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Scott, Malcolm Master's Thesis.Pdf (1.655Mb) Becoming ‘mental health-related climate-literate professionals’: counsellors’ meaning-making in relation to (therapeutic experiences of) client distress about climate change and chemtrails. A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Counselling at the University of Canterbury by Malcolm Scott College of Education, Health and Human Development University of Canterbury 2020 Abstract This qualitative study examines the concept of counsellors’ being (or becoming) a ‘mental health- related climate-literate professional’ by exploring counsellors’ notions of this concept through their encounters and experiences of clients concerned or distressed about climate change and chemtrails. Prompted by Cornforth’s (2008) question (Do Counsellors Have a Part to Play in Averting a Potential Catastrophe?) this research has gathered the views, perceptions and experiences of a small selection of practicing counsellors. The purpose of the research has not been to substantiate or validate any particular theory about the existence of climate change or chemtrails (there are many protagonists and deniers of each of these), but rather to gather and document narrative accounts of counsellors’ ‘lived experiences’ from their interactions with clients concerned about these phenomena. A process of re-storying and a dialogic narrative analysis methodology is utilised with an emphasis on reflexive meaning-making in order to present a range of perspectives on the meaning of being (or becoming) a mental health-related climate-literate counsellor. All of the participants conveyed concerns about chemtrails, and about the impact of climate change on the environment and people’s mental health. The natural environment and a relationship with nature for therapeutic benefit featured prominently within each participant’s meaning-making about being (or becoming) a climate-literate counsellor. All participants expressed agreement that counsellors should have some level of climate-literacy, and an appreciation of how nature and the natural environment can assist clients therapeutically. Other findings referenced by this report include: Eco- therapy; the ‘life-force’ of nature; taking a pluralistic approach to engaging with conspiracy narratives in a counselling context; and the ethical obligation for counselling professional organisations to include climate-literacy in counsellor training and accreditation programmes. i Acknowledgements There are many people that have contributed directly and indirectly to this research that I would like to acknowledge and thank. Firstly to the counsellors who agreed to be interviewed by me and record their narratives that are reported here – their candidness and honesty, and vulnerability, in sharing their experiences, thoughts and feelings about the subject of this research is deeply appreciated. My thanks also to Elana Freeland who has been investigating and publishing on the subjects of geoengineering, climate change and weather manipulation, and the chemtrail phenomenon for at least the last decade. New Zealand environmental researchers and activists that have in-directly contributed by sharing valuable information from time to time include Clare, Paula, Nigel, Si, Marian, Zane, John, Donna, and Tony – thank you all for your contributions, this thesis could not have been written without the collective volume of material each of you contributed over the years of this research. And to my thesis supervisors – to Dr Lois Tonkin who sadly passed away in 2019 after assisting me at the early stages and introducing to me Arthur Frank’s writings about dialogic analysis. To Annabel Ahuriri-Driscoll who came on board after Lois and helped keep my writing focused with her detailed feedback. And finally my thanks to Dr Shanee Barraclough who agreed right from the start to act as primary supervisor and introduced me to Sue Cornforth’s writing about counselling ethics and our collective role in averting environmental catastrophe. This gave me a contextual starting point, and her frequent feedback, questioning, and encouragement helped me to keep going. ii Table of Contents Abstract i Acknowledgments ii Table of contents iii List of Appendices & List of Figures v List of Tables vi Preface vii Chapter 1 – Introduction 1 1.1 How I came to be researching climate change and chemtrails 1 1.2 Situating the context of this research 6 1.3 Research questions 7 Chapter 2 - Literature Review 9 2.1 Counselling, climate change and the global chemtrail phenomenon 9 2.2 Discursive interpretations about climate change 11 2.3 Public anxiety about climate change 13 2.4 Ecotherapy and the ‘greening’ of psychology 17 2.5 Atmospheric geoengineering and the global chemtrail phenomenon 19 2.6 Media Bias and attempts to debunk the chemtrail narrative 21 2.7 Analysis of alleged chemtrail ‘fallout’ 24 2.8 The chemtrail phenomenon in New Zealand 25 2.9 Climate change adaptation and mitigation, and counselling 27 2.10 Disturbing or distressing beliefs about climate change or chemtrails 31 2.11 Narratives and ‘restorying’ in counselling practice and research 33 2.12 Counselling and ‘conspiracy’ beliefs 34 2.13 Summary 38 iii Chapter 3 - Methodology & Methods 39 3.1 Narrative Methodology 39 3.2 Method 41 3.3 Participants 44 3.4 Data collection 46 3.5 Data Analysis – coding of data and a dialogic narrative analysis 46 3.6 Dialogic Narrative Analysis 49 3.7 Reflexivity as a feature of Dialogic Narrative Analysis 51 3.8 Ethics, validity and trustworthiness 52 Chapter 4 - Presentation of narratives – with Dialogic Analysis 54 4.1 Clare’s narrative (re-storyed) 56 4.2 Miriam’s narrative (re-storyed) 67 4.3 Jame’s narrative (re-storyed) 79 Chapter 5 - Presentation of Findings 88 5.1 Reacquainting with my research participants 88 5.2 Feelings that connect you to your heart 93 5.3 Redemption and the life-force of nature 95 5.4 Being, or becoming, a mental health-related climate-literate professional 98 5.5 A formative model for mental health-related climate-literate professionals 101 5.6 Finding more of myself through my research 103 Chapter 6 - Discussion 105 6.1 Findings that link to established literature 105 6.2 Meaning-making through re-storying 108 6.3 Implications for counsellor education about climate change 110 iv 6.4 Conspiracy in the counselling room, chemtrails and contested truths 114 6.5 Consideration for further research about the chemtrail phenomenon 115 Chapter 7 – Conclusions 117 References 120 Appendices 130 - 146 Appendix A – Comparison of survey results of public awareness of chemtrails 2010 to 2016. Appendix B – A Decade of Alleged Atmospheric Geoengineering in New Zealand: 2009-2019. Appendix C – Research Questions. Appendix D – Human Ethics Committee Approval. Appendix E – Participant Research Information and E-mail. Appendix F – Participant Consent Form. Appendix G – Emerging data extracts from interviewee transcripts. Appendix H – Identification of themes from coded data extracts. Appendix I – Dunne, C. (2017). My month with chemtrail conspiracy theorists. List of Figures Figure 1: Two identical aircraft (both Airbus A320), emitting very different types of trails. Page 4 Figure 2: Intersection of climate change and chemtrail narratives in a counselling setting. Page 6 Figure 3: Taranaki Daily News: Struck by a fit of the vapour trails – reader survey 23 July 2012. Page 27 Figure 4: Alleged New Zealand government surveillance of chemtrail social media sites. Page 32 Figure 5: Four dimensional model for a mental health-related climate-literate professional. Page 102 v List of Tables Table 1: Initial (self-generated) Research Questions. Page 7 Table 2: Data extracts coded for ‘the natural environment and nature’. Page 47 Table 3: Refinement of themes and sub-themes. Page 49 Table 4: Comparison of participant responses to the question about counsellor climate change literacy. Page 99 vi Preface On 20 August 2017 while campaigning for election to be New Zealand’s next Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern stated in one of her campaign speeches: “climate change is the challenge that defines my generation…” As this thesis will attest, climate change is likely to increasingly become a defining factor in the lives of every person on Earth in this century in some way or another and the counselling profession has an ethical responsibility to be informed and prepared for this. However, researching and reporting on the chemtrail phenomenon, which features as much as climate change in this thesis, is far less straightforward. Labelled as a ‘conspiracy theory’ it immediately becomes subject to individual and collective scepticism, which was purportedly how the term originally came into use in the 1960’s as a means to deliberately discredit critics of the Warren Commission’s findings on the Assassination of President Kennedy. Since the Warren report, which has been disputed by investigative reports, numerous books and even in movies, it is probably fair to say that the next most globally significant and widely disputed authoritative report since the 1960s would be the conspiracy surrounding the findings of the 9/11 Commission, referred to in this thesis. What, you may ask, does the 9/11 conspiracy narrative have to do with this counselling research? Since 9/11 conspiracy narratives have increasingly become a common feature of everyday life for many people particularly given the ease of access to alternative and social media, citizen journalism, and independent investigative reports accessible via the internet. Both the events of 9/11
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