Postgraduate Course: Nature, Green Space and Mental Health (CNST11072)
Course Outline
| School | School of Health in Social Science |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Counselling Studies |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | This course will bring together research and insights from counselling, psychotherapy, psychology, outdoor education, landscape architecture and human geography to provide
- a critical overview of evidence for the impact (both negative and positive) of nature and outdoor activities on mental health;
- an overview of the ways in which nature and the outdoors are enrolled in a variety of therapeutic practices;
- a discussion of the contributions counselling, psychotherapy and psychology might make to addressing environmental issues and to supporting people and communities in transitioning to more sustainable lifestyles.
It will also provide an opportunity for students to reflect upon their own relationship with nature and outdoor activities and to explore how they might practically use what they learn in the course in their own practices as counsellors, psychotherapists, educators and activists.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | No |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
1. critically assess the evidence for the impact of nature and outdoor activities on mental health
2. evaluate the ways in which practitioners in counselling, psychotherapy, and wilderness and adventure therapy work with nature and outdoor activities in therapeutic work
3. appreciate the breadth of ways in which counselling and psychotherapy might contribute to supporting transitions to more sustainable lifestyles and to responding to the impacts of environmental crises
4. have the capacity to make informed choices about working with nature and/or outdoor activities in their own practice (or prospective practice)
5. critically reflect on their own relationship to nature and outdoor activities
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Assessment Information
25% for a 1500 word literature review on a topic of interest, which students will present during the second block.
75% on a 2,500 word final essay that draws critically on relevant academic literature and on the student's reflective course journal and which puts forward a proposal for how he or she will engage with nature and/or outdoor activities in his or her current or future practice. This will be handed in at the end of semester two.
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Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Not entered |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Not entered |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Ms Alette Willis
Tel: (0131 6)50 3881
Email: a.willis@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Sue Larsen
Tel: (0131 6)51 6671
Email: Sue.Larsen@ed.ac.uk |
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