Eartheart Ecotherapy
Vocational & Creative Ecotherapy courses tailored to support growing your career with Nature as Co-therapist
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The healing of nature is not new. It is ancient and currently Ecotherapy is increasingly being sought after to expand treatment options in healthcare and community. Our Eco-self is activated - the deeper, saner, most authentic self that remembers its part in a profoundly relational univere.”
KERRYN COOMBS-VALEONTIS
Founder | Eartheart Ecotherapy
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”Trees and soils, streams and skies, animals and insects are coparticipants – subjects in their own right, with their own precious needs and freedoms to preserve. If willing, they can be our partners in establishing a healing sense of belonging and homecoming in a world riven by displacement.”
LINDA BUZZALL / CRAIG CHALQUIST
Ecotherapy Healing with Nature in Mind
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Q: How does Eartheart Ecotherapy training compare with other providers?
A: Eartheart Ecotherapy is unique in its approach in a diversity of ways. It offers a contemplative approach to learning, that values reflection and deep listening in nature. It has a central vocational context that prepares you for the realities of the application of Ecotherapy by offering you an opportunity to create and present groups at a student residential. Eartheart Ecotherapy supports the completion of a flexible Ecotherapy placement which can be with a practitioner, self-created, completed in an existing workplace, or a combination of all 3. Eartheart Ecotherapy differs from traditional structures in that it does not assess but supports conversational and creative options for assignments such as voice recordings, art/earth art creation, story and poetry etc. It also embeds a peer review and response process into assignments, to enhance connection in the online learning sphere.
Q: What is the philosophy behind Eartheart Ecotherapy?
A: Eartheart Ecotherapy believes that healing the human-nature relationship by awakening the eco-self, and fostering a deeper, more authentic connection with the natural world, is what is needed at such times. Inviting the personal and collective shift from ego-centric to eco-centric is foundational to this coursework.
Q: Who can benefit from Ecotherapy's courses?
A: Eartheart Ecotherapy's programs are ideal for professionals in human services, eco-entrepreneurs, and individuals seeking to integrate nature-based therapies into their practice. They also support those interested in personal growth through a deeper connection with nature. Eartheart Ecotherapy courses focus on integrating nature-based practices into therapeutic and/or community settings. Established in 2018, Eartheart Ecotherapy courses provide recognition in this developing field, as they are approved by IICT ( international Institute of Complimentary Therapists.)
Q: What skills are essential for ecotherapy practitioners?
A: Essential skills include a relational sense of the ecological self, and a sense of wonder that fuels an understanding of eco-centricity and its relationship to healing, A desire to support others in this connectedness powered by empathy, is also essential. An understanding of ethics, risk management, and effective use of natural elements and group dynamics are also fundamental skills . An openness to working more deeply with nature as a co-therapist is foundational.
Q: Is ecotherapy training suitable for beginners?
A: Yes, the Certificate of Ecotherapy is designed for individuals new to the field as well as experienced professionals looking to expand their practice into nature-based therapies.
MORE FAQs
Q: What courses does Eartheart Ecotherapy provide?
A: Eartheart Ecotherapy provides a Certificate of Ecotherapy, consisting of four modules to be completed within one year, and an Advanced Certificate in Ecotherapy Groupwork, which includes 9 modules and a 50-hour community placement, to be completed within 2-3 years
Q: How are Eartheart Ecotherapy's courses delivered?
A: Eartheart Ecotherapy's courses are offered online, providing flexibility for participants worldwide to engage with the material at their own pace. A variety of opportunities for face-to-face connection with other students are embedded into both courses.
Q: What are the benefits of ecotherapy?
A: Engaging in ecotherapy through Eartheart Ecotherapy fosters a deeper sense of connection to the environment as well as self and others. Research indicates that spending time in nature positively impacts mental health and improves wellbeing. Research also supports an increased sense of wonder, vitality, and compassion for self and others. Bio-chemically, stress responses of cortisol and adrenalin are reduced and serotonin and dopamine are increased in nature. This is a frequently asked question?
Q: What are the job opportunities after completing ecotherapy training?
A: Graduates can apply and integrate their nature-based therapeutic skills into existing roles in human services e.g. youth work, child services, education, counseling, project leaders, environmental projects etc. to increase and emphasize nature-based therapies. The Advanced Certificate in Ecotherapy Groupwork is specially designed to support graduates to create work opportunities within their communities as ecological imaginaries. Eartheart Ecotherapy courses are vocationally oriented.
Q: What is the cost of the Certificate of Ecotherapy?
A: The Certificate of Ecotherapy at Eartheart Ecotherapy is priced at AUD $1,500, with payment plans available to accommodate various financial situations.
Q: What does the Advanced Certificate of Ecotherapy Groupwork entail?
A: The Advanced Certificate at Eartheart Ecotherapy includes nine modules and a supported 50-hour community placement, designed to prepare participants to work as group facilitators of ecotherapy groups. It builds upon the foundational Certificate program.
Q: How can I enroll in Eartheart Ecotherapy's courses?
A: To enroll in Eartheart Ecotherapy's courses, request further enrolment information or schedule a conversation, contact via the button below.
What students are saying
Why Study Ecotherapy?
Work from your relationship with Nature
A skilled facilitator working with nature as co-therapist, can invite awakenings of the eco-imagination and the eco-self is enlivened more impactfully.
Be part of what the world needs
The founder of Deep Ecology Arne Naess says that community therapies are needed, to awaken the eco-unconscious, and remember our integral interconnection to nature and heal human/nature split.
Build An Ecological Society
“Ecotherapy is Ecopsychology’s success story” Be part of a therapy that builds an ecological society and is much cultural and social, as it is personal.
Inexpensive (for you and your participants)
Ecotherapy answers urgent questions of our times, with methods offering a spectrum of relatively inexpensive earth-based healing approaches that support self-healing, informed by a rapidly growing evidence base.