Promoting Practitioner Well-Being: Practical Strategies for

Coping with the Emotional Toll of Conservation Work

This webinar will explore ways that global climate change and other environmental and social issues impact people’s mood and well-being and how to support conservation professionals, volunteers, and the general public during turbulent times.

Tuesday, March 19, 2019 12:00-1:00 PM EDT

Presenter: Dr. Thomas Doherty

Sustainable Self, LLC

N E W D I R E C T I O N S I N C O N S E R V A T I O N P S Y C H O L O G Y W E B I N A R S E R I E S

NEW DIRECTIONS IN CONSERVATION PSYCHOLOGY WEBINAR SERIES

Promoting Practitioner Well-Being: Practical Strategies for Coping with the Emotional Toll of Conservation Work

Presenter: Dr. Thomas Doherty Sustainable Self, LLC

Thomas Doherty is a clinical and environmental psychologist based in Portland, Oregon. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA), a Past President of the Society for Environmental, Population and Conservation Psychology, and was a member of the APA Task Force on Global Climate Change. Dr. Doherty collaborated with Carol Saunders on the founding of the Antioch Conservation Psychology Institute.

Dr. Joy Ackerman is a Core Faculty member in the Environmental Studies Department at Antioch University New England, where she serves as Director of Conservation Psychology. Joy teaches graduate courses including Conservation Psychology, Ecological Thought, and Making Sense of Place. Joy advises students in the Conservation Psychology Certificate Program, the Self-Designed M.S. in Environmental Studies, and doctoral students with interests in spirituality, place and nature experience. She received her Ph.D. in environmental studies from Antioch University, focusing on sacred geography through researching Walden Pond as a place of pilgrimage. She is interested in the phenomenology of place experience, environmental and ecological identity, and how people experience, develop and articulate their connection with nature.

Moderator: Dr. Joy Ackerman Co-Director, Conservation

Psychology Institute Antioch University New England

NEW DIRECTIONS IN CONSERVATION PSYCHOLOGY WEBINAR SERIES Promoting Practitioner Well-Being: Practical Strategies for

Coping with the Emotional Toll of Conservation Work

Webinar Logistics

• Everyone should be connected via Audio Broadcast upon entering the webinar You do not need to call in and you are automatically muted

• The presentation will be recorded and posted to the Antioch web site within one week

• Please submit any questions you have for the presenter in the Q& A section

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NEW DIRECTIONS IN CONSERVATION PSYCHOLOGY WEBINAR SERIES Promoting Practitioner Well-Being: Practical Strategies for

Coping with the Emotional Toll of Conservation Work

Promoting Practitioner Well-Being: Practical Strategies for Coping with the Emotional

Toll of Conservation Work

Thomas J. Doherty, Psy.D. Sustainable Self, LLC

References

• American Psychological Association/ecoAmerica. (2014). Beyond storms & droughts: The psychological impacts of climate change. Retrieved

from http://ecoamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/eA_Beyond_Storms_and_Droughts_Psych_Impacts_of_Climate_Change.pdf

• Clayton, S. (2003). Environmental Identity: A Conceptual and an Operational Definition. In S. Clayton & S. Opotow (Eds.), Identity and the natural environment: The

psychological significance of nature (pp. 45-65). Cambridge, MA, US: MIT Press.

• Cunsolo, A. and Ellis, N. (2018). Ecological grief as a mental health response to climate change-related loss. Nature Climate Change, 8: 275-281.

• Doherty, T. J. (2018). Individual impacts and resilience. In Clayton & Manning (Eds.). Psychology and Climate Change. New York: Elsevier

• Doherty, T. J. & Clayton, S. (2011). The Psychological Impacts of Global Climate Change. American Psychologist, 66, 265–276

• Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56, 218-

226. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.56.3.218

• Holthaus, E. (2018, Nov. 18). The science of self-care: How climate researchers are coping with the U.N. report. grist.org. https://grist.org/article/the-science-of-self-

care-how-climate-researchers-are-coping-with-the-u-n-report/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=weekly

• Hulme, M. (2013). Why We Disagree about Climate Change. New York: Cambridge University Press

• Macy, J. & Brown, M. Y. (2014)(Rev. Ed.). Coming back to life: Practices to reconnect our lives, our world. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers.

• Maguth, B. M., Tomer, A. & Apanius, A. (2019) The Despair to Empowerment Curricular Curve in Global Education: Lessons From a Seventh-Grade World History

Classroom, The Social Studies, DOI: 10.1080/00377996.2018.1550046

• Obradovich, N. Migliorini, R. Paulus, M. P. & Rahwan, I. (2018). Empirical evidence of mental health risks posed by climate change. PNAS, 43, 10953 -10958.

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1801528115

• O’Hara, D (2018, June 7). Thomas Doherty Works at the Intersection of Psychology and Environmental Science. PsycIQ. American Psychological Association.

https://www.apa.org/members/your-growth/psychologist-profiles/view-more

• Randall, R. (2009) Loss and Climate Change: The Cost of Parallel Narratives. Ecopsychology, 3, 118-129.

• Saunders, C.D. & Myers, E. O (2003) Special Issue: Conservation Psychology. The Human Ecology Review, 10.

http://www.humanecologyreview.org/101abstracts.htm

• Stroebe, M. & Schut, H. (1999). The Dual Process Model of Coping with Bereavement: Rationale and Description. Death Studies. 3, 197–

224. doi:10.1080/074811899201046.

• Videos:

• Psychology & Nature: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SivBaQbD4k&list=PLRfHZ9wXKs6dptZx0YVwH0B-H0T4VOK57

• Blog Posts

• Two Ways to Cope When You Feel Bad about Environmental Issues: https://selfsustain.com/blog/two-ways-cope-feel-bad-environmental-issues/

• Nature-based Stress Reduction: https://selfsustain.com/blog/nature-based-stress-reduction/

• Why You Love the Earth: https://selfsustain.com/blog/why-you-love-the-earth/

Additional References

Remembering

Carol Saunders

http://www.humanecologyreview.org/101abstracts.htm

Let’s talk about talking

about Climate Change*

* And Other Environmental Issues

Discussing Environmental Issues:

Group Process Guidelines

• Provide Coaching re. Working with Ecological Topics (“"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else …” J. Muir)

• Honor and Validate Emotions (“One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds…” A. Leopold). Coach re. emotional dynamics (e.g., black and white thinking when stressed).

• Recognize that Environmental Issues are both highly Complicated and also Complex (i.e., “Wicked Problems”)

• Acknowledge that Social Justice, Intersectionality (e.g., Gender, Race) and Structural Inequalities are Intrinsic to Environmental Risks and Impacts

• Note the Importance of Personal and Cultural Identity / Promote Multicultural Competency and Cultural Humility

• Recognize Limits of Expert Knowledge and Avoid Professional or Academic Silo Disputes (Parable of the “Blind Men and the Elephant”) (See Hulme, 2013)

• Balance a Grief and Despair Focus with a Positive “Broaden and Build Perspective” (Use Personal Examples your Audience Can Identify With.) (See Holthaus, 2018) (See also the “Despair and Empowerment Curve”)

Climate Change Psychology:

Natural vs. Technological

Disasters, etc.

Doherty, T. J. & Clayton, S. (2011). The Psychological Impacts of Global Climate Change. American Psychologist, 66, 265–276

Mainstream Acceptance of

Climate Impacts and Emotions

Mental Health Impacts: From Theory to Evidence

Being a “Climate Hostage”

Framing a Coping

Response

Big Issues

Limited Personal Resources

Overwhelm

Adopt a Personal Sustainability Perspective

Work on the Foundation, (Re)Build Capacity to Take on the Big Issues

Work on the Foundation

Rest

Diet

Exercise

Friends

Daily Work

Family Projects

Relationships

Spirituality

Build Capacity for the Big Projects

Parenting Home Finances

Etc.

Daily Acts

Frequent Acts

Sense of momentum,

being grounded, a

“center of gravity,”

balance…

Dual Processes for Addressing

Environmental Emotions

Macy’s “The Work that

Reconnects”

Despair and Empowerment

Fredrickson’s “Broaden &

Build Theory”

The “Despair and Empowerment Curve”

Ecological

Grief

Dual Process Model

of Coping with Bereavement

Balancing Grief and Despair Work

with a Positive “Broaden and Build

Perspective.”

1. This will provide flexible strategies to promote safe expression

of feelings and beliefs and to support creative and solution-

oriented responses.

2. People will tend to gravitate to one approach or the other based

on their temperament and personal preferences.

3. Promote Openness and Acceptance of Different Coping Styles.

4. Recognize Risk of Sharing Emotions in Some Professional or

Personal Contexts.

Insight: “When it comes to

the environment, we have

Issues and we have issues.”

Our personal temperament and vulnerabilities are always intertwined

with how we see the world and evaluate threats and possibilities.

Having insight about personal dynamics allows for more energy,

effectiveness, and resiliency in attacking the global Issues.

Self Help Books That Can Be Applied for

Environmental Anxiety or Depression

• The Upward Spiral, Alex Korb

• Hardwiring Happiness, Rick Hanson

Climate Media

Climate News and Info?

All bad news, all the time?

Again, First work on the Foundation . Focus on local knowledge, learning

about your community and region, and accessing uplifting sources of

information about the environment (e.g., nature literature, local climate

action plans). Build capacity for taking in troubling and complex climate

news.

Meet Climate News and Info

with a Sense of Personal Momentum

and Groundedness

“Reclaiming your

nervous system”

Climate Action Paradox:

“Doing Enough”

Self Reflection

Values, Beliefs and Norms

Environmental Identity

What is your go-to Coping Response?

“Despair and Empowerment” or

“Broaden and Build”

“Be with the health.”

What is in Your Foundation?

https://www.thenatureofcities.com/2012/08/07/exploring-the-nature-pyramid/

Questions and

Discussion

Thomas Doherty,

Psy.D.

thomas@selfsustain.co

m

503-866-1323

www.selfsustain.com

Consult, questions, collaborate?

Thank you for joining us today! Within a week you will receive an email from us with a link to the webinar

recording and slides. You should have already received an email today with a link to our webinar survey. Please take a

few moments to fill it out - we value your feedback!

NEW DIRECTIONS IN CONSERVATION PSYCHOLOGY WEBINAR SERIES Promoting Practitioner Well-Being: Practical Strategies for

Coping with the Emotional Toll of Conservation Work

Save the Date for our next Conservation Psychology Institute!

We are pleased to announce that our next

Conservation Psychology Institute will be held August 20-23, 2019 at the

St. Louis Zoo in St. Louis, MO

Registration is now open! Visit our website at www.antiochne.edu/cpi for more details about

the Institute or to register for the event.