In a world where a global pandemic violently swept our lives empty of its social experiences, and threw our clients and a whole generation of kids into disconnect, where and how can we plug back into each other? Our clinical work was overwhelmed by the intensity of fear, agitation and an unsettling divide that set in. Therapeutic relationships and our ability to co-regulate with clients was forced onto a tiny screen, while we sat alone in separate rooms. Many of us are still working this way, but is it working? How are we actually?
Nature is the nurture for the heart of our connection. It is the way back for all of us. Nature is the gentle and subtle medicine that our nervous systems need. We can use eco-regulation, the calming regulating effect of being in nature, as the starting place for turning off the screens and back on to each other. For our clients, nature can open the path to safety and reconnection, the state and conditions where healing becomes possible. You are invited to come explore the wild communion that is Ecotherapy.
Learning Objectives:
- Examine our responsibility as therapists to self and socially regulate the therapeutic relationship.
- Describe the 4-types of nervous system regulation; eco-regulation, self-regulation, co-regulation and theo-regulation with a focus on how to use eco-regulation as the foundational therapeutic practice both for therapist and client.
- Chronicle how Ecotherapy provides the context for generating healing through connection with nature, connection with self and the integral connection with therapist.