{"id":6,"date":"2010-08-25T07:49:09","date_gmt":"2010-08-25T07:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjrust.net\/?page_id=4"},"modified":"2025-11-27T09:56:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T09:56:30","slug":"home","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mjrust.net\/","title":{"rendered":"Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

***My book****\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Towards an Ecopsychotherapy<\/h1>\n

Pub. Confer Books, 2020<\/h4>\n

Write to me on mj@mjrust.net for a signed hard copy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE ABOUT IT HERE<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/h5>\n
\u201cThe universe is a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 Thomas Berry<\/span><\/h5>\n

This website is dedicated to\u00a0NATURE.<\/span><\/p>\n

The diverse web of life on whom we depend, of whom we are part, is in crisis. We need a\u00a0sea-change in lifestyles, values, identity. Joanna Macy calls\u00a0this The Great Turning<\/a><\/strong><\/span> –\u00a0the shift from the Industrial Growth Society to a life-sustaining civilization. This is about\u00a0a change in relationship<\/strong> <\/em><\/span>towards self, other and earth.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a psychotherapist with some 45 years experience, I am interested in a psychology in the service of the earth. This is Ecopsychology.<\/strong><\/em><\/span>\u00a0 How might we\u00a0support\u00a0the genius of human nature to\u00a0re-imagine<\/em> <\/span><\/strong>our relationship with the web of life? How might we understand and confront the shadow <\/strong><\/em><\/span>sides of human nature that have led us to this point of global crisis?<\/span><\/p>\n

I offer\u00a0lectures, workshops and seminars to a wide variety of groups and organisations (see \u2018Events\u2019), as well as individual therapy with the earth in mind<\/em>. Some themes of this work are:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Living sustainably involves making a sea-change in lifestyles and attitudes. What role might psychotherapists have to play in this paradigm shift?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0What can the study of natural systems (ecology) teach us about human systems?\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0We are in the midst of a \u201cgiant eating problem\u201d, as we struggle with rampant consumerism. Can we use experience from individual recovery to understand our collective predicaments? \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 How do the wider issues of global crisis and our relationship to \u2018nature\u2019 come into the therapy\u00a0relationship? \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Ecotherapy<\/em><\/span><\/strong> is the practice of ecopsychology. What does this look like, in all its many forms? \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Ecopsychology is an attempt to weave together psychological, political, ecological and spiritual understandings.\u00a0 To this end, I am interested in conversations between diverse peoples and beings, in diverse places. Listening to all parts of the ecosystem \u2013 and that includes our diverse internal ecosystems \u2013 rebalances the whole. \u00a0\u00a0Only when we invite back in that which has been marginalised can we find new ways forward.<\/span><\/p>\n

See our UK Ecopsychology website<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>for:\u00a0 UK practitioners; resources; information on training; reading; and more.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201c<\/strong><\/em>A human being is a part of a whole, called by us \u2018universe\u2019, a part limited in time and space. S\/he experiences himself, her\/his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest\u2026 a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.<\/em>\u201c<\/em> Einstein<\/strong><\/p>\n

Header Image: Susan Hills sculpture Mud Maid Earth Woman at Lost Gardens of Helligan, Cornwall. Photo: M. J. Rust.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

***My book****\u00a0 Towards an Ecopsychotherapy Pub. Confer Books, 2020 Write to me on mj@mjrust.net for a signed hard copy. READ MORE ABOUT IT HERE \u00a0 \u201cThe universe is a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects.\u201d\u00a0 Thomas Berry This website is dedicated to\u00a0NATURE. The diverse web of life on whom we depend, of whom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjrust.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjrust.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjrust.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjrust.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjrust.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6"}],"version-history":[{"count":54,"href":"https:\/\/mjrust.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":725,"href":"https:\/\/mjrust.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6\/revisions\/725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjrust.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}