Catastrophe or Transformation? Being a Therapist in a time of : Science meets

Sunday 21st October 2018 10.00am – 4.00pm At BCPC, 1 Trim Bridge Bath BA1 1HD

Can Catastrophe be Avoided?

Peter Harper will present climate science facts and figures and cut through some of the rhetoric of popular narrative. He will examine questions such as ‘Is there a Tipping Point? Or several?’ He will question optimistic mainstream perspectives on implications of the future for human life on earth. He will refer to other unsustainable global trends such as deforestation, land degradation and . He argues it is our duty to try to prevent catastrophe.

Climate Catastrophe – Psychosocial Reflections

Caroline Hickman will ask why we continue to fail to take sufficient, effective, collective action on climate change. Given that people are not wholly rational beings perhaps it follows that approaches to climate change that depend on rational argument alone will fail. I will explore a range of psychosocial perspectives on climate change including a narrative about our relationship with catastrophe and extinction, of self and others, to help us think about some of these questions.

Global Climate Change Week is October 15th – 21st see http://globalclimatechangeweek.com

Afternoon Workshops

Caroline Hickman This workshop will explore our personal and Peter Harper therapeutic relationship with climate change, catastrophe, survival and extinction, of self, What would a modern sustainable lifestyle and others, of humankind and the non- look like? human world.

Kate Dufton Gathering experience - making mistakes as Ruth Tudor we find a language and spaces to speak to or with the crisis in our ecosystem. Clinical & Power as a Therapeutic experiences are invited - suitably Concern: It's not Global, it's Local! anonymised for this discussion setting.

Biographies

Caroline Hickman teaches social work at the University of Bath and works as a psychotherapist with adults and children following trauma. She qualified as an Integrative Psychosynthesis Psychotherapist with Revision and studied archetypal & cultural psychology with Thiasos. She is a part time PhD student at the University of Bath researching relationship with nature and climate change. She is a member of the Climate Psychology Alliance

Peter Harper is a biologist who worked for thirty years at the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales and was head of Research and Innovation. He regards himself as a dual national of both Academia and Bohemia. His colleagues regard him as a loose cannon who flouts the canons of environmental orthodoxy. Recently he put a cow on trial for crimes against the biosphere. He teaches natural sciences at the University of Bath and lectures worldwide.

Kate Dufton has been a NHS Consultant in and Psychiatry and currently has a training role in the School of Psychiatry in Wales. She also works with community groups, has a labyrinth practice and is Hon Sec with the CPA (Climate Psychology Alliance)

Ruth Tudor is a Psychotherapist (BCPC trained) who practices mainly from her farm in south Wales. Ruth is currently doing research for a doctoral on the experience of a seaside village in Snowdonia, where she grew up, who are facing involuntary displacement due to the influence of climate change. Increasingly she seeks to be unruly and to challenge and disrupt mainstream mind sets, including about climate change.

Cost: £35 (BCPC students £30) How to book: email [email protected] to express interest. Payment will secure your booking.

Refreshments provided.

Global Climate Change Week is October 15th – 21st see http://globalclimatechangeweek.com