Today, I welcome Catherine Falco to discuss eco-relational and ecologically systemic practice, with particular attention to how educators and supervisors can prepare therapists to think beyond the individual and toward wider relational, environmental, and cultural systems.

Catherine Falco:

Cath is a psychologist and clinical family therapist. She has a Masters in Mental Health specialising in Family therapy and she is currently completing a research PhD at The University of Sydney where she is investigating ecological emotions and systems thinking with a focus on grassroots groups and community-based practices. She lives in northern New South Wales on Bundjalung Country where she and her family tend 12 acres of Eucalypt Forest nestled in the biodiverse bowl of the Tweed Caldera.

Reach out to Cath here: catherine.l.falco@gmail.com

Resources discussed:

Falco, C. (2022), Integrative Practice for the Beginning Family Therapist: Bringing it Back to Basics. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 43, 70-79. https://doi.org/10.1002/anzf.1484

Kimmerer, R. W. (2013). Braiding sweetgrass: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants. Milkweed Editions. Purchase here (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/4beRhEr

Kimmerer, R. W. (2024). The serviceberry: Abundance and reciprocity in the natural world. Scribner. Purchase here (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/447xh2M

McGoldrick, M., Garcia Preto, N., & Carter, B. A. (2016). The expanding family life cycle: Individual, family, and social perspectives (5th ed.). Pearson. Purchase here (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/4wi2uMF

Palmer, H., & Fortina Santin, C. (Eds.). (2025, December). Ecotherapy, environment, dystopian futures. Context, 202. Association for Family and Systemic Psychotherapy.

Questions we discussed in today's episode:

1. When introducing eco-relational practice to systemic therapists in training, what shifts do you think us educators need to make so students can move beyond an anthropocentric view of therapy and truly think systemically about humans in relationship with the living world?
2. How can we teach therapists to recognize and respond to ecological emotions, such as climate grief, ecological anxiety, and disaster-related distress, without treating them only as individual symptoms disconnected from broader relational and environmental systems?
3. For those teaching systemic therapy, what does it look like in practice to bring ecologically systemic ideas into supervision and classroom conversations, even when the training is not specifically focused on outdoor or nature-based therapy?
4. You mentioned the importance of Indigenous and First Peoples worldviews when discussing relationship with Place. How can educators responsibly bring these perspectives into therapist training in ways that are respectful and not tokenistic?
5. What invitations would you offer to supervisors and educators who want to help trainees develop a climate-informed perspective, especially in relation to their own senses, their relationship with place, and their awareness of larger systems such as colonization, patriarchy, and ecological disruption?