616 - Land-Based Healing: Place and Praxis

2 credits / 30 hours

This experiential course interweaves with 612: Land-Based Healing: Relationship and Reciprocity. The focus is on land-based healing practices in art therapy, with the acknowledgement that “land-based healing” as a concept and lived experience is rooted in an Indigenous world view and way of being in relationship with the land and our non-human kin. It is our intention to extend beyond Eurocentric theories and practices in art therapy to prepare students to facilitate culturally respectful land-based healing practices.

The course will consider “Place and Praxis” as we explore philosophical and theoretical orientations of contemporary art therapists in the context of nature-based expressive arts therapy. We will explore concepts around the development of an ecological self and worldview; become familiar with the tenets of nature-based expressive arts therapy; and develop an understanding of key concepts in eco-psychology. Creativity, the creative process, and art will be considered in the context of our identity in relationship to the places we are from and the places we live, considering both our inner and outer environments and landscapes. Issues and themes around developing emotional resiliency in the face of the multiple environmental and social crises of our times will be explored as we consider ideas around the paradigm shift needed to transition to a life-sustaining society. Practical and ethical considerations for working with clients in outdoor settings will be explored.