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This panel brought together a diverse group of pioneers who have contributed to the integration of psychological concepts with ecology and the environment. Panel members shared their perspectives on the current role of mental health educators and practitioners in promoting environmental health and sustainability.  Panelists included Sarah Conn, Ph.D., Allen Kanner, Ph.D., John Scull, Ph.D., and John Swanson, Ph.D.  

Sarah Conn, Ph.D.
Sarah Conn, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist with a private practice in Arlington, MA.  Dr. Conn and her husband, Lane K. Conn, Ph.D., are founders of the Ecopsychology Institute.  For twenty years, Dr. Conn was a Lecturer on Psychology at the Harvard Medical School, Cambridge Hospital.  The Conns currently teach "Sustainable Design as a Way of Thinking," at The Boston Architectural College.   Dr. Conn has written "When the Earth Hurts, Who Responds?: Self, Responsibility and Psychotherapy," in Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind; "Living in the Earth: Ecopsychology, Health and Psychotherapy," Journal of Humanistic Psychology; and appears in the 1996 video Ecopsychology.  Drs. Sarah and Lane Conn have co-authored "Ecopsychology and Psychotherapy Within the Larger Context," Gestalt Review.

Allen Kanner, Ph.D.
Allen D. Kanner, Ph.D., is an activist, author, and child and family psychologist who has been fighting the commercialization of childhood since the early 1990s.  He is co-editor of Psychology and Consumer Psychology: The Struggle for a Good Life in a Materialistic World and Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind, and is a founder of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.  In 1997, Utne Reader recognized him as one of the nations leading psychotherapist activists.  He also acted as a consultant to the American Psychological Association’s Task Force on Advertising and Children.

John Scull, Ph.D.
John has many years experience as a psychologist, naturalist, and environmental educator.  He lives on Vancouver Island in British Columbia.  He has a certificate from Project Nature Connect and is a founding member of the International Community for Ecopsychology. 

John is a mental health counselor who has practiced in Corvallis, Oregon since 1976. For twenty years, he has written, made presentations, and led training groups, seminars, workshops, and retreats in the field of Ecopsychology. His guidebook Communing with Nature is designed to pass on what he has learned to the general public.

About the Conference   |   Program & Presenters   |   Brochure