{"id":8421,"date":"2020-02-24T17:01:17","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T22:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/?p=8421"},"modified":"2020-10-07T09:34:43","modified_gmt":"2020-10-07T13:34:43","slug":"coping-with-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/coping-with-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Coping With Change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“I want you to close your eyes and do a full body scan to see how you\u2019re feeling and to check if you\u2019re holding any stress or anxiety. Now, breathe in, and then try to let a slow breath out, because this conversation is stressful.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s something that Megan Delaney, a licensed professional counselor who practices ecotherapy, a group of techniques or treatments based on the idea that contact with and involvement in the natural world can have a psycho-therapeutic effect, often says to clients and students when talking about climate change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delaney, an assistant professor in the Department of Professional Counseling, whose new book, Nature Is Nurture: Counseling in the Natural World<\/em>, explores the power of ecotherapy, says one reason the topic of climate change is so stressful to discuss is because the early environmental movement sometimes focused on \u201cscare tactics\u201d in hope of grabbing people\u2019s attention. Such tactics, while important to raise awareness, can be anxiety-inducing and upsetting, and the overwhelming message can actually cause some people to become inactive in seeking solutions, says Delaney. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHave you ever known anybody who doesn\u2019t go to the doctor because they don\u2019t want to admit they\u2019re sick?\u201d asks Delaney. \u201cTo think about the issues of how sick the planet is, it\u2019s like, \u2018Oh, if we just deny that then we don\u2019t have to worry about it.\u2019 Because when we really think about how sick the planet is, it\u2019s very sobering.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another part of the problem is that as a species, humans have never been more disconnected from the natural environment, which in and of itself contributes to depression, anxiety, and feelings of hopelessness, says Delaney. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen many of us talking about how\nthe shift in our culture has gone from\nwhen we were once hunter-gatherers and\nliving mostly nomadically, where we\nwere in tune with the natural world and\nunderstood its cycles, to where we\u2019re at\nnow,\u201d she says. \u201cToday, 93% of our time\nis spent indoors.\u201d In fact, many people\nspend an average of just six hours each\nweek <\/em>outside.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing Delaney has her clients focus on is giving back to nature\u2014supporting preservation efforts or joining a cleanup effort, for example\u2014in places that are special to them. That helps individuals reconnect with the environment in a positive way, she says. She also emphasizes how important it is to create what she calls an ecological self-plan: a self-care plan of sorts that involves visiting those sacred places regularly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeing connected to that space and taking care of it as if you would some- thing special makes us feel good and also gives back to a place,\u201d says Delaney. \u201cIt\u2019s self-care, too, right? … Because the science shows that even five minutes outside in nature makes you feel better, less stressed, [and] more relaxed, and you\u2019re also taking care of those places that nurture us.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next, read Part VII of this series: The Ripple Effect.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Climate anxiety is real. A licensed professional counselor explains how to deal with it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":8424,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"image_focus":"","hide_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"thumbnail":"\"\"","catString":"Uncategorized","issue":"Spring 2020","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8421"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11800,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8421\/revisions\/11800"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}