Upstream

Although many therapists are beginning to understand the importance of the natural world in healing and overall mental health — for example by recommending “time in nature” to help with depression and other mental health challenges — very few also address the connected issues of economic and racial justice. Things such as a lack of access to nature, the high cost of eco-therapeutic offerings, the lack of diversity and cultural competency among practitioners, and the fact that communities of color are disproportionately impacted by climate catastrophes and are far more likely to live in areas with heavy pollution.  What if therapy were to be able to help us heal not just at the individual level, but also at the collective levels and in the realm of the ecological as well as the social? Continuing on from our recent conversation with Daniel José Gaztambide Nuñez and Harriet Fraad, this episode takes a deeper dive into a branch of Liberation Psychology: Liberation Ecotherapy — which weaves together reconnecting