Career Center
Viridis graduates want their lives to make a real difference in the world.
Graduates are skilled professionals – educators of all levels, organizational leaders, corporate responsibility directors, healthcare providers, community educators, technology professionals, design and landscape architects, coaches and consultants, land conservationists, food security and water policy makers, social justice leaders, community health educators, scientists, climate educators just to name a few areas ecological psychology leads the conversation.
Graduate are trained to evaluate and reconfigure detrimental narratives underpinning the damage we do to the planet, other lifeforms, and each other. Graduates are skilled in ways to create workable, 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.
Employers seek skilled individuals who bring maturity, ecological literacy, communication competence, creative and critical thinking, and ethics to their organizations and businesses.
The richness of ecological psychology perspectives and applications are rooted in the diverse integration of knowledge from across disciplines.
The 21st century has seen rapid changes to the options graduates have in formulating different career paths. There are new opportunities that did not exist ten years ago, and more are opening all the time due to innovative ideas, creative thinking, and the acknowledgement by an interconnected global environment that there is a crucial need for both ecological literacy and psychological capacities.
Studies continue to emerge in shifting job markets, showing statistically that degrees in education, social sciences, animal and plant sciences, food security, health care fields, and business offer some of the best employment opportunities.
Master of Arts in Social Science with Emphasis in Ecological Psychology & Environmental Humanities
Doctor of Arts in Ecological Psychology
Everything is an ecology, and we live in a psychological world.
Our programs are designed to cultivate critical thought, communication, ecological & civic literacy, ecological psychology aesthetics, and creativity that promote a deeper understanding of the impact human narratives and behavior have on all human and nonhuman systems or ecologies. Our focus is on how to change destructive narratives, behavior, and practices.
Ecological literacy and psychological capacities touch every facet of a shared world – in one way or another.
If you want to extend and expand your existing profession, create a new professional endeavor, or work with communities, organizations, institutions, and small groups – you are in the right educational landscape.
Professional applications may include ecological psychologists working with:
- education at all levels,
- social and ecological justice issues,
- healthcare and clinical fields
- climate education,
- design of new technologies,
- consulting with organizations and business to meet required environmental, social and governance (ESGs) practices for sustainability,
- wilderness /nature educational programs,
- 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 issues,
- architectural ecological psychology,
- environmental ecological psychology and sociology,
- social ecology,
- design, urban planning,
- environmental impact assessment, and many other areas.
Graduates in the field of ecological psychology can choose to work in any profession, or start your own, because everything is an ecology.
You are equipped with ecological literacy and psychological capacities and necessary skills for your success: creative and critical ways of thinking and planning, systemic leadership, maturation and ability to lead difficult conversations, collaboration and cultivating partnerships, confidence in communication, aesthetic alignment that takes in nonhuman and human beings, and ability to evaluate and solve challenges.
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
- ecological literacy
- psychological competencies
In a complex and fast-paced world, ecological psychologists (ecopsychologists) are leading different conversations and applying innovating thinking to persistent problems.
Ecological Psychology 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
Ecological Psychology Coaching
At Viridis, ecological psychologists (also called ecopsychologists or cultural ecologists) are trained in to reconfigure detrimental narratives and practices in organization, institutions, and communities.
Graduates educate, work, coach, and consult in areas as varied as climate and sustainability, business and civic leadership, responses to natural disasters, education, conservation, environmental degradation and community impact, coaching in a variety of areas, and with ecological grief, climate stress, and loss.
Go to:
We do not need to be licensed to ecologically and psychologically educate others.
It may take a little research to discover where you best fit, but we need ecological psychologists working to educate and lead others to reconfigure narratives and practices damaging a shared world.
Some examples for how to apply a coaching or climate specialization include:
- Creating widely accessible climate grief support through ecological psychology workshop offerings.
- Partnering / consulting with agencies, advocacy groups, and nonprofits to provide coaching resources to staff and the communities they serve.
- Working with environmental, business, and/or academic organizations to guide initiatives using ecological psychology processes to increase ecological literacy – everything is an ecology.
- Writing, speaking, teaching, and research to explore the ecological and psychological dimensions of coaching opportunities, or climate work
- Connecting with schools to introduce ecological psychology to existing or new curriculums.
Careers in the field
education (all levels)
Primary duties:
Education is the most important and effective tool we have to bring about systemic change in human behavior and practices. Starting with our kids and young adults is how we educate for the future. Ecology and psychology (relationship) learned at VGI can be taught at any age level using age-appropriate concepts and materials. A degree in Ecological Psychology expands educational opportunities across teaching disciplines.
ecological psychologist (Ecopsychologist)
Primary duties:
At Viridis, an in-depth education goes beyond nature walks. Viridis ecological psychologists are highly trained in ecological knowledge and psychological capabilities 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 transforming behavior in people, organizations, and communities attitudes. VGI education includes developing sensoring capacities and sensibilities that deepen the practice of working with others.
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.
Related areas that are served by an ecological psychology education:
Climate Ecological Psychologist
Primary duties: Climate ecopsychologists 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.
social ecological psychologist
Primary duties: Social ecopsychologists analyze interpersonal relations, 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 VGI 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, Home Schooling
- Environmental Protection Agency
- 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.
