Walk together comforted by nature’s peace. Allow the stillness of the forests, the calls of birds, and the river’s gentle presence invite you to attune to your own heart. As we slow we often uncover our deeply felt emotions, both in response to challenges in our lives and our feelings about the earth crisis of our time.  Many people are experiencing profound ecoanxiety, or worry related to our future as humans and the vast implications for all life on earth. Many experience guilt, grief, feeling overwhelmed, and not knowing what to do. You are not alone.  Together, we can create spac ..read more

Systemic Responses we can bring to our Supervisees and Clients Presented by: Melissa Clews-Hunt April 1, 2022 12:00 - 1:30 EDT $75.00 per member https://camft.ca/event-4708248/Registration A workshop for supervisors and therapists to turn attention to our relationship with the earth, and be part of a response to the urgency of our time. Participants will gain an introduction to ecotherapy including theory, ethics, resources, experiential work, case examples and discussion. This workshop counts towards CAMFT continuing education and part of the supervisor refresher requirements. Melissa Clews-H ..read more

Inose [Ee-no-say] means to walk in a certain way, to a certain place. This 25-minute sound walk is an intimate aural experience emerging from the fertile collaboration between artist Yolanda Bonnell and scientist Dr. Jesse Popp, two Anishinaabe leaders deeply engaged with Indigenous knowledge systems in their different fields. https://sites.uoguelph.ca/gier/field-trip ..read more

In the spring when the ferns were coming up, with permission and respect I harvested fiddle heads promising that I would return in the summer to water the ferns. I didn’t quite know how I’d get the water from the nearby river to them. I had been back and attempted to scoop water with my hands but by the time I got to the ferns there were only a few drops to offer. One day this week I went there looking for spiritual revival, and was drawn in a dream to be with water. As I arrived I was angered by seeing a piece of trash in the river. I decided to take it from the river but had to remove my sho ..read more

Precious babies; stolen, abused, killed and buried. Parents, families, survivors who are still living, many who are not, unsettled spirits. All my relations, the wind that bares witness and carries the wounds, the water. May there be healing. Settler privilege out of violence, what are my responsibilities to stand on Turtle Island, to see colonization in my self righteousness, my separateness? May there be healing. “It is easier for me to respect people who know they produced a Hitler than a nation so convinced of its innocence it imagines it could never produce one.” -Joanna Macy #healingushe ..read more

Sometimes I catch myself going about my day or week with a problem solving approach to life. I find myself going from task to task fixing things; “I need to book a doctor’s appointment for my daughter,” “I need to address that issue at work,” “I want to shovel my neighbour’s driveway.” While addressing problems head on are important, I find I can get invited into finding problems that may not exist. As it turns out my daughter’s issue does not need medical intervention, the “issue” at work was more something for me to be curious about rather than fix, I can help my neighbours when I’m able but ..read more

As we carry on through the phases of the global pandemic, there continues to be uncertainties as well as possibilities. I have heard from many people I work with experiences of fear and loss. There is a collective anxiety and grief that we are all moving through. What was familiar and the ways we used to live have changed. I have also heard people find gifts in this time. There is a permission for slowness, an opportunity to deepen family relationships, purposeful intentions to connect with others, and a chance to settle more intimately with our land base. While most of our world’s population ..read more

Before COVID-19, our focus was on the immensity of climate change. We asked how do we change the structures we live by to benefit the earth? We now have been forced to make these changes. We no longer fly, we are limited to purchase goods, and many of us are no longer commuting to work. These transitions have been challenging and will continue to challenge us. In the midst of the turmoil however I am finding people reaching out to one another in ways we haven’t before - connecting for the sake of connection. People are stepping out in kindness and offering support to one another through these ..read more

We are at a critical time in history, the choices we make today have implications beyond our awareness for the future of our planet. We can feel so daunted by the immensity of the problems, we freeze in response, not knowing what to do. We blame and shame others out of our own powerlessness. We continue business as usual from a place of overwhelm.  Lately in my work with individuals, couples and families, I have been drawing on the metaphor of dropping a rock in water and the concentric circles that flow from it. I think of the inner core as our relationship with ourselves, the next circl ..read more

What does it mean to connect with the elements? At first this sounds like an “out there” idea, but instead it can be deeply meaningful and accessible. The elements – water, earth, fire and air - are present everywhere and even course through us at any given moment. Take water for example, with the vast spring rains we are having. We are quick to complain about the rain and yet all life on earth, including our own, depends on this life giving source of water. Water flows through our bodies and we cannot live without it. The element of earth includes the soil from which all food grows and our bo ..read more