, the metaphors that emerged, and any changes in belonging.
Example language (illustrative): "The idea is simply to keep returning to one place and let it become familiar. What you notice there, including boredom, is all welcome."
Watch for: personal safety (lone sitting in isolated places, especially for women and other at-risk groups; choose visible spots), weather and ticks in long grass, and rumination rather than open noticing. It is working when the client reports more detailed noticing (Berry: growing awareness of nature's detail) and finds metaphors for their own growth.

4.4 Mindfulness in nature

Purpose and when: stress reduction and grounding. It extends breath awareness to noticing how one feels at home in the natural setting, and Berry notes it often includes gratitude. Suitable for most clients, indoors by a window or outdoors. [source: Berry 2023, which places it in Buddhist practice and Kabat-Zinn's mindfulness work]
Steps: (1) Ask the client to rate or describe how they feel now. (2) Guide attention to the breath, then outward to sounds, light, air movement and the ground. (3) Invite noticing any sense of being at home or part of the scene. (4) Optionally, invite a moment of gratitude for something noticed. (5) Ask how they feel now and compare with the start; the client tracks their own result.
Example language (illustrative): "Let your breath settle, then let your attention widen to the sounds around you... Notice whether any part of you feels at ease here."
Watch for: dissociation or panic in clients with trauma histories. Keep eyes open, keep it short, and let the client choose an anchor. It is working when there is calmer arousal and self-reported change before and after.

4.5 Grounding with the surroundings

Purpose and when: to regulate acute distress during an outdoor session using what is physically present. In James et al. (2021), service users used grounding exercises based on their surroundings, and movement helped some regulate distress. [source: James et al. 2021; steps synthesis]
Steps: (1) Pause walking or talking. (2) Ask the client to name, out loud, things they can see, hear and feel underfoot. (3) Invite contact with something safe: tree bark, a stone, a bench. Avoid unknown plants and fungi. (4) If movement helps, walk slowly together. (5) Check in, then decide whether to continue, sit, or return indoors.
Example language (illustrative): "Let's stop here a moment. Tell me three things you can see right now... and what the ground feels like under your feet."
Watch for: escalation, or wanting to flee towards roads. Stay on the traffic-free side and keep your pace matched (James et al. noted misjudged road crossings). It is working when breathing slows and the client re-engages.

4.6 Nature-guided therapy and sensory awareness inventory (Burns)

Purpose and when: to integrate pleasurable nature experiences into individual, couple and family therapy. Berry attributes the approach to George Burns (Nature-guided therapy, 1998) and reports its use with prisoners, people with relationship difficulties and families in unresolved conflict. [source: Berry 2023; Burns's book not verified]
Steps: (1) Using Burns's Sensory Awareness Inventory (do not reproduce its items; use the published version), help the client identify sensory nature experiences they enjoy across the senses. (2) Choose with them one or more to do deliberately between sessions. (3) For couples and families, find shared nature experiences that are enjoyable for all members. (4) Review effects on mood and relationships.
Example language (illustrative): "Let's list the outdoor sights, sounds, smells and textures that reliably lift you, then pick one to build into this week."
Watch for: activities that become rigid obligations or family battlegrounds. For couples, check that the activity is genuinely mutual. It is working when there is more pleasure and connection and the activity is sustained without prompting. [uncertain: details of Burns's own procedure not verified]

4.7 Indoor and urban ecotherapy

Purpose and when: for clients without access to green space, or who cannot or will not go outdoors (disability, inpatient or custodial settings, agoraphobia, safety). Berry describes using memories of special connection with nature, images or objects to reflect on, or a window view. [source: Berry 2023]
Steps: (1) Invite the client to bring a natural object or image, or use the view from the window. (2) Explore it with sensory attention, then with meaning: what it evokes or reminds them of. (3) Use nature memories (4.2) when nothing is at hand. (4) Consider plants or a window feeder at home or on the ward, checking allergies and house rules first.
Example language (illustrative): "You brought a pine cone. Hold it for a moment. What do you notice? Does it remind you of anything?"
Watch for: framing that implies the client is doing a lesser version. Indoor work is legitimate in its own right. It is working when the client engages and reports a felt shift.

4.8 Nature metaphor work

Purpose and when: to give clients images of resilience and change drawn from natural processes. Berry's examples are grass springing back after being trodden on and a river winding around obstacles. Use it when clients are stuck in self-critical or catastrophic narratives. [source: Berry 2023]
Steps: (1) Notice a natural process the client mentions or encounters. (2) Ask what it suggests to them, rather than supplying the meaning. (3) Ask how it relates to their situation. (4) Invite them to keep a reminder: a photo, an object, a phrase.
Example language (illustrative): "You keep looking at that river bend. If it had something to say about your situation, what might it be?"
Watch for: the therapist imposing tidy, upbeat metaphors. Let the client find metaphors of decay or loss too. It is working when the client generates and reuses their own image.

4.9 Contracting for outdoor sessions

Purpose and when: before any session outdoors. James et al. (2021) agreed a contract with each service user based on British Psychological Society guidance and re-contracted when needed. [source: James et al. 2021; details synthesis where marked]
Steps: (1) Discuss benefits and limits of meeting outdoors and offer indoor sessions as an equal option. (2) Agree the location, route, whether you will sit or walk, and pace, based on risk assessment, formulation, preferences and goals (James et al.). (3) Confidentiality: agree what you will do if people come within earshot (pause, change wording, move) and what you will both say if you meet someone either of you knows. (4) Agree how to signal discomfort and that the client can stop or go indoors at any time. (5) Weather and cancellation plan, clothing, sun protection, and an indoor fallback room. (6) Touch: none by default. Any helping hand on terrain only with consent asked at the time, the client may decline, and it is never sexual. [synthesis] (7) Travel: meet at the site, do not share cars, and keep within your agreed area. [synthesis] (8) Record the contract and review it regularly.
Example language (illustrative): "If someone walks close by, would you like us to pause, or would you rather I steer what I say? And if you recognise someone, how do you want us to handle it?"
Watch for: clients agreeing to please you, and outdoor-anxious clients pushed outdoors. Note that in James et al. some service users found pauses useful and others found them disruptive. It is working when the client uses the agreed signals and comfort ratings stay acceptable.

4.10 Outdoor risk assessment and safety preparation

Purpose and when: before each outdoor session or series. James et al. found that legal leave requirements and thorough, multidisciplinary-team-involved risk assessments were essential in an inpatient setting. They identified hazards including slippery or muddy ground, sun exposure, cold, pollen, busy roads and narrow paths. [source: James et al. 2021; other items synthesis]
Steps: (1) Clinical risk: self-harm, suicidality, absconding risk, aggression, intoxication, and any leave conditions. (2) Physical: weather forecast, terrain and accessibility (step-free routes, seating, toilets), allergies and anaphylaxis plans, ticks (long grass and woodland; follow your national public-health body's tick guidance), hydration and heat, cold and wet clothing. (3) Water: avoid sessions at the water's edge unless risk-assessed. Cold-water shock, hypothermia and drowning are real hazards, and anyone swimming needs medical screening (heart conditions, epilepsy, pregnancy, medications) and the published guidance of the RNLI, the Outdoor Swimming Society, Swim England or the national lifesaving body. See 022 (blue care) and X 196 (cold-water immersion). (4) Emergency plan: phone, location sharing with a colleague, first aid, and how to summon help. (5) Insurance: confirm cover for outdoor practice. (6) Record decisions.
Example language (illustrative): "Before we try a walking session, I'd like to check a few practical things, like allergies, how your knees manage slopes, and what we'll do if the weather turns."
Watch for: complacency after uneventful sessions. Reassess when the client's state, the season or the site changes. It is working when no avoidable incidents occur and both of you know the plan.

4.11 Walking therapy (walk-and-talk) and outdoor sessions

Purpose and when: to hold talking therapy outdoors, sitting or walking. Walking therapy is one of the ecotherapy forms listed by Buzzell and Chalquist, as Berry reports. In James et al., service users valued fresh air and freedom, and leaving the ward made it easier for some to discuss distressing incidents. The authors interpreted the benefits through stress reduction and attention restoration theories. [source: Berry 2023; James et al. 2021; see also the walk-and-talk guide]
Steps: (1) Complete 4.9 and 4.10. (2) Start with a short check-in at the meeting point. (3) Walk side by side at the client's pace, using pauses for harder material. Side-by-side walking can make eye contact easier for some clients. [synthesis] (4) Use the setting deliberately (4.4, 4.5, 4.8) or let it be a backdrop. (5) Return to the start for a brief closing check-in. (6) Write notes as usual.
Example language (illustrative): "We can stop at the bench whenever you want to slow down or talk about something harder."
Watch for: the relationship drifting towards friendship (James et al.). Hold the time frame and the session structure. Watch for privacy breaches, and for physical strain that the client conceals. It is working when the client engages more freely without loss of the therapeutic frame.

4.12 Graded outdoor exposure for outdoor anxiety

Purpose and when: for clients whose anxiety centres on going outdoors, open spaces, insects or particular places. James et al. offered outdoor work to some service users with high outdoor anxiety, often as graded exposure, and noted lower comfort ratings in that group. [source: James et al. 2021; steps synthesis following standard exposure practice]
Steps: (1) Formulate the fear and obtain explicit consent to an exposure approach, including the right to stop. (2) Screen for contraindications: acute risk, a medical condition worsened by exertion or allergens, and a trauma linked to the place that needs trauma-focused treatment first. (3) Build a hierarchy with the client, starting indoors, for example the window, then the doorway, then a nearby courtyard. (4) Move up only at the client's pace, with ratings before, during and after. (5) Debrief each step.
Example language (illustrative): "We'll only go as far as you choose. If it gets too much, we stop and step back, and that's still progress."
Watch for: safety behaviours, and the therapist's wish for outdoor work overriding the client's goals. It is working when anxiety ratings fall across repeated steps and the client goes outdoors independently.

4.13 Community gardening and horticultural referral

Purpose and when: to combine mindful socialising with seasonal tasks like sowing, weeding and harvesting. Berry describes horticultural therapy with people with schizophrenia and with nursing-home residents with dementia, gardening in prisons, and community gardening as a platform of the mental health charity Mind (UK) since 2007. Use it for isolation, low mood and the need for structure. [source: Berry 2023; see the horticultural therapy and care farming guides]
Steps: (1) Explore the client's interest and physical capacity, including allergies, back problems, tetanus status if handling soil (check with their GP), and sun exposure. [synthesis] (2) Identify local community gardens, therapeutic horticulture projects or social prescribing routes (see 015). (3) Prepare the client: what a first visit is like, what to say about themselves, and how to leave if overwhelmed. (4) Debrief after early visits, and frame continued attendance as behavioural activation and social connection (II 040). (5) Review over the seasons.
Example language (illustrative): "Would it help to plan what you'll say when you arrive, and what you'll do if you want a break?"
Watch for: social anxiety, pressure to perform physically, and dropout after bad weather. It is working when attendance is sustained and the client reports belonging and mood benefit.

4.14 Exploring eco-anxiety, eco-grief and related distress in individual therapy

Purpose and when: when the client brings distress about environmental loss or climate change. Buzzell names eco-anxiety, eco-grief, eco-trauma, eco-despair, solastalgia and "waking up syndrome", and sees ecotherapists as able to respond to communities after environmental trauma. Roszak's framework treats such concern as care for the world, not pathology. [source: Pacifica interview; Roszak 1992; steps synthesis]
Steps: (1) Validate the concern as proportionate to real events, while assessing its intensity and its impact on function. (2) Distinguish grief, fear, anger, guilt and numbness, and explore personal triggers (news habits, work in climate science, parenting). (3) Screen for depression, anxiety disorders, OCD-type checking or scrupulosity, and suicidality, and treat these with evidence-based methods where present. (4) Explore meaning, values and what is in the client's control. (5) Support grieving specific losses: a place, a species, an imagined future. (6) Link to action (4.17) and community (4.15, 4.16) as the client chooses.
Example language (illustrative): "It makes sense to feel this given what you know. I'd like to understand what it's like for you day to day, and whether it's getting in the way of things that matter."
Watch for: the therapist's own climate feelings shaping the session (seek supervision), dismissal, and hopelessness that masks a depressive episode. If the client expresses suicidal thoughts, follow standard risk assessment and safety planning, with crisis lines (988 in the US; Samaritans 116 123 in the UK and Ireland). It is working when the client can hold the concern without being overwhelmed and acts on their values.

4.15 Preparing for and debriefing a Good Grief Network group

Purpose and when: for clients who want a structured group for climate and ecological distress. The Good Grief Network, founded by LaUra Schmidt and Aimee Lewis Reau, runs a ten-step programme as ten weekly two-hour meetings on Zoom. Groups are capped at 15 including two GGN-trained facilitators. GGN calls it a peer support group and states that it "is not a therapy program", asking participants to look after themselves. [source: GGN 10 Steps page]
Steps: (1) Check fit: the client is stable enough for a non-clinical group and can manage a commitment to weekly online meetings. (2) Explain that the group is not therapy and agree whether individual therapy continues alongside it. (3) Agree a plan for distress after meetings. (4) Debrief periodically: what is resonating, what is hard, and any conflict with therapy goals. (5) Review at the end of the series.
Example language (illustrative): "This group is run by trained facilitators, but it isn't therapy, so let's keep our sessions going and use them to process what comes up."
Watch for: the group becoming a substitute for needed treatment, or group dynamics that leave the client more distressed. It is working when the client reports feeling less alone and more able to act.

4.16 Climate cafés: referral, or facilitation as a clinician

Purpose and when: a climate café is an experiential group where participants discuss their thoughts and feelings about climate change, guided by a facilitator. Climate Psychology Alliance North America (CPA-NA) trains clinicians to host them on psycho-social principles. It states that these groups are "not therapy groups", that facilitators give no individual psychotherapeutic or medical advice, and that participation does not replace diagnosis or treatment. CPA-NA offers a toolkit and a facilitator support group. [source: CPA-NA workshop page]
Steps (referral): as for 4.15. Steps (facilitating): (1) Complete the organisation's facilitator training. (2) State the non-therapy frame at the start of every café. (3) Do not take group members who are your clients, or manage that dual role explicitly (APA Ethics Code Standard 3.05). (4) Signpost participants who need more to clinical services. (5) Use the facilitator support group or supervision.
Example language (illustrative): "This is a space to share how we're feeling, not to fix things or give advice. If anyone needs more support afterwards, I can point you to options."
Watch for: sliding into group therapy without consent, contract or clinical safeguards, and your own clients attending. It is working when participants report feeling heard and connected.

4.17 Ecological responsibility and action as part of recovery

Purpose and when: Roszak holds that the ecological ego matures into felt responsibility that is carried into social and political life, and that small-scale, democratic forms nourish it. Berry describes habitat rehabilitation and community gardening as ecotherapeutic responses to eco-anxiety. Use this when the client wants to act. [source: Roszak 1992; Berry 2023; steps synthesis using behavioural activation (II 040)]
Steps: (1) Clarify the client's values about place and planet. (2) Brainstorm actions of a manageable size: local conservation volunteering, a community garden, a group, household changes. (3) Choose one that also meets their own needs, such as connection, structure or meaning. (4) Schedule it and review it like any activation task. (5) Watch the balance with rest.
Example language (illustrative): "What's one thing, small enough to actually happen, that would feel like caring for the place you live?"
Watch for: compulsive over-responsibility, activist burnout and guilt-driven action. Never impose your own politics. It is working when action feels sustaining rather than depleting.

4.18 Exploring patterns of domination, control and consumption

Purpose and when: Roszak's seventh principle calls for re-evaluating compulsively "masculine" traits that drive domination of nature, drawing on ecofeminism. Use this when a client links their own distress to overwork, control, acquisition or relentless striving. Gomes and Kanner also contributed to this strand of the 1995 anthology [uncertain: chapter title and content not verified]. [source: Roszak 1992; steps synthesis]
Steps: (1) Follow the client's lead on the theme. (2) Explore where the pattern came from: family, culture, work. (3) Explore its costs to the self, relationships and surroundings. (4) Identify alternatives the client values, such as slowing down or receptivity. (5) Experiment with small changes and review them.
Example language (illustrative): "You've described always needing to be in control and on the go. What does that cost you, and what would 'slowing down' look like in a week like yours?"
Watch for: imposing gendered or ideological interpretations, and shaming. It is working when the client chooses changes that reduce strain.

4.19 Everyday deep listening as ongoing practice

Purpose and when: Berry describes ecotherapy homework not as set tasks but as inviting clients to inhabit their lives with "deep listening and expanded awareness". Use it in maintenance and ending. Berry also describes Dadirri, an Aboriginal practice of inner, deep listening and quiet, still awareness, attributed to Miriam Rose Ungunmerr Baumann, who advocates it for all Australians. Learn about Dadirri from Aboriginal sources and teachers, and do not present yourself as teaching it without that grounding. [source: Berry 2023; synthesis on cultural authority]
Steps: (1) Invite the client to choose daily moments for unhurried noticing, such as the walk to the bus or the morning window. (2) Ask them to notice without agenda. (3) Review what has changed in their attention and mood.
Example language (illustrative): "Rather than homework, I'd invite you to notice: a few moments a day of really listening to where you are."
Watch for: the practice becoming another obligation to fail at. It is working when the client describes more presence and calm.

4.20 Referral to, preparation for and debriefing of intensive nature programmes

Purpose and when: Roszak names wilderness experience among the routes to recovering the ecological ego, and Buzzell and Chalquist list wilderness adventures, rites of passage and animal-assisted therapies among the forms of ecotherapy. Buzzell calls wilderness therapy highly transformative because of its intense contact with nature that humans do not control. Use this for clients who want more than office-based work. [source: Roszak 1992; Berry 2023; Pacifica interview; steps synthesis; see the wilderness, forest bathing, animal-assisted and Work That Reconnects guides]
Steps: (1) Evaluate the programme: accreditation, staff qualifications, safety record, medical screening, consent and, for young people, assent and family involvement. Refuse coercive programmes (see 025). (2) Prepare the client for intensity, physical demands and group living. (3) Agree contact and crisis arrangements. (4) Debrief after the programme, and support integration back into everyday life.
Example language (illustrative): "Before you go, let's think about what you hope for, what might be hard out there, and how you'll bring it back into everyday life."
Watch for: destabilisation after intense experiences, and difficulty returning home. It is working when insights are carried into daily life.

4.21 Integrating nature experiences into ongoing therapy

Purpose and when: after any between-session nature practice or programme, to link the experience to formulation and goals. [synthesis]
Steps: (1) Ask what happened, in sensory detail. (2) Ask what it meant and what it stirred up. (3) Link it to current themes. (4) Decide together what to continue.
Example language (illustrative): "What stayed with you from the weekend? Where do you notice it now?"
Watch for: idealising or dismissing the experience. It is working when experiences become part of the client's own narrative of change.

5. Handling problems

The sources give limited guidance on problems. The responses below come from James et al. (2021) where cited and are otherwise [synthesis].

The client finds nature talk irrelevant or "woo". Drop the theoretical framing. Offer only concrete, practical elements (a walking session, a window exercise), or none at all. Ecopsychology is an option, never a requirement. [synthesis]
Stuck: practices feel flat or routine. Change the sense channel or the place. Go back to the childhood memory (4.2) or the metaphor work (4.8), or ask what the client is avoiding noticing. [synthesis]
Non-adherence with sit spot or daily practice. Reframe it as an invitation rather than homework (Berry). Shrink it to something tiny, attach it to an existing routine, and explore barriers such as weather, safety and time. [source: Berry 2023; synthesis]
Overwhelm or dissociation outdoors. Stop, ground (4.5), sit, and return indoors if needed. Afterwards, revise the contract and the pacing. In James et al., rain, cold or unsuitable clothing sometimes led to sessions moving indoors, and some clients with high outdoor anxiety had lower comfort ratings. [source: James et al. 2021; synthesis]
Being overheard or recognised. Use the strategy agreed at contracting: pause, change wording, or move. James et al. found that clients differed on whether pauses helped. Afterwards, check with the client what it was like. [source: James et al. 2021]
Boundary drift towards friendship. Name the frame: keep time, keep the opening and closing check-ins, and avoid incidental socialising such as cafés and shared lifts. James et al. note that psychologists needed to monitor this actively. [source: James et al. 2021; synthesis on specifics]
Ruptures. These can come from the therapist pushing outdoor work, a misjudged metaphor, or the therapist's climate views. Acknowledge them, take responsibility, and offer the indoor option. [synthesis]
Climate distress escalates into hopelessness or suicidality. Assess risk using standard practice, treat any comorbid depression or anxiety disorder with evidence-based methods, and give crisis resources (988 in the US; Samaritans 116 123 in the UK and Ireland). Reduce news exposure if the client agrees. Do not frame despair as simply an accurate reading of the world. [synthesis]
The therapist's own eco-distress or activism. Use supervision. Do not recruit clients to causes. Notice when you are reassuring yourself. [synthesis]
Outdoor places linked to trauma. Do not use them as resources. Offer trauma-focused treatment, and approach nature work only gradually and with consent. [synthesis]
Access, disability and safety barriers. Use indoor and urban ecotherapy (4.7), step-free sites and seating. Acknowledge that some groups face harassment or racism in green spaces, and never imply that a client's lack of nature contact is a personal failing. [synthesis]
Physical incidents (falls, stings, allergic reactions, tick bites, heat or cold). Follow your emergency plan, record the incident, review your risk assessment, and inform your insurer where required. Route water-related activity to RNLI, Outdoor Swimming Society or Swim England guidance and see 022 and X 196. [synthesis]
A client asks you to guide them in an Indigenous or religious practice. Unless you hold recognised standing in that tradition, explore what draws them and connect them with teachers and communities who hold that authority. [synthesis]
Group participant needs more than a climate group can offer. Climate groups state that they are not therapy, so signpost to clinical care and do not convert the group into therapy. [source: GGN; CPA-NA]
Overpromising. Describe the evidence honestly: nature-based activities show benefits for mood and anxiety in reviews (Coventry et al. 2021), but the ecological unconscious is a theoretical proposal, not a finding. [source: Coventry et al. 2021; Roszak 1992]

Sources

Web sources:

Books cited:

Roszak, T. (1992). The Voice of the Earth. Simon & Schuster.
Roszak, T., Gomes, M. E., & Kanner, A. D. (Eds.) (1995). Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind. Sierra Club Books.
Buzzell, L., & Chalquist, C. (Eds.) (2009). Ecotherapy: Healing with Nature in Mind. Sierra Club Books.
Burns, G. (1998). Nature-guided therapy (as cited by Berry 2023) [uncertain: not verified].
Cooley, S. J., et al. (2020), on talking therapy outdoors (as cited by Berry 2023) [uncertain: not verified].

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