SCUOLA
DI ECOPSICOLOGIA:
Why Ecopsychology today and why an "Ecopsychology
School" today?
by
Marcella Danon
Because
much of the existential suffering of people - and not
only "metropolitan people" - is related to a
wrong relationship with the external environment, which
is also related to a wrong relationship with the "internal
environment", with the inner world... it is difficult
to say which one of these problems started first.
Ecopsychology
points out the strong relationship between "vision
of the self" and "vision of the world"
and leads us to see and to use personal growth as a practical
tool to develop a deeper environmental consciousness.
We
can learn to see and to feel our outer world in a different
way only through the conquering of new habits:
- habits
of listening to the voices of our inner
world,
- care
for the more delicate and vulnerable aspects of our
being,
- respect
for what we don't like in our way of being until we
can understand it better, accept it or transform it.
Once
we really start to build a creative relationship with
the different aspects of our personality, we creatively
face different aspects of the world and we interact with
life, instead of searching for protection from her. Once
we start to know ourselves better, we realize that there
are not clear boundaries between what we call "me"
and the outer world, and we can't avoid discovering huge
unknown inner spaces that hide - and reveal - a wider
meaning of life.
A process
of personal growth opens us to a wider vision of ourselves
and 
allows
us to reconnect to our deepest self. The necessary inner
work that brings us toward this goal is the same that
brings our consciousness over the boundaries of our little
self and opens us to the listening, care and respect for
others and for the surrounding world.
Ecological
consciousness arouses spontaneously at this point; it
is the consequence of a wider comprehension of life itself.
The truth that "we are one" with our world is
sculptured in our DNA, it is obvious that in tuning with
our deeper nature we discover how strictly interconnected
with nature and with the outer world we are.
After
several years of experience training counselors with a
humanistic and existentialist approach, with strong bases
in psychosynthesis, I started to bring more and more students
towards ecopsychology. We started with week-long summer
seminars, then whole day workshops in a natural park and
at conferences. The interest grew and I decided to create
a school, "Scuola di Ecopsicologia", in order
to develop and teach thoughts and techniques complementary
to the professional preparations of counselors and psychologists,
addressing them toward a specific direction:
Personal
growth as a tool for developing ecological consciousness,
renewal of world's vision (from a mechanistic point of
view to a holistic one) and reconnection with the earth,
are three strong moments of the work of the School. This
spring we started a 50 hour professional course recognised
by the main Italian counseling association, and we are
organising a week-long seminar this summer. In 2006 we
will start a 150 hour specialisation in ecopsychological
counseling. This is just the beginning...
