The Mindful Ecotherapy Center, LLC has been providing continuing education in mindfulness and ecotherapy since 2007. During all of that time, students of Mindfulness-Based Ecotherapy have continually expressed a desire for an organization that specifically caters to the educational needs of counselors and therapists who practice Mindful Ecotherapy.

With these needs in mind, the Mindful Ecotherapy Center, LLC will be creating a new two-year certification in Mindfulness-Based Ecotherapy. This new certification will train and certify counselors and therapists specifically in Mindfulness-Based Ecotherapy.

This will be an intensive two-year certification process, including up-to-date training in the latest techniques, research, and education in Mindfulness-Based Ecotherapy.

Certification will require renewal every three years, and will have a continuing education requirement during each renewal period, so that MBE practitioners are up-to-date on the latest techniques and interventions. It will also require case presentations and supervision for certification.

This will be a different and much more intensive certification than our current Mindfulness-Based Ecotherapy Facilitator training. Trainees who complete the two-year training would be certified Mindfulness-Based Ecotherapists (MBE) and would be entitled to use the designation MBE in their credentials.

The new program will include the following:

• 20 hours of continuing education in Mindfulness
• 20 hours of continuing education in Ecotherapy/Ecopsychology
• 30 hours of continuing education in Mindfulness-Based Ecotherapy in Clinical Practice
• 5 hours of continuing education in suicide prevention
• 3 hours of continuing education in ethics
• 10 hours of continuing education in electives
• 20 hours of supervision
• Case presentation

NEW Ecospirituality Program

The current Mindfulness-Based Ecotherapy Facilitator Certification course will be replaced in 2024 with the Ecospirituality Program, which will expand to include a more spiritual element to the training and to the program.

Somewhere between 90% and 95% of people on Earth practice some sort of spirituality. Obviously, spirituality must be pretty important. Studies tend to back this up. What the studies show is that the type of spirituality doesn’t really matter. Whether you’re Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, Hindu or Pagan, or even agnostic or atheist, practicing some sort of spiritual path yields benefits.

Since the particular type of spirituality is secondary to the benefits gained (in other words, since all spiritual paths lead to a better quality of life for those who practice them properly), what is it about spirituality that allows it to work its magic?

Suppose you could take all the spiritual paths practiced worldwide, put them into a cauldron, and boil them down to their essence. What would remain? I believe that the common thread to all spiritual practices is a feeling of connection. Connection to others, or connection to the divine, or simply connection to nature and to ourselves. In short: Spirituality = Connectedness!

If you think back on the spiritual experiences you’ve had in your lifetime, do recall feeling connected on some level? Many describe spiritual experiences as a sense of ‘oneness.’ Oneness implies connection to something outside ourselves. In this sense, even an agnostic or an atheist could achieve spirituality through connection.

The new Ecospirituality Program scheduled for release in 2024 will incorporate elements of this connectedness!

Changes to the Mindfulness-Based Ecotherapy Certification Program

Although the Mindfulness-Based Ecotherapy Program was created to be facilitated by licensed mental health professionals, in the past we’ve had quite a few coaches who have also taken the course. While mental health professionals are highly regulated in most states and in many countries, coaches are usually not.

Due to this lack of regulation and credentialing for most coaches, some states and some organizations have restricted the use of the term ‘ecotherapy.’ Because of this, we are re-naming the current Mindfulness-Based Ecotherapy 12-week program. In 2024 the program will become the Ecospirituality Program. Current certified facilitators of Mindfulness-Based Ecotherapy will be allowed to take the new Ecospirituality Facilitator Training program for free when it is available.
The new Mindfulness-Based Ecotherapy Certification will then replace the current designation. This will be a much more in-depth two-year certification process only available to licensed mental health professionals.

The new Mindfulness-Based Ecotherapy program will require intensive study, supervision, and a case presentation prior to becoming certified. Once certified, licensed mental health professionals will be able to use the designation “MBE” in their credentials, for “Mindfulness-Based Ecotherapist.”

When the first cohort of Mindfulness-Based Ecotherapists graduates we will begin a Supervisor Training Program that will educate MBEs in supervision so that future training programs will have a variety of supervisors to choose from.

As we move forward with these changes we would love your input! Click here to visit the forum and join the discussion!

The idea behind using Meme Triads is to move from a problem-focused paradigm to a solution-focused paradigm. One of the goals of using Meme Triads is to begin to think in terms of solutions instead of in terms of problems. When we start thinking in terms of solutions, we begin to live with intention. The power of intention is one of the skills of mindfulness, so by living deliberately and with intention, we move to a solution-focused paradigm.

To illustrate the difference between a problem-focused paradigm and a solution-focused paradigm, and how to move from one to another, we’ll use the example of a couple in which one or both partners are engaging in emotional aggression by expecting the other partner to be responsible for making them happy.

We’ll graph it out as follows:

1. What is the problem? The problem meme is, “My spouse must be responsible for my happiness.”
2. Why is this a problem? This is a problem because “My spouse is getting tired of being responsible for my happiness.”
3. How is the problem maintained? In this example, the problem is maintained because I believe my spouse must be responsible for my happiness, but my spouse has grown tired of being responsible for my happiness. If I try to solve the problem by insisting even more that my spouse be responsible for my happiness, she reacts by getting even more tired of being responsible for it.

The first step in moving towards a solution is to eliminate the problem-based meme. Since the meme has three components, and all three components are interrelated and dependent on each other, we can choose any of the three components to change. By changing any one of the components, we transform the meme.

In the example above, we’ll look at what happens when we change any of the three components. Let’s start with the ‘What’ component. This component is, “My spouse must be responsible for my happiness.” What would happen if this component was changed to, “I will be responsible for my own happiness?”

If we make this change, what does it do to the other two components?

If the ‘What’ component is now changed to “I will be responsible for my own happiness,” let’s first look at what this does to the ‘Why’ component. The ‘Why’ component above is “My spouse is getting tired of being responsible for my happiness.” If the ‘What’ component is changed to “I will be responsible for my own happiness,” then the ‘Why’ component is altered, because if I am now responsible for my own happiness, my spouse is no longer responsible for my happiness, and has no reason to get tired.

Now let’s look at the ‘How’ component when the ‘What’ component has been changed to “I will be responsible for my own happiness.” The answer to the question, “How is the problem maintained?” is that the more tired my spouse gets of being responsible for my happiness, the more I pressure her to take on that responsibility. If the ‘What’ component has changed, and I have now learned to be responsible for my own happiness, there is no need to pressure my spouse to shoulder that responsibility.

So by changing the ‘What’ component of the triad, we have changed all three components, and transformed the meme into something more productive.

Let’s now examine what happens if we focus on changing the ‘What’ component. The ‘What’ component in the problem-focused example above is, “My spouse is getting tired of being responsible for my happiness.” In this case, I cannot change the ‘Why’ component, because it deals with my spouse’s thoughts and feelings, and not my own, and I cannot force my spouse to change her feelings if she doesn’t want to. But let’s just assume that hypothetically she decides to continue to bear the burden of my happiness, even though she is tired of it. If that is the case, what happens with the ‘How’ component?

The ‘How’ component is no longer an issue, because if my spouse has agreed to continue to bear the burden of responsibility for my happiness, even if she is tired of it, then I have no reason to continue to pressure her to do so. Therefore the ‘How’ component is no longer relevant.

So if the ‘Why’ component is altered in this way, what does it do to the ‘What’ component? If the ‘What’ component is “My spouse must be responsible for my happiness,” and my spouse has agreed to be responsible for my happiness, there is no problem (not for me, at least…my spouse may feel differently!).
Finally, let’s look at what happens when we change the ‘How’ component.

If the ‘How’ component is that I pressure my spouse to be responsible for my happiness whenever she complains that she is tired of being responsible for my happiness, I could change it by not pressuring her to take on that responsibility. If I do that, the ‘What’ component of, “My spouse must be responsible for my happiness” is irrelevant, since I am no longer pressuring her. And since I am no longer pressuring her, she no longer feels tired of the responsibility for my happiness, thereby changing the ‘Why’ component as well.
In the illustration above you can already see elements of moving from a problem-focused paradigm to a solution-focused paradigm.

Let’s take it a step further by exploring the Solution-Focused Generic Meme Triad.

Looking at the problem-focused triad above, the central issue is ‘my happiness.’ The problem manifests because I am trying to derive my happiness from the actions and feelings of someone else: My spouse.
What happens when I move to a solution-focused paradigm? If the solution (or the intention) is ‘Happiness,’ the solution-focused triad becomes:

1. What is the solution? I am responsible for my own happiness.
2. Why is this a solution? Because if I am responsible for my own happiness, nobody else has to be responsible for my happiness. Also, if I am responsible for my own happiness, nobody else can ever take it away from me.
3. How is the solution maintained? The more I am responsible for my own happiness, the less I am dependent on others for my happiness, and the less dependent on others I am for my own happiness, the happier I become.
   

With all of the meme triads that follow in future posts, the objective is to move from a problem-focused paradigm to a solution-focused paradigm by altering the memes that are leading to negative consequences.

By altering our memes to a solution-focused paradigm, we become proactive in creating positive consequences in our lives.

Contrary to popular belief, a ‘meme’ is not an internet picture with words on it. A meme is just a belief that has been passed from one person to another. We get most of our core memes from our families of origin.

If your memes (inherited beliefs) are leading to consequences you want, then nothing needs to be changed. If, however, you have memes that are leading to consequences you don’t want, you have a choice. You can change them to something more conducive to positive consequences.

The first step in changing a meme is to examine the components of the meme. There are three basic components to a meme: What, Why and How. The explanation of these components is as follows:

1. What is the problem? The ‘What’ component is usually the meme that is causing the problem.
2. Why is this a problem? The ‘Why’ component of the meme indicates why the meme is leading to consequences you don’t want.
3. How is the problem maintained? Sometimes the attempted solution to a problem only serves to make the problem worse.
   If I believe my spouse must be responsible for my happiness, but my spouse has grown tired of being responsible for my happiness, I might try to solve the problem by insisting even more that my spouse be responsible for my happiness. I might even resort to blaming, shaming, and guilt-tripping my spouse in an attempt to get her to resume responsibility for my happiness. But the more I try to force her into taking that responsibility, the more tired she gets of being responsible for it. My attempted solution to the problem is only serving to make the problem worse. It’s been said that, “Insanity is doing the same thing in the same way and expecting different results.” If what you’re doing to solve the problem isn’t working, then doing more of it isn’t going to work either.

The first step in changing a non-productive meme into a productive meme that generates positive consequences is to identify the components of the meme using the outline above.

Once you’ve identified the components of the meme, picture them as legs or sides of a triangle. Triangles have three sides. All three of those sides are connected to each other. If you take away one of the sides of a triangle, it is no longer a triangle. Furthermore, since all the sides of a triangle are connected to each other, if you change one side, the other two sides must change as well.

Memes have a similar construction. Looking at the What, Why and How components of a meme, we can see that if one side is changed, all of the other sides are changed as well. Furthermore, since all three components are necessary in order for a meme to exist, if one component is taken away, the meme ceases to exist.

Since there are three sides to a triangle, and three components to a meme, a triangle can be constructed with one component of the meme on each side. One side of the triangle would be the ‘What’ component, another side would be the ‘Why’ component, and the base of the triangle would be the ‘How’ component.

Once a meme is graphed out in this fashion, then taking away one of the sides means that it is no longer a triangle. So if one of the components is altered or removed, it eliminates the meme altogether or completely changes it.
Changing one of the sides changes the two remaining sides, and therefore the meme is changed as well. So if you have a meme that is leading you to consequences you do not want, and you graph that meme out on a triangle, you have three separate chances to change the meme. You may change the ‘What’ component, or the ‘Why’ component, or the ‘How’ component. By changing any one of these components, the other components change as well, and the meme is altered. When the meme is altered, the consequences of acting on the meme are altered as well.

This may sound confusing at first, but over the coming weeks we’ll go over it in more detail. With more practice it will start to make more sense.

Sometimes our beliefs lead us to consequences we don’t want to experience. The way to change those beliefs is to dispute the beliefs you have that are leading you to consequences you don’t want to experience. When you’ve experienced a negative consequence in your life, examine and challenge the beliefs you hold that led you to act in such a way that you got consequences you didn’t want.

Note that this act of disputing the belief is a process of trial and error. Changing a belief is no guarantee of getting a better consequence. But it is certain that if we don’t change the belief, we will continue to get the same negative consequence. Making a change isn’t an automatic recipe for success.

We can, however, make educated guesses as to how we might change our beliefs in order to get the consequences we do want. Once we’ve found a belief that might lead to a consequence we do want, we troubleshoot it before implementing it by asking what sort of things might go wrong if we change our beliefs. By making a plan to cover any potential misfires, there’s a greater chance that the changed belief will work to change the consequences to something more to our liking.

There is a special category of beliefs called memes. ‘Meme’ comes from the Greek word mīmēma, which means “imitated thing.” Memes are to ideas as genes are to physical characteristics like hair color, height, and eye color. A meme is an idea, belief or behavior that is passed from one person to another.

We get many of our earliest memes from our parents and our family. Later on we may pick up memes from our friends, our teachers, and our culture and society. Taken together, our memes make up our belief system and the way we deal with others.

If English is your native language, you probably learned it from your family. If you had been raised in a family that only spoke Spanish, then Spanish would be your native language. Your language was handed down to you from the people who raised you. You learned the language though a process of imitation by repeating the sounds you heard.

The people who raised you taught you your native spoken language. But there is also another language they taught you: Your emotional language. Your emotional language is the language you use to deal with relationships. The language you use to express emotions is made up of memes you inherited from your parents, guardians, or other loved ones in your life.

The vast majority of memes that we inherit are good and productive memes. They help us to function in our daily lives. But sometimes the memes we inherit lead to consequences we don’t want. For example, if I have a meme that says that my spouse must make me happy, and my spouse is okay with that, then there are no negative consequences.

But what happens if my spouse gets tired of bearing the burden of carrying my happiness for me? In such a case, if my belief, or meme, is that my spouse must make me happy, and my spouse has grown tired of trying to make me happy, then the consequence will be that I cannot be happy unless I learn to be responsible for my own happiness.

If that is the case, then I need to change the meme, “My spouse must be responsible for my happiness” to something more productive, along the lines of, “I must learn to be responsible for my own happiness.”

Meme Triads are a way to change beliefs. Next time we’ll talk about the components of a meme and how to use meme triads to change our less productive beliefs.

The way to deal with conflict in positive ways is to realize that you are not responsible for anyone’s feelings but your own. If you avoid conflict out of a fear of upsetting others, first ask yourself why you think they would be upset.

Worrying about the emotional reactions others might have in a given situation is usually a sign of poor boundaries with the other person. Either they routinely cross your boundaries, or you routinely cross theirs, and when this happens the result is usually conflict. Conflict is the root of most emotional aggression. The way to solve this problem is to establish good boundaries in all of your relationships. A sign of poor boundaries is the belief that another can be responsible for your emotional wellbeing, or that you can be responsible for another’s emotional wellbeing.

A good rule of thumb when establishing boundaries is to ask yourself, “Am I being asked to do something that I wouldn’t ask (the other person) to do?” If the answer is ‘yes,’ then there’s probably an issue of poor boundaries in the relationship. Here are some signs that you may have poor boundaries with others:

• Conversations on emotional topics result in anxiety and discomfort
• You avoid conflict until things build up, then you explode
• You feel responsible for other people’s feelings
• You’re afraid to say ‘no’
• You feel guilty when you do say ‘no’
• You rarely speak up for yourself because you fear it may lead to conflict
• You sometimes feel disrespected if you do stand up for yourself
• You feel that you’re constantly giving and never getting back
• Others ask you to do things for them that you would never ask them to do for you

If you answered “yes” to more than half of the items above, then you probably have poor boundaries.

Why is it important to set boundaries? If we have poor boundaries, we begin to feel responsible for the emotional wellbeing of others. We may also expect others to be responsible for our emotional wellbeing. By learning to set healthy boundaries, we minimize frustration, guilt and anxiety for both ourselves and others. Healthy boundaries keep others from manipulating us, and help us to avoid the temptation to manipulate others.

Here are some statements that you may use in your relationship with others to help you practice setting good and healthy boundaries. Use these statements when you feel that one of your boundaries has been crossed, or is about to be crossed:

• “I care about you, but I cannot be responsible for your problems.”
• “I care about you, but right now I need time to be alone.”
• “I will not be the object of your hostility.”
• “Just because I disagree with you, that doesn’t mean I don’t still care about you.”
• “I enjoy spending time with you, but today I have other plans.”
• “I don’t allow others to make me feel guilty about myself.”
• “Even though I disagree with you, I still respect your right to feel the way you feel.”

In any relationship, there are core issues and there are issues that can be compromised upon. A core issue is one in which there can be no compromise. Refusing to accept physical or verbal abuse would be an example of a core issue. It would be ridiculous and absurd for an abuser to offer a compromise of, “I’ll only physically abuse you on Tuesdays.” Physical abuse is an issue that is not open to compromise. It is therefore a core issue. Other examples of core issues might include drug abuse, marital infidelity, and verbal or emotional abuse.

A compromise issue, on the other hand, is an issue that you are willing to compromise on. An example of a compromise issue might be the question of where to have lunch with a friend or family member. You might have a lunch preference, but the choice is something that you would be willing to compromise on to some extent.

The way to distinguish a core issue from a compromise issue is that in order to compromise on a core issue you would have to give up who you are. In other words you would have to change your core identity. Having healthy boundaries means refusing to compromise on your core values and your core identity. In mindfulness we call this core identity your True Self.

People without strong boundaries often feel used, disrespected and walked on. It is easier to set very strong boundaries at the beginning of a relationship and then loosen them over time than it is to strengthen weak boundaries. If you find yourself saying, “I will do this just this one time . . .” then you probably need to strengthen your boundaries.

You cannot force anyone else to be responsible for your happiness; likewise, you cannot be responsible for anyone else’s emotional wellbeing. By setting and keeping good boundaries, you make life easier for both yourself and others.

In our ongoing effort to improve the quality of the courses we offer, we will be applying to the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) to be able to provide LIVE continuing education opportunities in addition to our online offerings.

As part of this process we are offering this FREE two-hour course on Ethics in Ecotherapy in June of 2023!

This course will cover some ethics issues common to the practice of ecotherapy. In addition to two free hours of continuing education on the Ethics of Ecotherapy, participants will receive a coupon code good for $25 off any course offered by the Mindful Ecotherapy Center, LLC.

This course will be conducted by Zoom, so you will need access to Zoom for the course.

This course will be live TOMORROW, June 20, at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89945203020?pwd=YzNTYnhoT2xqYkt3M0pTYk5wSG1lQT09

Meeting ID: 899 4520 3020
Passcode: 462232

If you are attending, please make sure you have updated Zoom to the latest version! Older versions may not work with this course!

Ecotherapy usually includes doing therapy outdoors. Therapy in non-traditional settings presents unique ethical challenges. These ethical issues are usually not covered in therapy graduate school programs. In this course we will discuss how to address some common ethical issues for therapists and counselors that are unique to the process of ecotherapy.  

Course Objectives

After taking this course the student will be able to:

• Discuss and describe confidentiality and informed consent issues common to the practice of ecotherapy
• Discuss training recommendations regarding the practice of ecotherapy
• Discuss assessment and client safety issues common to the practice of ecotherapy
• Discuss and describe what constitutes dual relationships in ecotherapy
• Discuss and describe values conflicts in ecotherapy settings
• Develop a sense of self-awareness for counselors and therapists practicing ecotherapy  

Course Instructions

This is a LIVE course that will be offered on Tuesday, June 20, 2023 at 10 a.m. Pacific Daylight Savings Time. An email reminder containing the Zoom code to access the course will be sent the day before the conference. The conference will be presented on Zoom. You need to be present for the duration of the course to get course credit.

The course will be two hours on Zoom. At the end of the course you will have access to a link for the final exam.

Upon successful completion of the exam you will receive a Certificate of Completion in pdf format, and you will be emailed a coupon code good for $25 off any course offered by the Mindful Ecotherapy Center, LLC.