Sustainable Self

10/30/2025

Finished the Portland Marathon! 🏃‍♂️

What stood out most wasn’t just the running and walking itself, but the incredible energy from everyone along the course. People cheering, holding signs, offering smiles and high-fives. The collective spirit makes our miles lighter.

My personal goal was training for a 17-ish mile "through hike" distance -- using the half marathon as a spring board. So, I added a few extra miles in the woods in Forest Park afterward!

Grateful for a day that reminded me what movement, community, and a quiet journey in Nature can do for the mind and heart.

10/29/2025

“Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence” — Ovid

I thought of that line Sunday standing in the rain at Latourell Falls, watching the water carve its way through the ancient basalt cliffs. Reminders: Don’t rush. Be yourself. Another line came, this one from Emerson: “Adopt the pace of nature. Its secret is patience.” Healing is often like that too: slow, steady, barely noticeable, until one day something inside has shifted and we can feel the change.

If you’re carrying anxiety, grief, or uncertainty about the world, it’s ok to move at the pace or water. Gentle, persistent. Forward.

10/29/2025

Honored to be featured in ATMOS this week, in a conversation about how to live with climate change without burning out. 🌍

We talked about the roots of Surviving Climate Anxiety, and how resilience, grief, and the practice of hope are essential tools for navigating the emotional weight of our times.

This piece captures what I’ve seen again and again in my work: that eco-anxiety isn’t a flaw, it’s a signal. And when we learn to listen, it can guide us toward clarity, connection, and meaningful action.

Surviving Climate Anxiety is out now.

Read the full feature via the link in the comments.

10/28/2025

Music has always been one of my favorite ways to process emotion—and to find energy, reflection, and connection when words fall short.

This is the official playlist for Surviving Climate Anxiety: a mix of classic and contemporary songs that mirror the themes of the book: resilience, loss, hope, and our relationship with the natural world. Some tracks even connect to the people and stories shared in its pages.

You can listen now by scanning the Spotify code in the first slide.

To scan: open Spotify, tap Search, then the camera icon in the search bar. Point your camera at the code (or choose the image from your gallery) to open the playlist.

I hope this mix gives you and your loved ones space to breathe, reflect, and maybe even move a little.

Tag me if you decide to share the playlist on your profiles!

10/23/2025

Thoughts on the trail…

Feeling grateful for the humans who have protected nature in the past and those who continue to protect it today.

How can you give back to nature today?

10/21/2025

Grateful to the wonderful Erica Berry, author of Wolfish: Wolf, Self, and the Stories We Tell About Fear, for her thoughtful words about Surviving Climate Anxiety. 🌍💚

Her work has inspired me, so it means a lot to see her reflect so generously on mine.

I can’t wait for more readers to join this conversation.

10/17/2025

10/15/2025

LOCAL FIRST! I stopped by my friendly neighborhood drum shop to share a copy of my new book with Nate. is such a great community resource! As we know the world over, making rhythm together builds mental health, peace, and joy! And music and the arts are so crucial to our environmental identity and coping!

02/11/2024

Thomas was interviewed for The New York Times - Well - Health by Christina Caron who covers mental health. Highlights include featured colleagues Maria Nazarian, Beach Therapy and Portland Hiking Therapy

📰 READ MORE:
nytimes.com/2024/02/05/well/mind/outdoor-therapy-depression-anxiety.html

Therapists are noticing that a nature-informed practice can improve their own well-being and help to stave off professional burnout, too.

Years ago, when Aimee Frazier had finished a clinical internship in a dimly lit, windowless office, she realized that she needed a “more enlivening setting” — for her clients and for herself.

“I began to feel a lot like my wilting office plant that sat in the dark corner,” she said. “I longed to be out in the sun and the rain, surrounded by the calming presence of nature.”

In 2021, she began offering hiking therapy to clients under the supervision of Thomas J. Doherty, a Portland psychologist who founded the certificate program in ecotherapy at . For some clients, she said, the setting makes therapy feel more approachable and less intimidating.

02/11/2024

Thomas was interviewed by Gosia Wozniacka, an environmental justice reporter for The Oregonian.

📰 READ MORE: oregonlive.com/environment/2024/02/whats-the-mental-health-impact-of-fallen-trees-other-climate-disasters-beat-check-podcast.htmlz

🎧 LISTEN: megaphone.link/ADLM4190294746

They discussed the week-long ice, snow and wind storm in January that felled trees, power poles and lines, crushed cars, and split people’s homes in half.

"Watching the devastation unfold over a long, cold week left many people traumatized and anxious – and reexamining their relationships with trees and their local municipalities’ tree rules. That’s a natural reaction, said Dr. Thomas Joseph Doherty, a Portland-based psychologist who focuses on helping clients overcome anxieties linked with climate change."

"He has some unexpected pointers on how people can cope with climate anxiety, despair and guilt. He also hosts the podcast, which examines the personal and emotional side of climate disruptions."

On the Beat Check podcast, Doherty talked about the mental health impacts and emotional burden of the storm and of climate-related extreme weather events."

01/05/2024

A lot has happened since 2015 when I had a chapter on climate change and mental health in the first edition of the Climate Change and Public Health textbook — this revised edition brings us up to speed for 2024. This time I am writing with my colleague Amy Lykins from Australia.

Out February 16th, 2024
📗 Pre-order available at Oxford Academic (Oxford University Press)

https://bit.ly/ccph224

Climate Change and Public Health
Second Edition

Barry S. Levy and Jonathan A. Patz

✦ Written by leading experts who offer a comprehensive review of public health and climate science

✦ 20-chapter structure ideal for courses in public health, environmental sciences, and other fields

✦ Clearly-written and well-referenced chapters, supplemented by textboxes, case studies, photographs, tables, graphs, and suggestions for further reading

New to this Edition:

✦ New chapters on the policy development process, health adaptation, nature-based solutions, building social movements to address climate change, and promoting climate justice

✦ Completely rewritten and updated to incorporate the latest scientific evidence

Climate Change and Public Health offers a clear guide to the health consequences of climate change and the available preventative measures. Written by leading scholars and practitioners in the fields of climate science and medicine, this comprehensive volume introduces the health impacts of climate change with chapters covering topics such as heat-related disorders, food insecurity, mental health impacts, and climate-related violence. It describes the relevant policymaking processes and features policies intended to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions across sectors including energy and transportation. Further chapters highlight modern adaptation measures for the consequences of climate change and offer evolving methods for adaptation and mitigation new to this second edition. Most importantly, Climate Change and Public Health promotes a climate justice framework with crucial insights for strengthening the public and political will to address climate change.

12/22/2023

It was great to chat with Kim Kenney at Climate Decoded on climate aware therapy. Learn about climate communication in this new, innovative podcast!

bit.ly/CCAHCDS1E5

Climate Anxiety:
Feeling Our Way Towards Climate Solutions

In this week's episode, we delve into climate anxiety, exploring its various forms, from ecological grief to solastalgia. Professor John Aruta from De La Salle University, Manila, sheds light on the psychological impacts in climate-vulnerable regions. Cielo Barrow discusses Finding hope amidst General and climate anxieties, while Ayomide Olude, from the Eco-Anxiety Africa project, examines the emotional Spectrum linked to ecological concerns. Oregon-based psychologist Thomas Doherty offers practical strategies to navigate these complex emotions.

This episode is a deep dive into how different communities experience and cope with the growing challenge of climate anxiety.