Location:

Boulder, United States

Program Type:

Full Degree

Degree Level:

Master

Specialty:

Psychology

Program Overview

Program Description:

Do you want to help heal the perceived rift between human beings and the natural world? Are you interested in building greater connections between people and the planet for the betterment of both?

Then begin with yourself. Naropa University's low-residency Master of Arts degree in Ecopsychology integrates psychology and ecological issues in the study of human-nature relationships. At Naropa University, contemplative practice and transpersonal psychology provide a foundation for this integration, which is unique in the world. This combination of interior and exterior exploration offers you a one-of-a-kind path to deepen your relationship to nature and develop a more sustainable life and career that aligns fwith your values.

Foster your individual growth and personal awakening. Acquire practical, non-clinical skills for working with others. And deepen your intrinsic and intellectual understanding of nature. The Naropa Ecopsychology master's degree program will connect you to a strong community of learners: fellow travellers on the journey to discovering how best to serve as empowered, aware, and compassionate agents of healthy ecological change.

Psychology of Wilderness experience

The heart of Naropa's master's degree program in Ecopsychology is a class called, “Psychology of Wilderness Experience.” This rite of passage course will take you into the Colorado wilderness for ten days, where you will camp, acquire backcountry skills, participate in a three-day fasting solo, then return to share your experience of deeply connecting to nature.
Low-residency

Most courses take place online, so you can participate while still working and caring for your family. You will also take part in four intensives lasting between five days and two weeks in duration in Boulder, Colorado.

Credits Required: 38

The Ecopsychology master's degree program is a two-year, 38-credit program merging online and on-campus work. It offers theoretical grounding in ecopsychology along with transpersonal psychology, contemplative nature awareness practices, wilderness immersion, service learning, and mindfulness training.

Ecopsychology is an emerging field that is developing in recognition that human health, identity, and sanity are intimately linked to the health of the earth and must include sustainable and mutually enhancing relationships between humans and the nonhuman world.

Ecopsychology places human psychology in an ecological context, and is aimed at healing the divisions between mind and nature, humans and earth. The central concern of ecopsychology is the physical, psychological, and spiritual health of both the human and nonhuman world and an understanding of the psychological processes that either bond us to the natural world or alienate us from it.

Ecology is the study of connection, of the interrelationships among all forms of life, and the physical environment. Psychology is the study of the human psyche, of the human mind and soul as it perceives, feels, thinks, and acts. Ecopsychology brings psychology and ecology together to create a healing context for and new understanding of the human-nature relationship. 

Format:

Hybrid

Additional Program Information

Accreditation:

Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Financial Aid:

Yes

Requirements:

*Standard graduate admissions requirements *Strong writing skills (as demonstrated in the admissions essay and letters of recommendation) *A demonstrated capacity for self-direction *A demonstrated capacity to join in and contribute to an interactive learning community that functions most of the time at a distance *Clear goals for wanting to pursue the MATP that can be reasonably met by the program *Technology form. Prospective students must have the technical capacity to take online courses *Specific admission considerations include the following: -experience and goals -contemplative interest and personal awareness -clarity of intellect and academic background -community and communication -resourcefulness