Professional Online Ecotherapy
Certificate Program – Level 1

Class #4 OUTDOOR ECOTHERAPY: PRACTICALITIES & GUIDELINES

We explore various elements of outdoor sessions, including practical considerations and thematic content. How does outdoor work impact the therapeutic relationship, and how does it affect and support a client’s goals? What are logistical, legal, and ethical issues to consider? Live and recorded ecotherapy demonstrations illuminate different styles and therapeutic issues. Participants will facilitate an outdoor session and write a summary to integrate the concepts and practices.

We draw from Jordan, Stein, & Candell

Class #5 ECOTHERAPY & THE WORK THAT RECONNECTS

With the understanding that the dominant culture of Earth exploitation is unsustainable, we explore the Work That Reconnects as an expanded framework for understanding and attending to client depression, anxiety, and grief. We experience the Work That Reconnects Spiral: Coming from Gratitude, Honoring our Pain for the World, Seeing with New and Ancient Eyes and Going Forth- feeling how our interconnectedness with all of life inspires our empowered action to care for the world. We offer tools and toys to work with eco-grief and challenging emotions stemming from our climate crisis.

We draw from: Macy, Cameron, Anthony, Pavel, & Candell

Class #6 OUTDOOR GROUPS, WORKSHOPS & RITUALS: THE VALUE OF COMMUNITY

Outdoor workshops and rituals are powerful ways to reconnect with community and Earth. We share elements of ritual and practical considerations for creating culturally-sensitive outdoor workshops that develop community, promote ecotherapeutic values, and invite participants into intimate relationships with the more-than-human world. We learn practical steps to create a safe, respectful experience for groups outdoors, including building community, deepening content, integration and closure. Participants create an outline for a group workshop or ritual.

We draw from: Macy, Cameron, Anthony, Pavel, & Candell

Musenge Luchembe, LMFT, Ecotherapist, is a licensed psychotherapist in private practice. She has training in Hakomi Mindfulness-Centered Somatic Psychotherapy, Reiki, Acupressure, and Authentic Movement and earned her Ecotherapy Certificate from The Earthbody Institute in 2018. Some populations Musenge has worked with include immigrants and refugees with environmental and war trauma as well as social activists and  people of color in the LBGTQ+ community.

Musenge’s advocacy and appreciation for nature began in the tropical forests that surrounded her childhood home in her native country of Zambia. Musenge moved frequently as child but always made friends with the trees and animals around her until she moved to the United States as teenager. After a difficult transition to California, Musenge was able to reconnect with nature, feel safe in her new home and deepen her spiritual connection to nature through participating in several years of ecotherapy sessions.

Musenge supports her clients in experiencing a similar sense of freedom, creativity and healing at Edwin Warner Park, in Nashville, TN. In addition to Urban Ecotherapy, Musenge also practices Indoor Ecotherapy and Animal Assisted Therapy with her Chihuahua/Terrier, Doobie, as well as provides workshops for other healers.

Musenge enjoys walking the trails with her partner and young son, tending to her indoor and outdoor plants, listening to live music on the grass at Centennial Park, canoeing the Harpeth River and trying out new ethnic dishes. www.musengetherapy.com

 

 

Amanda Morrison, LMFT, MA, Somatic Ecotherapist, is a licensed psychotherapist who weaves earth wisdom and body awareness to help people recover a deeper sense of connection to themselves and the world around them. She has been passionate about the healing power of nature since she left her high tech career in 2002 to explore her own relationship to nature. This life changing pursuit led her down the path of becoming a therapist and focusing on ecopsychology as a vehicle for personal and collective healing.

For the past decade she has specialized in using ecotherapy to help people heal from early childhood trauma and to find long term recovery from addiction and other mental health issues. She is the creator of the Bayside Marin Ecotherapy Program, a premier residential dual-diagnosis treatment center in San Rafael, CA. The program Amanda created uses horticultural therapy and other ecotherapeutic approaches to help people access the wisdom and healing power of nature as part of their recovery from addiction. Previously Amanda worked in the Insight Garden program in San Quentin, where she facilitated ecotherapy groups for incarcerated men serving time in prison.

Amanda graduated from the Somatic Psychotherapy program at the California Institute of Integral Studies and has training in various somatic and ecotherapeutic modalities, including: Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), Authentic Movement, Somatic Experiencing, Hakomi, The Work that Reconnects, and various rites of passage practices. In addition to her clinical work, Amanda spent 10 years as an adjunct professor at CIIS, where she taught an experiential ecopsychology course, as well as various other interdisciplinary courses to undergraduate students, with a strong focus on ecopsychology, somatics, and social justice. Her article “Embodying Sentience” was published in the book, Ecotherapy, Healing with Nature in Mind.  Currently, Amanda has a private practice in San Francisco and in the East Bay where she sees clients both in the office and on the trails of the East Bay Regional Parks. Amanda is an avid gardener and hiker. Her own daily nature practice keeps her grounded in her body and connected to the land as she navigates these unpredictable but exciting times we are living through.
https://www.amandamorrisonmft.com/

 

 

 

 

Yvonne McGaughey, she/her/ella, is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist in California (and approved telehealth provider for Florida), Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA), and a Lifestyle Medicine Professional that is Board Certified through the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. She is first generation to the United States and fluent in Spanish. Yvonne’s matrilineage is Afro Cuban (from West and North Africa/ Spaniard) and patrilineage is Nahua-Pipil and Lenca from El Salvador.

Yvonne is a highly skilled, compassionate, empathetic, and solutions-oriented therapist and health educator dedicated to providing exceptional care and implementing effective treatment plans for children, adolescents, and adults experiencing physical and mental health concerns. Working one-to-one and group settings with diverse populations–ranging from women coming from domestic violence situations to children on the verge of being wards of court, to those with eating disorders–she strives to increase opportunities for connection through mindfulness and ecotherapeutic practices.

Yvonne sees nature as a context to better know her higher power and connect to God. Yvonne recognizes when she is nature-deficient and often needs to reset in this way. The practice of ecotherapy has afforded her the opportunity to welcome this to her professional life. Yvonne’s rejuvenating source of power is water, and therefore is a water seeker. She loves to visit the ocean, waterfalls, creeks, rivers, and lakes, and has even been known to lay down in a puddle. Yvonne is very active and engages in activities such as hiking, kayaking, swimming, scuba, snorkeling, walking, and playing frisbee with her dog just so she can get outside.

Yvonne is currently a visitor on Najavait lands, raised in Tamenoga land of the Fernandino Tataviam band of the native Serrano people currently known as Lancaster, CA, part of as an area known as the Antelope Valley, within the Mojave Desert.

Johnette C. Walser, MSW, LCSW, RYT-200hr, Somatic Ecotherapist and Psychotherapist, she/her/hers, is a dark skinned, Black, cis gendered, queer, neurotypical, college educated, able bodied, middle class woman. She resides in Greensboro, NC, which is on Keyauwee and Saura land.

She is a licensed clinical social worker, therapist, somatic practitioner and teacher, yoga and mindfulness teacher, change agent, circle keeper and professor.

Johnette has a Bachelors Degree in Social Work from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a Masters Degree in Social Work from The Joint MSW Program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and NC A&T State University. Johnette is currently working full time as a Professor in the Joint Masters of Social Work Program teaching clinical social work courses to MSW students. She also works in private practice supporting Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC), including Queer and Trans BIPOC individuals, as they journey towards healing trauma, recognizing their wholeness and moving toward liberation.​

Johnette graduated from the Skill in Action: Yoga & Social Justice 200hr Yoga Teacher Training Program and is Usui II Reiki Certified. She has additional training in ecotherapy from the Earth Body Institute and via her own experiential and lineage based practices. Johnette is also trained in antiracism practices, somatics, poly-vagal theory, mindfulness-based stress reduction and other mindfulness techniques. She uses this knowledge to facilitate workshops, retreats, small groups, and individual healing.

Johnette is licensed through the International Institute for Restorative Practices as a Restorative Practices Trainer and conducts restorative justice training for educators and communities. She is also trained in circle work processes, and facilitate conversations around race and intersectionality with college-aged students and uses her knowledge of restorative and healing justice to facilitate collective care circles in the community.

Johnette’s connection with nature began at a young age, playing in her great grandparents’ yard and in her grandfather’s garden. This love of the outdoors has extended itself into hiking, kayaking, outdoor collective care circles. mindfulness and movement, and waterfall chasing. She has a particular love of water and is Waterfall Keeper of North Carolina, having adopted two waterfalls to care for. Johnette utilizes her love of nature to facilitate connection with self, with others and with the world. She believes in wholeness and healing and in the liberating powers of nature, rest, community, and connection.

Rev. Connie L. Habash, MA, LMFT, Ecotherapist, is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, yoga & meditation teacher, interfaith minister, and author of Awakening from Anxiety: A Spiritual Guide to Living a More Calm, Confident, and Courageous Life. Since 1993, she has taught yoga classes, workshops, and 3 yoga teacher trainings in the SF Bay Area, focusing on practical yoga philosophy, spirituality, Sanskrit, ayurvedic yoga, and meditation. Connie became licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist in 1999, integrating body, mind, heart, and spirit in her work with individuals, couples, and groups.

Her love of nature and ecotherapy began with programs through Gaia Passages at the Artemis Wilderness Camp, and the Art of Mentoring with 8 Shields Institute since 2014. Deep nature connection quickly became a foundation of her classes and programs, and she began her Ecotherapy training with the Earthbody Institute in 2018.

Over the last 29 years, she has helped thousands of students and clients overcome stress, anxiety, depression and spiritually awaken. Rev. Connie is passionate about deepening spirituality through nature. She creates a safe, heart-centered, nurturing space to awaken, grow, and serve the planet in her online community, Awakening Women of the Earth (AWE), as well as her other online programs, in-person retreats, workshops, and Ecotherapy sessions in the San Francisco Bay Area. Discover more at her website: https://www.AwakeningSelf.com/

 

 

 

 

Kellum Lewis, MA, MFA, LMFT, (he/him), is a seasoned psychotherapist based in what is now called Pasadena, California, (on Kizh/Tongva/Gabrieleño territory) with a wealth of experience in the fields of clinical psychotherapy, ecopsychology, ecotherapy, teaching, and LGBTQ+ health and advocacy. Using integrative ideas from Jungian, psychodynamic and ecologically-based psychotherapies, Kellum specializes in addressing LGBTQ+ issues, relationship concerns, depression, anxiety, HIV/AIDS, and spiritual/religious crises. He is passionate about the central role LGBTQ+ people play in supporting humankind toward a more balanced, equitable, and sustainable future.

In addition to clinical practice, Kellum is actively involved in teaching and education. He currently supervises Associate psychotherapists and trainees for two community mental health clinics as well as in his own private group practice. He is the founder and Clinical Director of Clarity and Growth Center for Psychotherapy and has served as an adjunct instructor at Antioch University, Los Angeles, where he taught a variety of courses, including Ecopsychology, Spiritual Perspectives on Addiction, and Gay Male Identity Development. He also offers a free, once-a-month land-based ecotherapy training for aspiring ecotherapists in the Los Angeles area.

Kellum’s dedication to raising awareness and enhancing mental health standards is demonstrated through his participation on the Los Angeles County HIV/AIDS Mental Health Task Force and the Los Angeles County Commission on HIV Services. He is also a published author whose work brings insight into the importance of emotional well-being, psychotherapy, and the search for soulful connections with the more-than-human world.

With an educational background that includes a Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University and a Master of Fine Arts in Acting from DePaul University, Kellum brings a unique blend of artistic creativity and clinical expertise to his therapeutic work. He is most passionate about assisting LGBTQ+ people find healing from the wounds of homophobia and heterosexism as well as promoting sustainable and life-enhancing futures by supporting people interested in ecopsychology and ecological-mindedness. On a personal note, Kellum loves to garden, cook, and is cat-dad to Milo and ZuZu, and dog-dad to Ellie and Rufus. Discover more at his website: https://www.clarityandgrowthcenter.com/