Professional Development

CAP Professional Development Series

PSC has developed a Professional Development series aimed at a range of practitioners who support people of all ages who are distressed about the reality and impact of climate change.

Climate Aware Practitioner Professional Development Series

  • PD1: Engaging with climate change and eco-distress (2 hour Introductory Webinar)
  • PD2: Reflections and responses to the climate reality (3 hour Experiential Workshop)
  • PD3: Being present with climate distress – Applications to professional practice (3 hour Professional Practice Workshop)
 

Each event in the series builds on the learning in the earlier events. Participants can book for the whole series or for individual events within the series. 

Completion of all three PD events will enable practitioners to develop deeper engagement with the climate crisis and understand how to work effectively with those who are experiencing climate distress.

We encourage you to undertake the PD series in conjunction with joining our Climate Aware Practitioner (CAP) Network. As a member of the CAP Network, you have the opportunity to be listed on the PSC website and promote your services via PSC in order to reach people in the community who may benefit from the support you provide.

Watch a short video about our PD workshops
PD1: Engaging with climate change and eco-distress

2 hour Introductory Webinar 

In the first webinar, participants will be introduced to PSC’s Support Model, an evidence-informed approach to supporting people who are distressed by the reality of climate change. PSC encourages expression of emotions about climate change without pathologising people’s responses. Eco-anxiety and climate distress are seen as rational responses to the growing climate crisis. Participants will engage with their own response to climate change in order to develop capacity to provide professional support around this challenging issue.

Participants may wish to take their learning further by participating in the whole series of the Climate Aware Practitioner Professional Development.

Learning Outcomes

  1. A broad understanding of the current collective psychological responses to climate change.
  2. An understanding of eco-anxiety, and climate and ecological distress based on the most up to date literature on these topics.
  3. Preliminary personal engagement with practitioner’s own responses to the issue of climate crisis and implications for professional practice.
  4. An overview of PSC’s support model for working with climate distress.
PD2: Reflections and responses to the climate reality

3 hour Experiential Workshop

Building on the introductory webinar, participants will learn about PSC’s approach to eco-distress by exploring their own response to the climate reality and experience opportunities for self-care. This will support the development of presence to be with the uncertainty and discomfort of the climate crisis in those they work with. The implications of this experiential learning for professional practice will also be explored.

 

 

Learning Outcomes

  1. Deepening personal engagement with practitioner’s responses to the issue of climate crisis and implications for professional practice.
  2. Building skills in empathic non-directive responses in the context of climate distress.
  3. Building skills in mindful self-compassion.
  4. Application of experiential learning to participants work with clients who are distressed by the climate emergency.
PD3: Being present with climate distress - Applications to professional practice

3 hour Professional Practice Workshop

The final workshop in the series will enable participants to develop knowledge and skills to support people who experience eco-distress or eco-anxiety. This will involve deepening the practitioner’s capacity for presence, and an evidence-informed understanding of the presenting issues and their impact on mental health. PSC’s evidence informed support model will be explored in greater depth and applications to presenting issues considered.

Pre-requisites: Earlier events in the series: PD1:Engaging with climate change and eco-distress and PD2: Reflections and responses to the climate reality.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Deepening personal engagement with practitioner’s responses to the issue of climate crisis and implications for professional practice.
  2. Building skills in empathic non-directive responses in the context of climate distress.
  3. Building skills in mindful self-compassion.
  4. Application of experiential learning to participants work with clients who are distressed by the climate emergency.