Counseling in the Anthropocene: Addressing Social Justice Amid Climate Change

Abstract

Scientists have increasingly called for the recognition that Earth has entered a new geological epoch called the Anthropocene. Researchers believe anthropogenic climate change and ecological degradation will have the greatest impacts on communities that are socially and economically marginalized. This article will explore the role of counselors in the Anthropocene as environmental justice advocates through the application of the Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (Ratts et al., 2015).La comunidad científica ha insistido cada vez más en el reconocimiento de que la Tierra ha entrado en una nueva era geológica denominada Antropoceno. Los investigadores creen que el cambio climático antropogénico y la degradación ecológica tendrán un impacto máximo en las comunidades que se encuentran social y económicamente marginadas. Este artículo explora el papel de los consejeros en el Antropoceno como defensores de la justicia medioambiental a través de la aplicación de las Competencias en Consejería Multicultural y de Justicia Social (Ratts et al., 2015).

Health service psychology trainees’ use of ecotherapeutic interventions with clients: The roles of environmental justice beliefs and training experiences.

“…The few scholars writing in this area have made recommendations for how mental health professionals might become effective in this area. Hilert (2021) notes that counselors must examine their own attitudes and behaviors as they relate to environmentalism, which may reveal gaps in awareness of how their own actions maintain unsustainable lifestyles. He also argued that mental health professionals can become better attuned to how clients' well-being is impacted by the environment by asking directly about these experiences (e.g., exposure to rising temperature levels), injustices (e.g., exposure to environmental toxins), and opportunities (e.g., whether clients utilize the benefits of nature).…”

“…This lack of preparedness may be a function of environmental discussions remaining on the fringe of training and education within health service psychology and counseling (Hilert, 2021; Mongonia, 2022; Seaman, 2016). The few scholars writing in this area have made recommendations for how mental health professionals might become effective in this area.…”

“…Mental health fields (i.e., psychology, counseling, and social work) have made relevant contributions to research and policy on climate change and environmentalism (Clayton & Manning, 2018; Erickson, 2018; Hilert, 2021). This scholarship has identified predictors of sustainable behaviors (Koger et al, 2011; Wals, 2012); perceptions of environmental injustice (i.e., the belief that communities are disproportionally impacted by climate change; Hilert, 2021; Pulido, 2000); and more recently, how concerns about the environment impact mental health. Specifically, climate change anxiety (i.e., anxiety about harm resulting from ecological disasters) and ecoparalysis (i.e., inaction due to overwhelming fears about climate change) have been studied as threats to mental health (Albrecht, 2011; Clayton, 2020).…”

“…Clinicians can also help clients become effective change agents. In response to environmental injustices or climate change disruptions, they can encourage clients to become involved in community organization and activism (Hilert, 2021; Pihkala, 2018; Vera, 2020). Collective actions can have a therapeutic impact on clients who feel helpless in making improvements in communities vulnerable to environmental injustices (Albrecht, 2011; Pihkala, 2018).…”

Turning Towards Our Desire to Turn Away: Climate Disavowal in the Context of the Australian Counselling Profession

“…It is often the individuals and groups who have contributed least to creating the problem, and who were already subject to multiple risk factors due to social inequality, who are most exposed to harm (Lansbury Hall & Crosby, 2022;Tschakert et al, 2019). Given this, it seems surprising that the discipline of counselling has struggled to engage with climate change as a professional issue (Hilert, 2021). In Australia, where economic interests undermine political action on the issue (Tangney, 2019) and many sectors of the community rarely discuss climate change with their family and friends (Morrison et al, 2018), efforts at raising climate change as an issue within the context of counselling have so far been piecemeal and lacking in ambition.…”