The Arts in Psychotherapy 68 (2020) 101646

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The Arts in Psychotherapy

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Music therapy in the era of climate crisis: Evolving to meet current needs T
Deborah Seabrook
Concordia University 1455 Boulevard De Maisonneuve Ouest, Montréal, Québec H3G 1M8, Canada

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: Although climate change is recognized as a threat to individual and global health and well-being, the climate
Music therapy crisis has not previously been explored within music therapy. This article presents music therapy’s engage-
Eco music therapy ment with the climate crisis as a disciplinary imperative and lays the initial foundation for such engagement.
Climate crisis The responsibilities and roles of music therapists in this context are discussed with reference to the relevant
Climate change
literature and practices. The development of a new approach that directly addresses the climate crisis, eco
Canada
Ethnomusicology
music therapy, is proposed. Eco music therapy is presented as the intersection between the discipline and
practice of music therapy and the climate crisis, including political, environmental, and cultural elements.
Music therapists are invited to re-consider and re-configure their work at the individual, associational, and
disciplinary levels—thereby contributing to a global multidisciplinary effort to mitigate the impacts of the
climate crisis.

Music therapy in the era of climate crisis: Evolving to meet current
needs
The purpose of this article is three-fold. First, to present a scholarly
foundation for a discussion of the climate crisis within music therapy.
Second, to make a case that engaging with the climate crisis is a dis-
ciplinary imperative for music therapy. Third, to explore the unique
role of music therapy in addressing the climate crisis. I am a music
therapist, music therapy educator, and music therapy scholar. I would
like nothing more than for our climate not to be in crisis, in which case I
could go about my clinical work and academic research, which I deeply
enjoy and value. I recently increasingly found myself experiencing
cognitive dissonance when doing music therapy work and avoiding the
climate crisis. I knew about the crisis, but I was bracketing it off in my
mind and parsing it away during my professional life, continuing to
think and behave as though it didn’t exist in my clinical and scholarly
work. I have since learned that this type of avoidance is a normal
psychological response to the overwhelming bad news that climate
crisis delivers (Norgaard, 2011). Finally, the cognitive dissonance be-
came too much for me. I took time away from my dissertation research
and private practice to seriously consider the intersection between my
professional world and the ecological world—between music therapy
and the climate crisis. This continues to be a work in progress, and I
expect for the ideas presented here to develop and evolve over time. I
am presenting these ideas now due to the urgency of the climate crisis,
as well as my desire to encourage music therapists to work together to
address the situation.
Though this work addresses intersections between large systems, it
has become deeply personal to me. If you are reading this, you may
experience both music therapy and the climate crisis on a personal level
as well. As you read on, I encourage you to check in with yourself and
practice self-care so that you may mitigate the challenging psycholo-
gical impacts of engaging with the climate crisis.
Climate change: A brief introduction
Climate can be understood as being the average weather of a place,
or more rigorously, as “the statistical description [of weather] in terms
of the mean and variability of relevant qualities over a period of time
ranging from months to thousands or millions of years”
(Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2014, p. 119). When we
talk about climate change, we are talking about changes to the earth’s
climate. Climate change can occur due to either internal “natural cli-
mate variability” (UNFCCC Secretariat, 1992, p. 7) or “external for-
cings,” such as human activity (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change, 2014, p. 120). The climate change that this paper is concerned
with is climate change caused by human activity.
Human-induced climate change
International scientists agree that human activity is causing the
climate to change much more dramatically and quickly than it would
naturally (IPCC, 2018a). One way that humans are causing changes to
the climate is by releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere (David

E-mail address: deborah.seabrook@concordia.ca.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2020.101646
Received 12 October 2019; Received in revised form 17 February 2020; Accepted 18 February 2020
Available online 20 February 2020
0197-4556/ © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
D. Seabrook
Suzuki Foundation, 2017). Carbon is naturally stored all over the earth:
in plants, the soil, the ocean, and in mammals like humans (David
Suzuki Foundation, 2017). When we humans release carbon dioxide
into the atmosphere through activities such as “burning fossil fuels
(coal, oil, and gas), and cutting down trees” (David Suzuki Foundation,
2017, para. 3), we are increasing the greenhouses gases in the earth’s
atmosphere and thus increasing the average global temperature on
earth (United Nations, 2019a).
The greenhouse gasses in the earth’s atmosphere are currently at
higher levels than any time in the past three million years, and along
with it, the earth’s average temperature has increased (United Nations,
2017). In 2019, the World Meteorological Association published a re-
port stating that average temperatures had risen by 1.1 °C from pre-
industrial levels, and by 0.2 °C compared to 2011–2015 (World
Meteorological Association, 2019). The term “pre-industrial levels” in
this context refers to “the multi-century period prior to the onset of
large-scale industrial activity around 1750” (IPCC, 2018b, para. 2). The
five-year period between 2015–2019 is set to be the hottest on record
(World Meteorological Association, 2019). If warming continues at the
current rate, scientists are highly confident that there will likely be a
further increase of 1.5 °C between 2030 and 2052 (IPCC, 2018a).
Climate crisis: The state we’re in
The effects of climate change to date include the melting of the
polar ice caps (Schoolmeester et al., 2019); more numerous and de-
structive forest fires (Kirchmeier‐Young, Gillett, Zwiers, Cannon, &
Anslow, 2018); drought and water scarcity in urban areas (Bhalla,
2015); species extinction (Howard, 2019); extreme weather such as
more frequent and vicious storms, and unprecedented hot and cold
temperatures around the globe (National Climate Assessment, 2014);
and climate refugees (International Displacement Monitoring Centre,
2019). The UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Disaster
Risk Reduction stated that one climate crisis currently occurs per week
that causes human death, displacement, and suffering (Harvey, 2019).
Marginalized populations, including many Indigenous peoples and
communities dependent on agricultural or coastal livelihoods, are at a
disproportionately higher risk of experiencing adverse consequences of
climate change (IPCC, 2018b). For example, in Canada, the Nunavut
Climate Change Centre reports that some traditional Inuit travel routes
are now unreachable due to climate change, adversely impacting food
security for Inuit populations (2019).
In an attempt to address climate change and its devastating effects,
174 countries and the European Union signed the Paris Agreement in
2016. The aim of this agreement was to “keep a global temperature rise
this century well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue
efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 ° C” (United
Nations, 2016, para. 2). Unfortunately, the 2018 Climate Change Per-
formance Index found that “no country is on a Paris [Agreement]-
compatible path” (Climate Action Network Europe, 2018, para. 3). For
example, as part of the Paris Agreement, Canada has a target of redu-
cing emissions to 513 megatons of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO2
eq) per year by 2030. In 2019, Environment and Climate Change Ca-
nada predicted several scenarios for its Mt CO2 eq in 2030, none of
which meet this target (Environment & Climate Change Canada, 2019).
This is particularly poignant given that Canada’s climate is warming
twice as fast as the average global rate (Bush & Lemman, 2019).
Climate scientists have predicted that there is only a 5% likelihood
that global temperatures will not have gone above 2 °C of warming by
2100 (Raferty, Zimmer, Frierson, Startz, & Liu, 2017) and that global
temperatures are more likely headed for between 3–6 °C of warming
before 2100 (Anderson, 2012; Miles, 2018; World Bank, 2012). The
realities of climate change to date, coupled with the dire consequences
of a seemingly imminent 2 or more degrees Celsius of warming in the
near future, shifts us from a conversation about climate change to one
about climate crisis.
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The Arts in Psychotherapy 68 (2020) 101646
Differences between 1.5 and 2 °C of warming
On October 8, 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) released a special report which includes over 600 sci-
entific references and was prepared by 91 authors from 40 countries,
detailing the differences between the consequences of 1.5 ° C of
warming and 2 °C of warming. The report stated that “climate models
project robust differences in regional climate characteristics between
present-day and global warming of 1.5 °C, and between 1.5 °C and 2 °C”
(IPCC, 2018b, B.1.). I will share three examples the IPCC gave of sci-
entifically projected differences between 1.5° and 2 °C of warming.
First, by 2100, sea level rise would be 10 cm lower with global warming
of 1.5 °C compared with 2°. This difference in sea level rise would mean
that 10 million fewer people would be exposed to related risks at 1.5 °C
of warming. Second, coral reefs will decline by 70–90 % at 1.5° Celsius
of change and will be entirely lost at 2 °C of change. Third, “limiting
global warming to 1.5 °C rather than 2 °C is projected to prevent the
thawing… of a permafrost area in the range of 1.5–2.5 million km2”
(IPCC, 2018a, B.3.3.). This is particularly dangerous, because perma-
frost releases high amounts of methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrous
oxide into the atmosphere when it thaws (Wilkerson et al., 2019).
The 2018 IPCC report urged governments to recognize that 2 °C of
warming will irrevocably negatively impact all life on the planet and
emphasized that 1.5 °C of warming is a far more desirable goal (IPCC,
2018b). Perhaps most startlingly, the report highlighted that we likely
have only until 2030 to limit warming to 1.5°, and that to do so, major
systemic changes must happen today.
Active hope and systemic change
While the word hope can sometimes imply a passivity whereby we
rely on others to effect change, hope in the climate crisis exists so long
as we each take action ourselves (Macy & Johnstone, 2012). A 2019
report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodi-
versity and Ecosystem Services affirmed that hope is warranted if we
act now.
It is not too late to make a difference, but only if we start now at
every level from local to global… Through ‘transformative change’,
nature can still be conserved, restored and used sustainably – this is also
key to meeting most other global goals. By transformative change, we
mean a fundamental, system-wide reorganization across technological,
economic and social factors, including paradigms, goals and values.
(United Nations, 2019b, para. 3)
Given that the climate crisis is entangled with capitalism and other
dominant oppressive systems (2019, Klein, 2014), the systemic change
required to adequately address climate change can be uncomfortable
and controversial: “by its very nature, transformative change can expect
opposition from those with interests vested in the status quo, but… such
opposition can be overcome for the broader public good” (United
Nations, 2019b, para. 4). Hence, hope with regards to the climate crisis
requires not only an acknowledgment of its urgency, but also the
willingness to look at and move towards new ways of living by radically
transforming how we engage with the world, our communities, and
each other. This imperative extends to music therapists.
The need to address the climate crisis is urgent. Averting further
unprecedented climate-related disasters will require awareness and
dedicated action by everyone who is able to make changes in their
individual lives and advocate for systemic transformation at all levels.
By engaging in a discussion about the climate crisis, music therapists
join colleagues in allied disciplines who are also addressing this issue.
The climate crisis and music therapy
There are two ways the climate crisis can be understood to fall
within the scope of practice of music therapy. The first is on a level of
global ecological health and well-being. The second is on a level of
D. Seabrook
individual health and well-being. Though these two dimensions are
related, it is useful to examine them separately to clearly illustrate areas
of intersection between music therapy and the climate crisis.
Disciplinary engagement: Global ecological health, music therapy, and the
climate crisis
The discipline of music therapy is primarily concerned with helping
people access greater health and well-being; the main goal of the pro-
fessional practice of music therapy can be understood as to help “the
client to optimize the client’s health” (Bruscia, 2014, p. 36). Given that
the climate crisis imminently threatens the health and well-being of
millions of people, and without hyperbole, the survival of the human
species as we know it, the climate crisis falls within the area of dis-
ciplinary interest for music therapy.
A prominent notion of health in music therapy involves one’s
“ecological wholeness,” which is composed of “all the parts/wholes …
that make up the contexts in which the person lives,” such as “society,
culture, and environment” (Bruscia, 2014, p. 107). By virtue of this
dimension of ecological wholeness, human health and well-being can
be understood as connected to the health of our ecological environ-
ment, which is currently threatened. That ecological health and well-
being is a component of client health is another reason why the climate
crisis is relevant to the discipline of music therapy.
The discipline of music therapy may also have embedded ethical
imperatives related to the climate crisis. The Code of Ethics documents
of many music therapy associations contain elements that make en-
gagement with the climate crisis ethically viable and even required for
music therapy communities. For example, the Canadian Association of
Music Therapists (CAMT) Code of Ethics contains a principle whereby
“Music therapists accept as essential the principle of Extended
Responsibility; that is, they recognize that they have responsibilities to
the societies within which they live and work” (Canadian Association of
Music Therapists, 2019, p. 3). The CAMT Code of Ethics also requires
that music therapists participate in “responsible practice,” including
“general caring,” wherein members “demonstrate an active concern for
the welfare of any individual, family, group, or community with whom
they relate in their role as music therapists.” The document continues,
“This concern includes both those directly involved and those indirectly
involved in their activities” (Canadian Association of Music Therapists,
2019, p. 8). Given that climate change is an imminent threat to the
health and well-being of all people everywhere, these codes can be
interpreted as requiring music therapists to take action with respect to
the climate crisis.
Professional engagement: Individual mental health and well-being, music
therapy, and the climate crisis
Existing in the current state of climate crisis can deeply adversely
affect mental health and well-being (Clayton, Manning, Krygsman, &
Speiser, 2017). Acute mental health impacts for people who directly
experience climate-related disasters include trauma, shock, PTSD, sui-
cidal ideation, and compounded stress (Clayton et al., 2017). Chronic
mental health impacts for people who are aware of the climate crisis
include intense grief, loss of autonomy and control, loss of personal and
occupational identity, helplessness, depression, fear, fatalism, resigna-
tion, and anxiety (Clayton et al., 2017). Researchers found that con-
cerns about climate change can led individuals to exhibit symptoms of
depression, anxiety, and stress (Searle & Gow, 2010), and that some
people experience profound feelings of loss, frustration, and help-
lessness in the face of climate change (Moser, 2013). Psychologist Pi-
pher affirmed that “the trauma of our personal lives and the rapidity of
the deterioration of the planet are deeply connected” (2013, p. 22). In a
recent study, 25 % of surveyed Canadians reported that they think
about climate change “often” and are “getting really anxious about it,”
with an additional 49 % of Canadians saying they think about climate
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The Arts in Psychotherapy 68 (2020) 101646
change “sometimes” and are “increasingly worried about what impact it
will have” (Coletto, 2019, para. 5).
New language is emerging to articulate the impact of the climate
crisis on mental health. For example, eco-anxiety (Albrecht, 2011) refers
to “a chronic fear of environmental doom” (Clayton et al., 2017, p. 68).
Albrecht also coined the term solstalgia, which is “a type of home-
sickness or melancholia that you feel when you are at home and your
home environment is changing all around you in ways that you feel are
profoundly negative” (Pipher, 2013, p. 23). Eco-angst is defined as the
“sickly sense that comes as a cost of learning the actual environmental,
health and social consequences of all the stuff we buy and use every
day” (Goleman, 2009, para. 4), and Macy coined the term planetary
anguish, referring to the fact that in addition to our own pain, we ex-
perience the pain of the earth and of all the living things all over the
world (Pipher, 2012, para. 24). Finally, Lertzman conceptualized en-
vironmental melancholia, wherein “even those who care deeply about the
well-being of ecosystems and future generations are paralyzed to
translate such concern into action” (Lertzman, 2015, p. 4).
So, the climate crisis is negatively affecting individuals’ emotional
and mental health and well-being. Music therapists will therefore likely
be working with clients who are living with mental health and well-
being issues related to the climate crisis. Such individuals may benefit
from addressing climate-related mental health issues as part of their
music therapy process. Assisting clients with their mental health and
well-being is within the scope of practice for music therapy profes-
sionals. For example, the CAMT (2016) asserts that music therapists
support the client’s health and well-being, including the cognitive,
emotional, social, and spiritual domains —domains which, as we have
seen, can be directly impacted by the climate crisis. Music therapists
may also experience acute or chronic mental health impacts from the
climate crisis ourselves. An understanding of and engagement with the
climate crisis is required for music therapists to adequately address
emergent climate-related health and well-being issues—for our clients
and ourselves.
Building a foundation for music therapy to engage with the climate crisis
Two assumptions underlie the arguments in this paper. First, that it
is still possible to address climate change in a way that will lead to
sustainable and heathy living. Second, that—like everything—both
climate change and music therapy are political and intersect in myriad
ways worthy of exploration. The three points presented in this paper
thus far are that: (a) We are living in a climate emergency and ap-
proaching a point of no return for life on the planet as we know it; (b)
The climate crisis affects the health and well-being of individuals and
groups; and (c) Addressing the climate crisis is within the scope of
practice of music therapists. If we accept these tenets, then exploring
effective engagement with the climate crisis becomes a disciplinary
imperative.
Unfortunately, at present, the discipline is falling short of such en-
gagement. By perpetuating a business-as-usual stance and not taking
conscious actions to mitigate climate change, music therapy associa-
tions and practices are among those contributing to the escalation of the
crisis. Indeed, Canadian environmentalist Suzuki has referred to climate
inaction as “criminal negligence through willful blindness” and a
“crime against future generations” (Suzuki, 2013, paras. 11–12). As
members of the music therapy community, we can simultaneously offer
ourselves compassion by recalling that avoidance is a normal psycho-
logical reaction to the climate crisis (Norgaard, 2011), and ask our-
selves: What does the climate crisis mean for us? Is music therapy
contributing to the climate crisis, and if so, how? What are our re-
sponsibilities going forward? What unique role could music therapy
have in addressing the climate crisis? Where can we look for guidance?
How might music therapy honour the losses already sustained?
To respond to these questions and build a foundation for music
therapy’s conscious engagement with the climate crisis, I begin by
D. Seabrook The Arts in Psychotherapy 68 (2020) 101646

reviewing scholarly literature from allied disciplines. Next, I propose studies “musical and sonic issues, both textual and performative, as
ways that music therapy might effectively engage with the climate they relate to ecology and the environment” (Allen, 2011, p. 392). Titon
crisis. I then introduce a new music therapy approach, eco music later refined Allen’s conceptualization, stating that ecomusicology is
therapy, and propose avenues for its development. Finally, I consider “the study of music, culture, sound and nature in a period of environ-
the implications of addressing the climate crisis in music therapy and mental crisis” (2013, p. 9). Ecomusicology is informed by composers,
recommend future dialogue and actions. acoustic ecologists, and ethnomusicologists (Allen, 2011) and in-
corporates eco-critical, neo-material, and posthuman theories
Literature review (Edwards, 2015). Taken together, this positioning allows ecomusi-
cology to mount interdisciplinary inquiry and critiques how music,
While there were no scholarly publications directly addressing the musical materials, and musicology interact with the ecological en-
climate crisis in music therapy at the time of writing, literature relevant vironment and the climate crisis (Allen, 2011). Scholarly discussion
to the potential role of music therapy in the time of climate crisis exists regarding these and other dimensions of ecomusicology are present in
within allied disciplines. Reviewing this literature may provide in- dedicated books (e.g., Allen & Dawe, 2016; Pedelty, 2012, 2016) and a
spiration and direction regarding how music therapy might engage with scholarly journal entitled Ecomusicology Review, as well as across related
the climate crisis. literatures including ethnomusicology (e.g., Titon, 2018), musicology
(e.g., Allen, 2011), and environmental science (e.g., Allen, 2012).
Music composition and community music
Psychology and ecopsychology
The climate crisis is a source of inspiration for music composition
and activism. For example, one composer created musical works in
Psychologists have established a case for the role of psychology in
response to the climate changes in Antarctica (Philpott, 2016), and
addressing the climate crisis (Swim et al., 2011). For example, en-
another created context-based compositions as a way of promoting
vironmental psychologist Gifford (2008) argued that psychologists have
environmental awareness (Philpott, 2018). Some scholars argue that
three imperatives. First, that psychologists across specializations (e.g.,
music is ideally suited to depict climate change (Burtner, 2017) and
cognitive, consumer, health) conduct more research directly relating to
musical genres are relatedly evolving and emerging in response to the
climate change. Second, that psychologists engage policy makers; and
climate crisis (e.g., Gilmurray, 2017; Ottum, 2018). Data sonification is
third, that psychologists interact with other disciplines involved in
the most common modality of intersection between music composition
sustainability to share what psychology can offer. Scholars have
and the climate crisis (Kruczkiewicz, 2018). For example, composers
documented that psychologists across various approaches have been
have created pieces based on scientific data relevant to the climate
actively engaged in research regarding psychological dimensions of the
crisis, including melting sea ice measurements (Twedt, 2019) and rising
climate crisis (e.g., Clayton et al., 2017; Hoggett, 2019).
ocean temperatures (Rosen, 2017). Music has also been used as a form
In addition to scholarly activity by psychologists in general, a sub-
of protest against environmental degradation in western popular music
field of psychology has emerged out of a need to (re-)synthesize the
since the 1960s (Ingram, 2008) and continues to this day (Wodak,
psychological and the ecological. Ecopsychology (Roszak, 1992) dis-
2008)
tinguishes itself from other psychological approaches in that it does not
Community music is an ideal arena for engagement with the climate
view individuals as separate from the natural environment, but instead
crisis given that activism, social justice, and political–cultural concerns
“proceeds from the assumption that at the deepest level the psyche
are together considered a foundational principle of community music
remains sympathetically bonded to the Earth” (Roszak, 1995, p. 5). Like
(Higgins & Willingham, 2017). Yet despite this, only one publication
other forms of psychology, ecopsychology is concerned with the foun-
directly addressed the climate crisis in the community music scholarly
dations of human nature and behaviour (Roszak, 1992). Ecopsychology
literature at the time of this writing. Rickwood (2017) told the stories of
is now a robust sub-discipline with numerous scholars contributing to
two community choirs in Australia that sang about the climate crisis as
its definition, scope, and rigour (e.g., Fisher, 2013; Hoelterhoff, 2010;
a form of activism and awareness raising. The choir members described
Parry, 2016; Villasenor-Galarza, 2013). Scholars have explored how
how their participation allowed them to feel that they were doing
ecopsychology intersects with critical theories including feminism (e.g.,
something about climate change, and thereby alleviated some of the
Holloway, Murray, Okada, & Emmons, 2014; Plesa, 2019); other psy-
anxiety and sadness they felt related to the climate crisis (Rickwood).
chological approaches including person-centered therapy (e.g., Blair,
2011, 2013; Tudor, 2013), adventure therapy (e.g., Hafford, 2015), and
Ethnomusicology and ecomusicology
dance/movement therapy (Burns, 2011); and epistemologies such as
phenomenology (e.g., Adams, 2005; Vakoch & Castrillón, 2014). Like
Discussions of the climate crisis are also present in the ethnomusi-
ecomusicology, there are also numerous books (e.g., Fisher, 2013; Kahn
cology literature. Ethnomusicologists have documented how
& Hasbach, 2012; Roszak et al., 1995) and a peer-reviewed journal,
Marshallese women (Shwartz, 2012) and Haitians (Dirksen, 2018) se-
Ecopsychology, dedicated to this sub-discipline.
parately responded to devastating climate changes in their communities
While there has been a lack of music therapy engagement with the
with music activism. Ethnomusicologists have also considered the en-
climate crisis literature to date, this literature review presents ways that
vironmental impact of their own professional practices. For example,
music and psychology disciplines and sub-disciplines have identified
Gibson described the origin and extraction of the materials used to
and engaged with the climate crisis in scholarly ways. This literature
build an acoustic guitar to illustrate how musicians are entangled with
illustrates a precedent for addressing the climate crisis in disciplines
the climate crisis through “material and embodied relations” (2019, p.
allied to music therapy.
183). Grant likewise troubled the frequent air travel currently expected
of ethnomusicologists, given that by emitting high amounts of fossil
fuels, flying contributes to a “global intergenerational crisis” (Grant, Moving forward: The role of music therapy in the era of climate
2018, p. 126). Grant contended that climate crisis engagement is crisis
aligned with her discipline: “surely the principles of climate justice
should feature no less in our research ethics than those principles of In this section, I propose ways that music therapy can engage with
inclusion, respect, and mutuality that lie at the very core of con- the climate crisis on individual, professional, and disciplinary levels.
temporary ethnomusicology approaches to scholarship?” (p. 126). This is not a definitive account of such engagement, but rather it is
Ecomusicology is a recently emerged sub-field of musicology that intended to be a starting point for dialogue, reflection, and action.

4
D. Seabrook
Addressing the climate crisis with our clients
As the only profession specializing in musical engagement within a
therapeutic relationship, music therapists are uniquely positioned to
help individuals who are experiencing negative health and well-being
effects of the climate crisis. We have established that the climate crisis
can cause acute and chronic mental health issues (Clayton et al., 2017)
and that musical engagement regarding the climate crisis has helped to
mitigate some of these issues (Rickwood, 2017). Existing music therapy
approaches that address mental health and well-being issues could be
adapted to meet the needs of people struggling with mental health and
well-being issues related to the climate crisis.
To effectively support clients who are experiencing health and well-
being issues due to the climate crisis, music therapists could: seek fur-
ther education about the climate crisis; create best practices around
working with these client populations, such as assessment protocols and
treatment plans; develop, provide, and complete training related to
working with clients impacted by the climate crisis; and critically en-
gage with our professional associations around this issue.
Addressing the climate crisis at an association level
Engagement with the climate crisis at the national association level
is essential to: (a) support music therapists in our clinical work with
those impacted by the climate crisis; (b) critically evaluate the role
music therapists and music therapy associations play in perpetuating
the climate crisis and how to mitigate this impact; and (c) effectively
contribute to this global issue.
In North America, no music therapy professional association has
publicly engaged with the climate crisis. For example, the CAMT has no
publicly available policies or position statements on the climate crisis.
Contrastingly, the American Psychological Association (APA) and the
American Psychiatric Association have developed task forces to for-
mally investigate addressing the climate crisis at an associational level.
These task forces were responsible for the release of relevant reports,
policy statements and professional practice guidelines (e.g., American
Psychiatric Association, 2017; Clayton et al., 2017). For example, in
2009, the American Psychological Association (APA) published a report
by their Task Force on the Interface Between Psychology and Global
Climate Change. Three policy recommendations that emerged from this
report that may transfer to music therapy associations (American
Psychological Association Task Force on the Interface Between
Psychology & Global Climate Change, 2009a) were that the APA: (a)
“Encourage psychologists to become involved in understanding and
responding to human and psychological dimensions of global climate
change” (p. 3); (b) “Address the American Psychological Association’s
environmental impacts that contribute to global climate change” (p. 4);
and (c) “Facilitate international, cross-disciplinary, and trans-dis-
ciplinary collaborations that address climate change” (p. 5). The cli-
mate crisis has also been regularly featured in the APA’s magazine (e.g.,
Weir, 2016, 2018; Winerman, 2019).
National music therapy associations like the CAMT could likewise
create a task force to begin to conscious engagement with the climate
crisis. Such a task force could facilitate the development of policy and
position statements regarding the climate crisis and music therapy.
Additionally, the task force may enliven discussion of the climate crisis
within the membership, including the dissemination of informative
magazine articles and special editions of academic journals. Finally, the
task force may enable the creation of recommendations for music
therapists and the distribution of resources for members regarding the
climate crisis. Regional, provincial, and local associations could also
create similar focus groups, policies, and statements regarding the cli-
mate crisis that address concerns specific to their associations.
There are also many steps music therapy associations could take
towards addressing the climate crisis prior to findings from an official
task force. For example, professional associations could host online
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The Arts in Psychotherapy 68 (2020) 101646
conferences rather than annual in-person conferences. This would allow
music therapists to share ideas and network without flying to attend in-
person conferences, an activity notorious for emitting high amounts of
fossil fuels (Grant, 2018). Hosting online conferences would also be
aligned with equity and inclusion, as online conferences would be more
accessible to music therapists with financial barriers, who have diffi-
culty travelling, and/or who live in remote locations.
Addressing the climate crisis at a disciplinary level
Music therapy scholars and practitioners would benefit from con-
sidering whether and how the climate crisis reconfigures music therapy
at disciplinary level. This consideration includes but is not limited to:
(a) how we conceptualize music therapy; (b) what we research and the
methodologies we choose; and (c) the content of music therapy edu-
cation and training programmes. Disciplinary research about how
music therapy intersects with the climate crisis would be beneficial to
enhance our understanding of the topic. Relevant areas of study include
but are not limited to: music therapists’ awareness of the climate crisis;
music therapists’ current and desired engagement with the climate
crisis in their clinical work; how to integrate the climate crisis into
music therapy training and education; and what, if any, disciplinary
research methods and procedures are aligned with addressing the cli-
mate crisis. Additional disciplinary research regarding the development
and effectiveness of new approaches and practices related to the climate
crisis could also be beneficial.
Drawing on established music therapy approaches is helpful in
considering the disciplinary implications of the climate crisis for music
therapy. For example, music therapy scholars have previously used
feminist (e.g., Curtis, 2013; Edwards & Hadley, 2007; Hadley, 2006;
Seabrook, 2019), queer (e.g., Bain, Grzanka, & Crowe, 2016; Boggan,
Grzanka, & Bain, 2017), and anti-oppression (e.g., Baines, 2013; Baines
& Edwards, 2015; Hadley, 2013) lenses to critically engage with and
shift established music therapy theories and practices. Integrating ele-
ments of global environmental health and well-being in music therapy
is also not without precedent. As part of her “Field of Play” approach,
Kenny identified an “ecology of being” for music therapists that “relates
one not only to the conditions of the patient, but also to the conditions
of the earth herself” (Kenny, 2016, p. 474). Kenny (2016) asserted that
“there is a continuous and dynamic interplay between ourselves and the
earth in every situation” (p. 474), including in music therapy. Kenny, an
Indigenous scholar, integrated Indigenous ways of knowing and spiri-
tual approaches into the Field of Play, stating that in Indigenous ways of
knowing, “the experience and process of the patient/therapist also gives
energy back to the earth” (2016, p. 474). Thus, according to Kenny, the
work done in music therapy is both affected by and able to serve the
greater well-being of the earth.
Indigenization of music therapy holds unique potential in addres-
sing the climate crisis at a disciplinary level. Indigenization can be
broadly understood as “a process by which Indigenous ways of
knowing, being, doing and relating are incorporated into educational,
organizational, cultural and social structures” (Camosun College,
2019). In contrast to western ways of being that have traditionally
created a distinction between humans and the rest of the natural world,
many Indigenous worldviews prioritize an interconnectedness between
human and ecological environmental health and well-being (Waterfall,
Smoke, & Smoke, 2017). One example of this is the medicine wheel, the
connection between mind, body, and spirit, and collective healing (S.
Bell, personal communication, October 2, 2019). Indigenous music
therapists in North America have discussed the implications of their
Indigenous identities and ways of knowing for their music therapy
approaches and practices (Bell, 2018; Kenny, 2006; West & Kenny,
2017). In addition to uniquely addressing the climate crisis, moving
towards Indigenization and decolonization in music therapy could
contribute to social justice, anti-oppression, and reconciliation work in
the discipline. While an in-depth examination of this important topic is
D. Seabrook
outside the scope of this paper, beginning work in this area would re-
quire Indigenous voices at all levels of involvement, and may involve
shifts within music therapy training, education, and professional com-
petencies.
In this section, I have suggested ways in which music therapists can
meaningfully engage with the climate crisis by: (a) adapting how we
meet the needs of individual clients; (b) leveraging the impact of our
associations; and (c) re-interrogating our disciplinary foundations.
While music therapists may draw from social justice approaches and
allied disciplines as templates, moving forward, a distinct music
therapy approach could add rigour and focus to the consideration of
how music therapy may effectively engage with the climate crisis.
Towards Eco Music Therapy: An emerging approach
Given the scope, urgency, and uniqueness of the climate crisis, there
is a need for the articulation of a new music therapy approach to ad-
dresses the climate crisis. I have begun exploring such an approach,
which I am calling eco music therapy. Eco music therapy can be un-
derstood as the intersection between the discipline and practice of
music therapy and the climate crisis, including political, environmental,
and cultural elements. Eco music therapy draws on ecocritical theory in
recognizing “that our current environmental crisis is the effect of
harmful patterns of social action that have calcified over the centuries
into pervasive traditions and institutions. In the long view, every aspect
of daily life in the developed and developing world is complicit in this
crisis” (Edwards, 2015, p. 154). Eco music therapy is not a prescriptive
model of music therapy. It has the potential to be used as both a distinct
approach and as a theoretical foundation that can be applied across and
within existing music therapy models while at the same time challen-
ging and transforming them. Given the diverse theoretical under-
pinnings and methods present among music therapy approaches and
models, there may be distinctions in how they interact with eco music
therapy. For example, a psychodynamic music therapy approach may
explore unconscious elements connected to a client’s eco-grief, whereas
a music-centered approach may focus on musically processing eco-grief.
By naming the climate crisis as its area of interest in music therapy,
eco music therapy distinguishes itself from similarly-named music
therapy approaches. For example, while environmental music therapy
(Aasgaard, 2001) and ecological music therapy (Hughes, 2004) focus
on how music therapy can be viewed within a larger context, they are
not explicitly concerned with the climate crisis. Like ecopsychology and
ecomusicology, eco music therapy also prioritizes the interdependence
between humans and the living environment, and this new approach
uses this interconnectedness to challenge accepted ontological, philo-
sophical, and practical aspects of its parent discipline.
Part of my motivation in formally naming this approach is the hope
that it may serve as an impetus for music therapists to unite and move
forward with respect to the climate crisis. I am currently developing an
in-depth articulation of this approach, including its associated ontology,
philosophy, applications, and practices. Eco music therapy may estab-
lish a distinct critical lens akin to the “ecopsychological criticism” that
ecopsychology affords (Fisher, 2013, p. 23). I invite music therapists to
join me in asking what an eco music therapy approach might mean for
us and our work, our clients, and our discipline.
Climate activism and eco music therapy
Even in its nascent form, eco music therapy adopts a social justice
perspective that involves individual, social, and political activism to
address its core issue. This approach is aligned with other social justice
music therapy approaches like feminist music therapy (Edwards &
Hadley, 2007; Hadley, 2006) and queer music therapy (Bain et al.,
2016). If and how music therapists engage with the climate crisis are
political acts, whether we intend them to be or not. For instance, going
about business as usual in the midst of the climate crisis, as I had been
6
The Arts in Psychotherapy 68 (2020) 101646
doing until an existential reckoning caused me to do otherwise, is a
political act, as is the decision to deny the issue, or to actively engage
with it.
A commitment by practitioners and organizations to actively seek to
address the climate crisis and mitigate its effects—personally, pro-
fessionally, and politically—is embedded in this emerging eco music
therapy approach. How music therapists act will vary based upon the
political contexts that we live and work in. For example, individual
music therapists may choose to donate to local environmental or
Indigenous sovereignty organizations, volunteer for political candidates
who prioritize addressing the climate crisis, and/or join protest move-
ments like school strikes for the climate. Music therapy associations
could take public stances on climate crisis issues and lobby govern-
ments to adequately address these. As climate activists, individual
music therapists and their associations may collaborate with other
groups engaging with the climate crisis, including, for example, allied
professional associations, environmental action groups, and places such
as hospitals and universities where music therapists work. Given the
disproportionate impact of the climate crisis on marginalized and/or
otherwise vulnerable populations, music therapists might also take
action so that music therapy services are accessible to populations at
the greatest level of climate-related existential threat.
Conclusion
Music therapy was created in response to the perceived needs of
individuals and communities at certain moments in time and within
particular contexts including socio-cultural, environmental, and ecolo-
gical dimensions. When the discipline has evolved in the past, it has
been due, in part, to changes in those situations and contexts and the
people who have pushed to have these changes integrated into the
practices and theories of the discipline. One example of this dynamism
is the development of community music therapy, which forced reflexive
“questions concerning music therapy’s identity, fitness for purpose and
future shape and prospects” (Ansdell, 2014, p. 16). I contend that this
moment in time is no different. We are practicing music therapy in a
context of unprecedented climate crisis. It is time, once again, for music
therapy to evolve. This evolution requires that music therapists do the
urgent work of first educating ourselves about the climate crisis and
then addressing it—in our daily lives, with our clients, in our profes-
sional associations, and as contributors to multidisciplinary initiatives.
International experts, including the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC, 2018a), have assured us that to survive as a
species we need to make fundamental changes to all aspects of our lives,
including systems and ways of being that we take for granted and even
cherish. Music therapy is among these ways. Considerations of how
music therapy engages with the climate crisis, including the develop-
ment of an emerging eco music therapy approach, require a re-
configuration of our practices as individuals and associations, inviting
the possibility of a re-alignment of music therapy theories. We music
therapists have an opportunity to uniquely serve human health and
well-being in today’s context of climate crisis. Engaging with the cli-
mate crisis can be difficult, but it is necessary if we are to meet this
challenge. With the impacts of climate change escalating each day,
music therapists cannot afford to maintain the status quo. We must
evolve together to join our multidisciplinary colleagues in addressing
the climate crisis, and we must act now.
Funding
I gratefully acknowledge the Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) for doctoral funding which sup-
ported this work.
D. Seabrook
Declaration of Competing Interest
None.
Acknowledgments
I wish to publicly thank all people working to meaningfully and
urgently address the climate crisis, including but not limited to: all
Indigenous land defenders and especially Autumn Peltier and Sheila
Watt-Cloutier; Dr. David Suzuki; Naomi Klein; and Greta Thurnburg.
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