Welcome to an inclusive conversation centered on acceptance, compassion, and care.

Welcome to the Climate Café:

An informal, open, respectful, confidential space to share emotional responses and reactions to the climate and ecological emergencies.

  • Small group: Maximum of 8 partcipants.

  • Quiet, reflective experience. A haven from usual busyness and activity.

  • The intention is to be with ourselves and each other, not to lead participants toward any conclusion.

  • Exploration of thoughts, feelings, and experiences rather than a discusssion on what we are "doing about" the climate crisis.

  • Open to all regardless of your current engagement with the climate crisis.

Why Attend a Climate Café?

Adapted from Dr. Elizabeth Allured and Dr. Wendy Greenspun's CPA-NA Training

  • Engage with Feelings About the Crisis

    The climate crisis can lead to intense emotions and/or a protective turning away. An informal group format can offer a place to engage with these feelings.

  • Calm Nervous System

    Shared vulnerability can lighten the emotional burden and co-regulation in the group can calm the nervous system.

  • Open to New Ways of Thinking

    Sharing thoughts, feelings, and experiences can open up new ways of thinking and deepen engagement.

  • Cultivate Connections

    Group format can cultivate connections, build community, and support shared meaning-making.

Facilitators

Heather McLaughlan

Heather McLaughlin (she/her) is an educator, Board Certified Art Therapist, Registered Couple and Family Therapist, Licensed Psychotherapist and clinical supervisor. She is the Art Therapy Graduate Program Director at Concordia University and Director of the Concordia Arts in Health Centre. Heather's work is focused on building healthy relationships, helping find healing processes for intergenerational trauma, promoting the arts and creativity in health, and providing anti-oppressive justice based practice. Her work grounded in systemic thinking, modern attachment theory and other psychodynamic approaches and humanism. She is committed to staying with difficult emotions, conversations and the general complexity of being with compassion and openness. Heather has been engaged in climate and social justice activism since adolescence.

Deborah Seabrook

Deborah Seabrook (she/her) is an educator, clinician, and scholar working in the intersection between mental health, the climate crisis, and music. In 2020, she published the first scholarly article exploring the impact of the climate emergency on music therapy in the Arts in Psychotherapy journal and is developing an eco-music therapy approach. Deborah's work is informed by her climate activism and her personal work within organizations like the Good Grief Network and the Work that Reconnects. Deborah is a Registered Clinical Counsellor (#17031), a Certified Music Therapist (#0334), and a recognized Climate-Aware Therapist. She currently teaches in the Master of Counselling Psychology program at Yorkville University and is a Research Fellow of the Conrad Institute for Music Therapy Research (CIMTR) at Wilfrid Laurier University.

Register with a $5 Donation

Your donation (minus processing fees) goes to the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources

"The Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources (CIER) supports Indigenous people and communities to be leaders in positive environmental change using the best of Western and Indigenous knowledge to create a world that is in balance and supports all living things" (CIER, 2022). To learn more: https://yourcier.org/
Register for AUGUST 15 Climate Café

FAQ

  • I am a student/intern therapist or counsellor. Can I attend?

    Yes! Students and interns are very welcome.

  • I'm not a counsellor or therapist. Can I attend?

    Thank you for your interest in the Climate Café! The groups are created with counsellors and therapists in mind. If you are not a counsellor or therapist, please consider other Climate Café opportunities. https://www.communityclimatecouncil.org/climate-cafe is one such resource.

  • Will we be making art or music in the Café?

    It is up to individual participants if you would like to bring art or music to the Café. This is all about creating and holding space for your genuine expressions and exploration. While there is openness to any creative expression that participants would like to bring, there are no expectations or specific requests for art-making or musicking.

  • Is this a therapy session?

    No. This is not a therapy session or clinical space. It is a co-supportive non-clinical space for gentle dialogue and mutual support.

  • How do you send the donations to CIER? What are the processing fees?

    Thinkific charges a processing fee of 2.9% + 30 cents. This means that of your $5 payment, $0.45 is processing fees and $4.55 will be donated to CIER. I will donate the total sum from all 2022 Climate Cafés to CIER in late December 2022. In the spirit of transparency, the receipt for this donation will be posted for your viewing.

  • Can I join without making a donation?

    Absolutely! You are welcome to join! To register without making a donation, please send me a message on my contact page. I will register you - no questions asked. https://deborahseabrook.com/training-contact/

  • I have more questions, can I contact you?

    Yes! Please visit my contact page: https://deborahseabrook.com/training-contact/

Seabrook Music Therapy operates on the traditional territory of the Mississaugas, a branch of the greater Anishinaabeg Nation, which includes Algonquin, Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi.  This land is also Treaty territory of the Williams Treaties and is now home to many First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. I am grateful for the opportunity to live, work, and play on this land.