RCE Greater Portland-2017

rce_proj_title_2013
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1. Project Title: 
Train-the-Trainer Workshops
2. Thematic area/s addressed by the project
Select your options: 
Climate Change (CC)
Higher Education (HE)
3. Project partner contact information : 
Organization: 
GPSEN
Role: 
Host
Main Contact: 
Kim Smith
Name: 
Kim Smith
Affiliation: 
GPSEN
Email: 
kdsmith@pcc.edu
Alternative project contact: 
Name: 
Kathy Stanley
Affiliation: 
Sophia University
Email: 
KathyStanley@comcast.net
4. Project type
Select the relevant type for your project: 
Engaging with transformative learning and research for SD
Contributing to capacity development of stakeholders and partners
5. Project description
Provide a short description of the project including strategies, regional challenges, aims and specific project activities.: 

With a $6,000 grant, funded by Portland Community College’s Green Initiative Fund, GPSEN was able to hire two eco-psychologists to develop two train-the-trainer workshops:

Hope and Resilience:  In these times of accelerating change and challenge where we are bombarded with negative news that numbs and overwhelms the spirit, how can we build hope and resilience? How do we build stronger internal and external supports for sustainability personally and for our communities? How do we hold hope for our planet? This one-day training provides practical strategies and tools for cultivating hope and resilience from an ecopsychology perspective. The training, with three sections of focus: Personal, Community and Planetary, consists of a combination of short lecture and group activities giving participants resources that they will be able to use in their own communities.

Facing Climate Change

In these times of daunting challenges where we are bombarded with negative news and scales of problems that can overwhelm our psyches, it is important to develop tools that empower us and help us engage in solutions.  Facing Climate Change identifies the psychological barriers that inhibit our sense of efficacy, such as fear, time, and self-limiting frames of actions and outcomes, and offers tools to overcome adversity, develop communication skills, and build our resilience. This workshop uses lessons from ecopsychology to help you build your own reserves of personal resilience so that you can face what you know and read about climate change with clear eyes, not sink into despair, and learn practices that will be psychologically supportive and empowering, including suggestions for how you can take action in your own communities. Through this lens, climate change becomes our ally to help us to move forward.

Participants received:

·         Methods for self-care that are crucial to resilience and psychological well-being.

·         Exercises designed to strengthen connection, communication, and empathy.

·         Strategies for building positive visions for a flourishing planetary future.

7. Provide references and reference materials : 
PDF icon GPSEN Ecopsychology Curriculum - Final.pdf
6. Project status
On Going
Description: 
1) Hope and Resilience: 31 students registered, 18 attended. Most students were from PCC, but the workshop was open to students from across the Portland region.
2) Facing Climate Change: 18 students and community members registered, 19 attended. Workshop was open to students and community members from across the Portland region. 6 students who attended were from PCC.

Hope and Resilience was offered again at the AASHE Conference, in October, 2017. These workshops are available for future workshops and we plan to add a third module focused on environmental justice.
8. Tagging
Region: 
Americas
Tags (choose up to 5): 
Community Education
Curriculum Development
Teacher Education