ABSTRACT: This paper considers the position of the counselling and psychotherapy profession within the context of the Climate and Ecological Emergency (CEE) and the profession's responsibility in addressing it. The paper frames the CEE as a social justice issue driven by power structures such as colonialism, oppression and capitalism, which has its roots in intersubjective dynamics that must be addressed by the profession. The paper takes the view that the profession is part of the social ecosystem and must therefore take an active stance in beginning to question its own position and complicity in the CEE. Using an interpretative phenomenological approach (IPA), six counsellors and psychotherapists in the United Kingdom concerned about the CEE were interviewed to explore their personal thoughts and feelings and how it manifested in their clinical work. Socio-cultural and political issues in therapy and therapy training, difficulties in clinical work, and the need for sustainable thinking in the profession were identified. In arguing for an ecosystemic approach to counselling and psychotherapy — where the relational space is expanded to include extra-psychic realities — this paper bases its reasoning for new approaches on themes identified in the interviews.
Climate Change on the Couch: How Psychotherapy Can Respond to the Climate and Ecological Emergency – and Why It Should (Part 1)
ABSTRACT: This paper considers the position of the counselling and psychotherapy profession within the context of the Climate and Ecological Emergency (CEE) and the profession's responsibility in addressing it. The paper frames the CEE as a social justice issue driven by power structures such as colonialism, oppression and capitalism, which has its roots in intersubjective dynamics that must be addressed by the profession. The paper takes the view that the profession is part of the social ecosystem and must therefore take an active stance in beginning to question its own position and complicity in the CEE. Using an interpretative phenomenological approach (IPA), six counsellors and psychotherapists in the United Kingdom concerned about the CEE were interviewed to explore their personal thoughts and feelings and how it manifested in their clinical work. Socio-cultural and political issues in therapy and therapy training, difficulties in clinical work, and the need for sustainable thinking in the profession were identified. In arguing for an ecosystemic approach to counselling and psychotherapy — where the relational space is expanded to include extra-psychic realities — this paper bases its reasoning for new approaches on themes identified in the interviews.
Brigitta Mowat
I'm an integrative psychotherapist in private practice. I have been seeing clients for 23 years. I'm currently a joint head of the first year of the Masters Programme at the Minster Center where I teach and offer training supervision. I am deeply engaged with the Climate and Ecological Emergency CEE. In 2022 I published some research which explored how counsellors and psychotherapists think and feel about the CEE and how, or whether, their clients bring their concerns about the CEE. I designed and currently facilitate a training weekend at the Minster Centre for trainee counsellors and psychotherapists on eco-anxiety and environmental trauma. I'm deeply invested in decolonising counselling and psychotherapy training at the Minster Centre. I believe that Western history of colonialism and neo-colonialism, and our collective and unconscious compliancy with capitalism and neoliberalism have created the CEE.
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ABSTRACT (Open Access, CC BY 4.0): Climate change is already having unequal effects on the mental health of individuals and communities and will increasingly compound pre-existing mental health inequalities globally. Psychiatrists have a vital part to play in improving both awareness and scientific understanding of structural mechanisms that perpetuate these inequalities, and in responding to global calls for action to promote climate justice and resilience, which are central foundations for good mental and physical health. The authors highlight the interconnectedness of inequality, climate and ecological destruction, and adverse mental health outcomes, and propose a model for mental health practice and research that promotes climate justice and resilience.
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