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Thriving Through Eco-Anxiety: From Ecological Grief to the Capacity to ACT (Pennsylvania Chapter)

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Online/Virtual
Off
World Region
North America
Country
United States
State/Province
Pennsylvania
Language
English
Website
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/thriving-through-eco-anxiety-from-ecological-grief-to-the-capacity-to-act-tickets-970532527917
Presenter
Devin Guthrie, Ph.D. is an existential psychologist whose research aims to find better ways to treat eco-anxiety, death anxiety, improve end-of-life care, and promote meaning in life. They also practice as a life and death coach, helping clients live with physical, mental, and existential pain.

As climate crisis intensifies, eco-anxiety (i.e., distress and dysfunction that accompany awareness of climate crisis) is quickly becoming the major mental health crisis of the modern era. Eco-anxiety is notoriously difficult to treat, both because it is founded in rational fears and because the grief, rage, panic, and powerlessness people experience when considering climate crisis can be overwhelming, both for clients and the professionals who work with them. This experiential and skills-building workshop will explain eco-anxiety in two contexts crucial for fostering resilience: death anxiety and anticipatory grief. Using an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) framework, participating practitioners will learn to guide clients through the process of accepting their anxiety and working through their grief. We will discuss personal/professional experiences with eco-anxiety, learn to flip the script on eco-anxious thoughts, and identify values and goals that would be workable even in the face of eco-anxiety’s scariest narrative: human extinction. Once integrated, eco-anxiety can become an empowering force, inspiring us to make more meaningful choices and live more fulfilling lives, even in the context of an ongoing existential threat.