Learn to promote social and environmental responsibility by adapting unique nature-reconnecting methods and materials for your personal or professional use. Tangible sensory reconnections with nature through 27 activities and 53 natural senses satisfy deep natural wants: when unsatisfied, these wants disrupt global balance, and inner peace by fueling runaway disorders.

In this advanced course, students discover how our separation from nature stresses our sentient inner nature and creates our many problems. They learn to reverse this destructive process by mastering The Natural Systems Thinking Process using thoughtful nature reconnecting activities that dissolve stress by satisfying our deepest natural loves, wants and spirit. This course teaches hands-on education, counseling and mental health skills that feelingly tap the wisdom of nature’s creation process. Its email and telephone correspondence let nature nurture warm interpersonal relationships, wellness and responsibility.

In this advanced course, students discover how our separation from nature stresses our sentient inner nature and creates our many problems. They learn to reverse this destructive process by mastering The Natural Systems Thinking Process using thoughtful nature reconnecting activities that dissolve stress by satisfying our deepest natural loves, wants and spirit. This course teaches hands-on education, counseling and mental health skills that feelingly tap the wisdom of nature’s creation process. Its email and telephone correspondence let nature nurture warm interpersonal relationships, wellness and responsibility.

Discover how to prevent contemporary society’s nature-separated thinking from deteriorating personal growth and responsible relationships. Encounter and consider how to meet the challenges of the socializing process of Industrial Society that reduces our sensitivity and sensibility by excessively separating us from the self-correcting grace, balance and renewing powers of nature in and around us. Increase your marketability, effectiveness and global citizenship by educating and counseling with a readily accessible natural systems thinking process.

Wherever possible, the Project NatureConnect program integrates the fundamentals of Natural Attraction Ecology in its philosophy, systems, and procedures. Examples of this are self-organizing classes, sliding scale tuition, personally-tailored advanced coursework, and student involvement in every level of program administration in mutual beneficial interdependent relationships. In this course, students experience, explore, and identify the differences between organizational processes in play in traditional industrial society organizations (processes which separate the “human” from the “natural”), and the way we follow nature’s flow in the Project NatureConnect program.

Students learn experientially through participation in mutually supportive relationships in group classes, in the online community discussions, in self-organizing work groups arising out of the attractions of students, faculty and staff, in the use of consensus building, asking permission, and respecting attractions as valid guides to personal choices.

Students volunteer to play support roles and offer services that tap their skills, talents and inclinations.  Read more about volunteer support roles. A student may offer any service they believe would help the organization by contacting the Executive Director (Dr. Cohen). Students help build web pages, manage the online community, edit text, write advanced curriculum, offer ideas for research and development, orient and guide less experienced students, and help to refine and increase the extent to which the program functions as a natural community.

Students also learn how to make connections with others, nurture appreciation and excitement for reconnecting with nature, and invite others to learn the process, through engagement in public education and networking. Read more about public education.

Students participate in a minimum of 90 hours of activity (45 hours per credit).

Validation of public education, social networking and cooperative community participation . This course provides credit for demonstrating the student has met the requirements of the cooperative self-organization, growth and economics of the Project NatureConnect Institute of Global Education program at the Akamai Applied Ecopsychology Institute. These requirements are described in the Student Webstring Cooperative Contract and are part of the ECO 751 course. The course includes taking a certificate or degree level comprehensive exam and submitting a short petition that documents the student’s fulfillment of the requirements of academic program challenge exams and Student Cooperative Contract.

This course explores present or past special projects that make, or would have made, the way nature works become an ally to increase well-being if organic psychology had been included as part of them. The application of Ecopsychology, as practiced in the discipline of natural attraction ecology and organic psychology, helps humanity address the crises that result from our estrangement from nature as nature’s flow manifests itself as our living planet, Earth. Students prepare an academic paper or project report as a minimum written assessment in this course.

Examples:
(Documenting previous learning) An educator could describe how they might use nature activities as a learning tool in their 3rd grade classroom.

(Documenting new learning) A student might develop a new personal development workshop using the Natural Systems Thinking Process and document it. Or, a student might document volunteer work done for the Project NatureConnect community cooperative which surpassed the requirements of ECO751 (community Coop participation). This could include documentation of work/study activities.

Prerequisites: ECO 500/600 and ECO 501/601.

While they are teaching and researching sensory ecology, students will seek, read and critique methods and materials from their own library research. Students carefully explore the literature and prepare an annotated bibliography. As the principal course assignment, participants will prepare a scholarly paper of at least 15 typewritten double-spaced pages discussing problems and solutions to important issues and practice of Applied Ecopsychology/Integrated Ecology.

Download Course Syllabus:

ECO 503/603- Exploratory Readings In Applied Ecopsychology (103.9 KB)

Prerequisites: ECO 500/600 and ECO 501/601.

Students will investigate a library of recent references related to their particular career field or interests that reflect upon the issues relevant to sensory ecology. Students will read and discuss the literature with Dr. Cohen and other professionals. Students will gather a bibliography of literature in their professional field or interest that supports work in Integrated Ecology and prepare an annotated bibliography. Students will prepare a reflective paper of at least 15 typewritten double-spaced pages discussing how the literature has informed their understanding of the opportunities for integration of Applied Ecopsychology/Integrated Ecology concepts within their career field.

Prerequisites: ECO 501/601 and ECO 502/602.

Students gain further insights into the 53 senses, their natural origins and existence and their cultural applications, by exploring each sense individually. Under the direction of the instructor, students establish and identify a class of four or more students with whom they work online and/or onsite. Students will keep a reflective journal of their experiences or a database of their online activity postings. Course participants will commit to doing nature-guided, independent study of at least two senses per week in order to finish the class within a six month time frame. At the completion of the course, students will prepare a scholarly summary paper (at least 15 typewritten pages) reflecting their experiences.

Prerequisite: ECO 501/601.

Students survey the field of Public Relations and Marketing to determine the most significant means to promote, implement and produce support for their involvement in the natural systems thinking process. They identify what that makes each technique and strategy worthwhile, select those that make the most sense to them, defend them, and apply them in areas that add to the field of nature connected psychology and their personal interests. The student writes a three page progress report that documents their work and learning in this area and that would assist others who read it.

This is a fun, experiential course designed to introduce the student to how adding an art component to nature-connecting activities can enhance the ability of Nature to teach. Both art and nature are non-verbal ways through which our subconscious mind can express itself. In this class, the student will learn techniques to use to facilitate that expression through making therapeutic, nature-inspired art. At the end of the course, students will be given the opportunity to design their own unique activities. You do not need to be an “artist” or have any so-called “creative talent” to take this class. It is not an art course, but rather uses the creative process of art-making as a tool for healing and self-discovery. It lets the student explore the innovative merging of traditional Art Therapy with Applied Ecopsychology. The course consists of 14 individual hands-on lessons/activities and typically runs about 8 – 12 weeks depending on group pace. It is taught by Dr. Theresa Sweeney, founder of Eco-Art Therapy, experienced author, and workshop leader. She is the Dean of Applied Ecopsychology at Akamai University. Email her at keleka@frontiernet.net for more information.

Download Course Syllabus:

ECO 530/630- An Introduction To Eco-Art Therapy (81.4 KB)

This course explores present or past field studies that make, or would have made, the way nature works become an ally to increase well-being if organic psychology had been included as part of them. The application of Ecopsychology, as practiced in the discipline of “natural attraction ecology” and organic psychology, helps humanity address the crises that result from our estrangement from nature as nature’s flow manifests itself as our living planet, Earth. Our nature-disconnected cultural environment envelopes us from birth. This socializes and molds us into being good citizens of our excessively indoor and unbalanced way of life in Industrial Society. We are seldom educated to think and act as contributing citizens of global life community, of its plant, animal and mineral kingdoms and their self-organized ways to support the flow of nature’s non-polluting perfection, in and around us. Rather, we learn to conquer or exploit nature’s flow, often for profit. This produces our most challenging problems, for nature is the essence that nurtures and restores life in purity, balance and well-being. As part of nature, we are born with nature’s renewing abilities. However, our thinking learns to bury them out of our sight and consciousness. The purpose of this course is to explore field studies from our past and present life experiences and training and identify how the application of organic psychology and natural attraction ecology may release and strengthen nature’s self-correcting powers in us so that they can help us address the heart of our troubles. In this way, students demonstrate that they have mastered, designed or implemented natureconnection techniques that will help us reverse many personal, social and environmental problems. Students prepare an academic paper or project report as a minimum written assessment in this course.

Examples:

(Documenting previous learning) A student might describe insights gained in their past experience as a parent during nature outings or from encouraging their children to explore their senses and trust their inclinations. Or, they might document their completion of relevant advanced training (such as outdoor education, permacutulure, plant spirit medicine, massage therapy, horticultural therapy, special education, or transpersonal counseling). They would identify how their learning related to Applied Ecopsychology, or how Applied Ecopsychology could be integrated into it.

(Documenting new learning) A student might take an outside workshop, class or training in an advanced course related to Applied Ecopsychology (such as sensory restoration, ecotherapy, nature-centered teaching, etc.) and document it. Or, a student might conduct and then document an in-depth exploration related to Applied Ecopsychology such as the study of one of the senses, or one of the tenets of natural attraction ecology.

This course explores present or past case studies, which make, or would have made, the way nature works become an ally to increase well-being if organic psychology had been included as part of them. The application of Ecopsychology, as practiced in the discipline of natural attraction ecology and organic psychology, helps humanity address the crises that result from our estrangement from nature as nature’s flow manifests itself as our living planet, Earth. Students prepare an academic paper or project report as a
minimum written assessment in this course.

Examples:

(Documenting past learning) A professional counselor might describe a client whom they worked with in the past and detail how and why they would have integrated NSTP into their counseling process with that client and what benefits they would expect from the intervention. Or, a student might document their own previous process of personal growth or healing using activities that helped them reconnect with nature or restore their subtle senses.

(Documenting new learning) A student might document the process of their own personal transformation or healing over the course of practicing the Natural Systems Thinking Process. Or, a professional counselor might begin to implement NSTP into their work with clients, and write a case study of a client’s improvements.

This course explores books, journal articles, and other learning materials that make, or would have made, the way nature works become an ally to increase well-being if organic psychology had been included as part of them. The application of ecopsychology, as practiced in the discipline of natural attraction ecology and organic psychology, helps humanity address the crises that result from our estrangement from nature as nature’s flow manifests itself as our living planet, Earth. Students prepare an academic paper or project report as a minimum written assessment in this course.

Examples:

(Documenting previous learning) A student who has previously taken academic or self-growth courses on nature-centered education, counseling or healing work might document relevant books that they read during a course or courses.

(Documenting new learning) A student might read a selection of relevant books related to educating, counseling or healing with nature in their area of specialized interest and document these. Examples would be readings on Ecopsychology, natural systems theory, sensory-based holistic healing methods, herbalism, social ecology, permaculture, etc.

Students will investigate the available literature on participatory research techniques. This may include readings in the literature pertaining to implementing system-transforming innovations (Bushe and Shani), participatory action research in the workplace (Whyte), reflection in action (Schon), reframing organizational culture (Frost, et. al.) and self-reliant initiative (Fals-Borda), as well as other qualitative and action science methodologies. Students will identify an appropriate mini-study, apply techniques from their readings, complete the study and prepare a technical paper of at least ten double-spaced typewritten pages referencing the literature and describing the value of participatory research techniques to the field of Applied Ecopsychology.

Another research preparation course module, as determined in communication with the student’s primary faculty advisor (Committee Chair.)

Masters students complete this comprehensive examination as a required element of their academic program, prior to undertaking the thesis. The examination usually includes both written and oral components and is confined to the programs of studies completed by the student.

You are expected to prepare a formal proposal related to your concept for research under the direction of your primary faculty advisor and according to University expectations. At a minimum, your research proposal should clarify the thesis statement and methodology (including the data gathering instruments and data analysis techniques) and provide an effective overview of the scholarly literature that sets the foundation for the thesis. Your research proposal should also include a brief manuscript outline that demonstrates how you will present in written form the various elements of the research project.

Following approval of your thesis proposal, you will begin your research project. Your thesis may take the form of a traditional research project or it may be a major scholarly project of the type appropriate to the discipline. Whichever approach to the thesis is chosen, the resulting project must demonstrate mastery of a body of knowledge in the major field of study, be your original work and represent a meaningful contribution to the betterment of the human condition or an improvement to the professional field.

Your thesis research may be conducted via quantitative, qualitative, or participatory action research. The body of your thesis manuscript, structured according to a set of approved manuscript guidelines, should exceed 75 double spaced, typewritten pages. If your thesis takes the form of a scholarly project, it must follow the guidelines provided by the University for such projects.

Once you have prepared the thesis manuscript, you will be asked to schedule the formal review process. Your primary faculty advisor and a faculty member representing the secondary academic area will conduct both the formal physical review of the thesis manuscript and the oral review of thesis.

The physical review of the thesis manuscript usually takes the review committee four to six weeks. Each reviewer will prepare questions and commentary relative to your underlying review of the literature, the thesis methodology, the mechanics of your project, and your presentation of the findings, conclusions and recommendations.

The Oral Review of Thesis is conducted under the direction of your primary faculty advisor with the assistance of one qualified member of the faculty. The examination is carried out by telephone conference call and is designed to allow detailed investigation of your thesis. The faculty reviewers explore with you issues related to your thesis including methodology, review of literature and interpretation of the findings.

One outcome of the thesis review process is a set of final expectations directing you through the remaining tasks for completing the thesis manuscript. Once your final manuscript is approved, you will submit the formal document to an approved bindery and later ship the bound thesis to the University for permanent archival storage.