Psychology of Deep Resilience; Addressing Ecoanxiety and Climate Distress for Individual, Social and Ecological Well-being

University of Wisconsin–Madison via edX Professional Certificate

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Provider

edX Professional Certificate
Pricing

$199.00
Languages

English
Certificate

Certificate Available
Level

Intermediate

Found in

Overview

This four-course certificate program introduces you to key environmental and climate threats and their root causes and explores how these issues impact us emotionally, psychologically and socially. It presents 15 contemplative, meditation and community-building practices that can help us build our inner, community and planetary resilience in the face of deep environmental and social uncertainty. The program utilizes a range of self-awareness exercises through journal and embodied exercise prompts. It also offers the opportunity for you to join in ongoing research on environmental emotions at the Loka Initiative and the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Syllabus

Courses under this program:
Course 1: Resilience in the Anthropocene

Resilience in the Anthropocene covers the basics of environmental and climate threats and the impacts we experience and must overcome through inner and community resilience building. It also explains the science behind the contemplative practices offered in the program. For learners completing the Psychology of Deep Resilience certificate program, this course is recommended as the first course but may also serve as a summary capstone for participants to return to after completing the other three courses.

Course 2: Earth Principles; The Web of Life

Earth Principles; The Web of Life examines the interconnected environmental operating systems that govern the planet and introduces key environmental and climate challenges related to planetary boundaries. This course also explores the root causes and potential solutions of these crises and investigates how we can build a future rooted in intersectional justice and community. For learners completing the Psychology of Deep Resilience certificate program, we recommend completing this course second.

Course 3: Emotional Resilience and the Ecological Self

Emotional Resilience and the Ecological Self explores the range of emotional and psychological responses people experience due to the ecological and climate crises and connects the importance of emotional granularity, positive emotional regulation and the role contemplative practices can play in building inner resilience. The course applies an intersectional approach to understanding these issues and emphasizes balancing distress reduction with increasing joy. For learners completing the Psychology of Deep Resilience certificate program, we recommend completing this course third.

Course 4: Connection and Community

Connection and Community emphasizes the necessity of connection and investigates how all life-forms are wired to connect, whether at a cellular level through our nerve cells, at a planetary level through the mycorrhizal network of hyphae connecting plant life or at an ecological systems level through water, nitrogen and carbon cycles. Connectivity is the basis for life on Earth; therefore, this course examines the benefits of community and the importance of knowing how to build and belong in it. For learners completing the Psychology of Deep Resilience certificate program, we recommend completing this course last.

Courses

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12 weeks, 3-6 hours a week, 3-6 hours a week
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This course helps us understand that community is essential for our well-being and that our mental resilience depends on a healthy sense of belonging and interconnectedness. As our societies become more vulnerable to climate and ecological collapse, community-led collective action that strengthens social and relational capital will be necessary for survival and to ensure belonging and informal social connectedness. These courses can help guide us through this time of uncertainty, look for the levers that can create systemic transformation, and embrace our roles in doing so. This work can feel lonely or isolating, but it does not have to be so. Each of us is situated to contribute to the systemic transformation that must occur in our human systems to rebalance the Earth's ecological systems. And if we connect with one another, we can multiply our impact exponentially.
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12 weeks, 3-6 hours a week, 3-6 hours a week
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This course helps us understand our ecological emotions, a broad umbrella of emotional states we experience regarding environmental and climate crises and introduces us to different skills and techniques that can validate and encourage us to regulate our emotions with support. We will examine the latest understanding of the emotional and psychological impacts of environmental and climate knowledge and how these symptoms can manifest among different demographics, especially those with marginalized identities who bear the largest share of the adverse outcomes already. The most important lesson of the course is that resilience can be learned!
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12 weeks, 3-6 hours a week, 3-6 hours a week
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Some of us will recall first learning about the web of life in school, of how all living and non-living things are connected through a complex food system for survival. All life forms in the ecosystem depend on all other living and non-living things for food, nutrients and energy. Environmental systems are complex, interlinked and interdependent. The same is true of human systems, whether neural, social, political or economic! In this course, we will examine and apply a systems approach to understand the past and present and move us toward a future rooted in justice and community that we all build together.
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12 weeks, 3-6 hours a week, 3-6 hours a week
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This course invites you to be an active participant and not a passive learner! Mix and match the modules, contemplative and embodied exercises, and writing prompts as it works best for you. We hope you will use the journaling prompts, embodied exercises and discussion board to engage with fellow participants, and, as new ideas and inspiration come up, with your family, friends and community. Our goal is that the program lessons and exercises will engender and strengthen interconnectedness from the beginning. For learners completing the Psychology of Deep Resilience certificate program, this course is both an introduction and a capstone; you may start here or start with one of the other courses and return to this course at the end.