Two-Eyed Seeing: Honoring Indigenous Knowledge in addressing the polycrisis  

Climate-aware therapy recognizes the climate crisis as a significant mental health threat, helping individuals process emotions like eco-anxiety, grief, and despair by validating their feelings and building resilience. It integrates traditional therapy techniques with an understanding of ecological interconnectedness, empowering people to cope with environmental distress, find purpose, and take constructive action, rather than pathologizing their valid concerns. It also provides support for individuals who have been threatened by or who have endured human driven climate disasters such as wildfire, hurricanes, sea level rise, and flooding, as well as ongoing environmental harms and environmental inequities.

This course is geared toward individuals offering counseling or psychotherapy. It is taught at a post-graduate level, though licensure is not required.

The Immersive Course in Climate-Aware Therapy supports psychotherapists in developing both conceptual understanding and applied clinical skills in this growing area of practice. In addition, the Immersive Course in Climate-Aware Therapy, Level 1 centers Indigenous knowledge and processes as essential ways of understanding and responding to the climate crisis. You can include a certificate of completion as a professional credential on your CV/Resume, website and your registry on the Climate-Aware Practitioner Directory of CPA-NA and Climate Psychiatry Alliance.  The certificate of completion for this Immersive Climate-Aware Therapy, Level one class, indicates that attendees:      - Possess foundational knowledge of the mental health impacts of climate         change      - Understand the systemic and historical injustices underlying the current         environmental crisis      - Have explored and reflected on their own climate-related emotions      - Have been exposed to clinical skills to support individuals and groups in         understanding and working with climate-related feelings      - Have explored Systems thinking to understand how psychological, social,        cultural, and ecological systems interact      - Have explored the philosophy of Two-Eyed Seeing, or Etuaptmumk in the        Mi'kmaw language. Two-Eyed Seeing is a guiding principle introduced by        Mi'kmaw Elder Albert Marshall (2004) that promotes learning to see the        world from one eye with the strengths of Indigenous knowledge, and from        the other eye with the strengths of Western knowledge, using both together        for the benefit of all.

Yes, please contact [email protected]

No. This certificate does not mean you are a certified or licensed “climate-aware therapist.”The certificate indicates that you have completed specialized training in climate psychology and have gained knowledge and skills related to climate-related emotional responses, resilience, and behavior change. It is an educational and professional development credential, not a clinical license or therapy certification. If you are already a licensed mental health professional, the certificate can enhance and inform your existing practice, helping you work more competently and ethically with climate-related distress. While the certificate signals training and competency in climate psychology concepts, not clinical certification. It strengthens professional practice within your current scope of work rather than creating a new licensed role.

Three reduced fee (50% of full nonmember US rate) slots are available on a first come, first serve basis. These spaces are for those of reduced means and particularly for those from frontline and marginalized communities . Additionally, we have two full scholarship spots available for folks who identify as BIPOC, and/or Trans, Queer, and/or as a member of another marginalized community. The first 8 applications received by the deadline of February 8, 2026 will be considered. Applicants will be notified of the decision by February 18th.  To apply, please submit the following application materials to Janet Lewis ([email protected]):      - An essay of approximately 500 words on how you can use the class to       benefit your work and/or bring information back to your community,       including patients, colleagues, groups, or in other professional activities.      - Please let us know if you identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or People of        Color (BIPOC) or as being in another marginalized group?      - Please provide an up-to-date resume or CV      - Please let us know if you will be able to attend if you do not receive a         scholarship.

To receive 5 CE credits, you much watch all 4 asynchronous recorded classes and also attend the entire live session on Sunday, April 12th, then answer the required post-class test questions in the time frame required by the CE provider, ce-classes.com (add hyperlink to the CE provider's requirements)

To receive a certificate of completion, all videos must be watched, and all live sessions must be fully attended. The course is designed to be experienced as a whole, so please don't register for it if you don't think you can attend all the sessions. However, if a live reflective learning session is missed for unforeseen circumstances, a student may still qualify for the certificate by writing and submitting a 500-word reflective essay related to the videos and readings for that session, demonstrating your understanding of the video and relevant readings, along with your personal thoughts, feelings and questions that emerged.

No, only those registered for the course may attend.

No. The live sessions are focused on reflection, sharing and discussion, so we do not record them to ensure openness and privacy for participants.

Since our live sessions involve discussion groups with significant sharing and processing, being late or leaving early will be disruptive to the group process and we ask that you be on time. Certificates of completion will only be granted if all sessions are attended in full. Attendance will be taken and for the purposes of the certificate of completion, you will not be considered to have attended if you miss more than 10 minutes of a given session.

We find that cross-pollination from therapists of varied disciplines, regions, and work environments is an enriching benefit of this course. However, if you would like to be with a particular colleague we will try to accommodate the request if you tell us two weeks before the start of the course. If we receive numerous requests, it may not be possible to accommodate your request.

In the unusual event that you have a dual relationship with a fellow student and would like to switch to the other reflective learning circle group, let us know in the initial live session and we will do our best to accommodate you prior to going into the learning circle breakout room.

While this class is not a prerequisite, two additional multi-hour certification modules in intermediate and advanced topics are being planned for later Fall, 2026 and early 2027. This course or our past introductory courses in Climate-Aware Therapy will provide a foundation for them. We are also considering adding a tailored course for allied professionals (i.e. educators, climate coaches, sustainability workers whose work might require a mental health lens, etc.)

The content of this course is updated, but basically congruent with the material in the previous Introductory Climate-Aware Therapy Course. The structure of the course has been changed to include more small group discussion as well as further integration of Indigenous material. So while we don’t recommend taking this course if you took the previous one, you are welcome to join if you understand all of this.

No. Many clients do not come in with these specific concerns, but we can utilize a climate and environmental lens in our understanding of our clients and the course helps us look at the varied ways that these topics do and do not come up in our sessions.