The Spiritual care and Planetary health track is intended for master's students who want to work on existential questions surrounding the ecological crisis. They can then provide more specialized mental health care to people who, for example, have climate anxiety or are concerned about ecological challenges. The track deepens their understanding of the relationship between humans and other life forms, and of what it takes to inhabit the earth with care.
Anger and powerlessness
"There is already a lot of psychological research on ecodepression and climate anxiety, and there are treatment methods", says Hans Alma, lecturer and initiator. "But it's not just about mental health issues; they are, in fact, healthy responses to existential questions that come to people. For example, 1 in 5 young people are seriously concerned about the climate, there spiritual care has a task. Or climate activists who struggle with feelings of anger and powerlessness, how do they keep it up? But also think of farmers, who have to deal with questions about livelihood security. We're going to work on that too."
The first batch of students comes from the VU Faculty of Religion and Theology, and their backgrounds are varied. There are people from a Christian or Buddhist tradition, but also students with no connection to a religious tradition who feel involved in the theme.
Extinction Rebellion
One of them is Marlous Ockhuysen, who researched the well-being of Dutch climate activists from Extinction Rebellion. "Nature and fighting for the preservation of a healthy earth is a spiritual life orientation for them. What touched me is that Extinction Rebellion relies on both scientific and spiritual knowledge of Indigenous peoples. But they feel alone in their struggle. The urgency is not yet sufficiently heard and felt throughout society, while the world is proverbially on fire."
"The climate crisis is not something that only concerns activists or scientists, because in the end, humans do not stand alone. We are inextricably linked to the natural environment and all its life forms. And if you are talking about what place people occupy in the bigger picture, with all the interaction that goes with it, then that is pre-eminently a subject that falls within the field of the spiritual caregiver. In this way, we can contribute more actively to broadening the public debate on climate change."
- Read the full interview with Marlous
- More information about the Master's track Spiritual care and Planetary health