AcademicsGraduate AcademicsEcopsychology (Low-Residency)

Master of Arts in Ecopsychology (Low-Residency)

Deepen your understanding of the human/nature relationship and its importance in re-balancing our world for personal, societal and planetary health. This master’s degree program is both highly experiential and academically rigorous so that you, as a future ecopsychologist, may apply your training, skills, and unique talents to a broad array of employment directions.

This low-residency program combines online courses and residential Intensives with a cohort model that builds supportive community and long-lasting friendships. Over the course of two years, you’ll engage in contemplative practices and meditation, deep immersion in the natural world, meaningful service-learning, and strong foundations in the field of ecopsychology, which blends transpersonal psychology with ecological principles.

In community with seasoned faculty and like-minded peers, you will learn to repair the bridge that connects humans to the natural world.

Discover Career Pathways for Ecopsychology Graduates

Quick Facts

38

Credits
Hours

10

In the
Wilderness
Immersive
Days

4

To Supplement
Online Learning
Residential
Intensives

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Olivia Phipps

Graduate Admissions Counselor

Ecopsychology Courses

In the only ecopsychology graduate program in the United States, master’s students will explore the human/nature relationship through the lens of ecology and transpersonal psychology. The curriculum is a dynamic blend of nature therapy courses, wilderness immersion, and in-depth study of transpersonal psychology’s central concepts.

In community with seasoned faculty and like-minded peers, you will learn to repair the bridge that connects humans to the natural world.

Courses in Naropa’s ecopsychology degree include:

The Naropa Difference

A green revolution has begun, and you want to be a part of it. Answer that calling through the graduate ecopsychology program at Naropa. You’ll enrich your relationship with yourself and the natural world while adding nature therapy to your practice, or switching to a meaningful career in ecopsychology.

Contemplative Connection With Nature

In accordance with Naropa’s mission of contemplative education, the Master of Arts in Ecopsychology matches theoretical study with meditative practice. In the ecopsychology graduate program, nature is the added element, creating the opportunity to know oneself through the natural world.

In the summer bridging the first and second years of the ecopsychology program, you’ll experience the Psychology of Wilderness intensive, a ten-day rite-of-passage in a wilderness setting. There, you will leave behind the familiar, chart your path through three days of solitude, and then return with profound insights about yourself and the world. This is nature therapy at its most profound. 

Global Access

The Master of Arts in Ecopsychology program seeks to expand contemplative education through its low-residency, online format. Because the ecological issues facing humanity exist on a global scale, we aim for a geographically diverse student body.

Learning in community with an international cohort will expand your knowledge of ecological issues, provide a window into previously unseen parts of the natural world, and enrich your ability to communicate with diverse populations through nature.

Careers in Ecopsychology

Through the Transpersonal Service Learning course, graduate students will apply their knowledge of transpersonal ecopsychology through community fieldwork. Service-learning placements, at sites from bereavement centers to nonprofits, include teaching art and ecopsychology, assisting teen wilderness rites-of-passage courses, and providing natural disaster relief.

The service-learning experience prepares ecopsychology degree students for enhancing or beginning careers in education, psychotherapy, entrepreneurship, and more. Specifically, MA in Ecopsychology graduates have gone on to careers as naturopathic healers, green business consultants, leaders of nature therapy programs, and art therapists. Naropa students are bringing their knowledge of environmental psychology to diverse professions in locations that span the globe. 

Students Transformed

Student Transformed

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What to Expect

Take your love for nature a step further; learn how nature can heal.
Deep Relationship
with Nature
Help restore the powerful link between humans and the natural world.
Understanding of the Human/Nature Relationship
Gain wilderness skills you will use for a lifetime.
Valuable Nature-
Based Skills
Learn about yourself through immersive wilderness experiences.
Self-Knowledge
Create opportunities for healing where ecology meets psychology.
Deep Relationship
with Nature

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YOU ARE READY.

This is where experiential learning meets academic rigor. Where you challenge your intellect and uncover your potential. Where you discover the work you’re moved to do—then use it to transform our world.

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Naropa Campuses Closed on Friday, March 15, 2024

Due to adverse weather conditions, all Naropa campuses will be closed Friday, March 15, 2024.  All classes that require a physical presence on campus will be canceled. All online and low-residency programs are to meet as scheduled.

Based on the current weather forecast, the Healing with the Ancestors Talk & Breeze of Simplicity program scheduled for Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday will be held as planned.

Staff that do not work remotely or are scheduled to work on campus, can work remotely. Staff that routinely work remotely are expected to continue to do so.

As a reminder, notifications will be sent by e-mail and the LiveSafe app.  

Regardless of Naropa University’s decision, if you ever believe the weather conditions are unsafe, please contact your supervisor and professors.  Naropa University trusts you to make thoughtful and wise decisions based on the conditions and situation in which you find yourself in.