Viridis graduates want their lives to make a real difference in the world.

Graduates are skilled in assessing and reconfiguring narrative frameworks, behavior, and detrimental practices in communities, organizations, and institutions into workable, creative, and collaborative solutions.

MA and DA Graduates in Ecological Psychology and Environmental Humanities practice as non-licensed ecopsychologists, and ecological psychology professionals, similar to environmental or conservation psychology professionals, cultural ecologists, and social or cultural ecologists.

Career Applications

Employers seek skilled individuals who bring maturity, ecological literacy, communication competence, creative and critical thinking, and ethics to their organizations and businesses.

Our programs are designed for those seeking professions in various services and fields, including working in organizations, government agencies, businesses, nongovernmental organizations (NGO), working with plants, nonhuman animals, and land-waterscapes.

Professional applications may include education at all levels, social and environmental justice issues, climate education, ecological psychologists (ecopsychologists) working as climate, environmental, and conservation directors leading organizations and institutions in meeting required environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices for sustainability, ecopsychologists leading wilderness /nature educational programs, healthcare fields, state and national park service, community-based or group education, artist as educators, corporate responsibility and business sustainability directors, organizations that serve nonhuman and human populations, food security and community agriculture, water resources, social and ecological degradation, pollution, and loss of diversity, and many other areas.

While students in this field can choose to work with a seemingly infinite number of organizations, each pursuing their own unique goals, ecological psychology and environmental humanities equip you with ecological literacy for how the world works and psychological skills allowing you to lead different conversations, program development and evaluation, prevention and promotion, and professional consultation and collaboration.

Professional Demand

Our ecological psychology programs exceed the Essential Employability Qualities (EEQs) most often cited by employers as needed in the workspace: maturity, clear communication, critical and creative (out-of-the-box) thinking, problem-solving skills, ethics, collaboration skills, and in today’s world the demand is for ecological literacy and psychological competencies.

As people become more environmentally conscious, ecopsychologists are playing a more significant role in the workforce.

Closely related fields informed by an education in ecological psychology include architectural psychology, socio-architecture, behavioral geography, environmental sociology, social ecology, environmental design, environmental and urban design and planning, environmental aesthetics, interior design, environmental impact assessment, and environmental philosophy.

Climate and Healthcare Professionals

Therapeutic / Clinical Fields
Ecological psychology degrees are non-licensure programs. Healthcare providers with existing licensure can expand their therapeutic knowledge and modalities with an ecological psychology master’s or doctoral degree, extending your ecopsychological skillset with groups, communities and those suffering loss, grief, and from ecological/social/cultural devastation.

Viridis Graduate Institute is a member of the American Psychological Association’s Society for Environmental, Population, Conservation Psychology, and Ecopsychology (APA Division 34).

Should you choose to become licensed, please see Counseling Licensure State Guide.

Climate and Environment
At Viridis, ecological psychologists (ecopsychologists) are highly trained in climate and environmental psychology that goes beyond simply promoting pro-environment behaviors; graduates are trained to reconfigure detrimental narratives underpinning environmental degradation causing nonhuman and human suffering.

Graduates work in areas as varied as human responses to natural and technological hazards, conservation, environmental degradation and community impact, and with ecological grief, climate stress, and loss.

Go to: Doctor of Arts in Ecological Psychology and Environmental Humanities with a Specialization in Climate Response & Resilience

Local, state, and federal government agencies employ thousands of people in jobs related to climate change. Private companies are also increasingly interested in reducing the harmful effects of climate change. This means that jobs fighting climate change are available in many areas.

It may take a little research to discover where you best fit, but we need ecopsychologists working in these areas: corporate responsibility (sustainability), community climate educator, climate justice, environmental law (if you have a J.D.), sustainability/climate leadership in organizations, climate responsibility consulting, environmental educators at all levels, wildlife conservationists, ecologists, climate change analyst, environmental scientist, sustainability technicians, the fashion industry ( a major polluter trying to change practices).

Ecopsychological education is the most powerful tool for changing human narratives and destructive climate practices.

Working as a climate ecopsychologist extends far beyond the therapy room. By bringing ecological and psychological understanding of how we arrived at this global crisis and strategies for effective engagement, ecological psychology therapists can help reconfigure detrimental narratives and create sustainable solutions.

One does not need to be licensed to ecologically and psychologically educate others.

Some examples include:
• Creating widely accessible climate grief support through group workshop offerings,
• Partnering / consulting with agencies, advocacy groups, and nonprofits to provide resources to staff and the communities they serve,
• Working with environmental, business, and/or academic organizations to create ecopsychological work climates, and guide initiatives with ecological psychology processes and perspectives to increase relational understanding,
• Writing, speaking, teaching, and research to explore the ecological and psychological dimensions of climate work,
• Connecting with schools to introduce ecological psychology and emotionally intelligent features to climate curriculums.

Careers in the Field:

Ecopsychologist
National average salary: $94,903 per year
Primary duties: Ecopsychologists use environmental theories and counseling principles to provide unique mental health services to patients. Often, they incorporate spending time in natural environments into their patient counseling sessions to achieve desired outcomes. Some common therapeutic practices they incorporate into their counseling sessions include nature walks, gardening or spending personal time in a natural environment.

At Viridis, an in-depth education goes beyond simplistic ideas, strategies, and practices. Viridis ecopsychologists are highly trained in ecological knowledge and psychological capability necessary for working with others (as licensed or nonlicensed professionals). They are steeped in overarching ecological processes that are also foundational psychological processes, which are critical to understand when working to effect behavioral change or transformation in people, organizations, and climate attitudes. Their education includes developing sensoring capacities and sensibilities.

This deeper ecological-psychological understanding of relationality among all lifeforms, their surroundings, processes and cycles provide Viridis graduates a more profound education in the complexities of narratives and behavior in a shared world. ReWilding trips are offered each year providing amazing experiences with nature and naturehuman.

Related areas that are served by an ecological psychology education:

Climate psychologist
National average salary: $94,903 per year
Primary duties: Climate psychologists research how humans affect the climate. They collaborate with companies or government agencies to help create policies and programs that help reduce society’s impact on the climate. These psychologists also research how to get society members involved in positive climate change efforts to improve the climate.

Environmental psychologist
National average salary: $94,903 per year
Primary duties: Environmental psychologists perform similar functions to climate psychologists, but they focus on the human impact on the natural world. They research how people interact with the world around them, including the natural world and human-made environments. These psychologists study why people choose to adopt environmentally conscious practices.

Social psychologist
National average salary: $94,903 per year
Primary duties: Social psychologists study and analyze interpersonal interactions, group dynamics and social challenges to understand why they occur and how they affect each other. They also study the factors that influence public perceptions, group behaviors and leadership methods.

Areas Graduates Apply Their Degrees

• Agriculture / food security industry / food distribution
• Alternative Renewable Energy industry
• Art and Design fields
• Business
• Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility/Corporate Climate Specialists
• Environmental Management
• City and Urban Planning
• Conservation & Wildlife
• Coaching & Consulting
• Ecotourism
• Education (all levels) and Home Schooling
• Civic and International Governmental policy-making
• Health Care Professionals
• Social Media
• International Relief Workers
• Landscape Architecture
• Nonprofit and Nongovernment Organizations (NGO)
• Organizational, Business, and Change Management
• Parks & Recreation
• Social Justice – Ecological Justice Organizations
• United Nations and UNESCO
• Water / Ocean / Land Conservation and Management
• Wildlife Management & Rescue

Job Placement Disclaimer

Viridis Graduate Institute does not guarantee job placement, advancement, or continued employment to graduates upon program completion or upon graduation. The Institute does not provide occupational assistance. The Institute has an active Alumni Organization that works with career ideas on a regular basis. In the doctoral program curriculum, a culminating course is offered in the professional application of ecopsychology and environmental humanities.