Ep 18: Eco-systemic Therapy - Including Place and Nature in our Training and Practice

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.falco@sydney.edu.au

@caldera_psychology

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

Falco, C., Rhodes, P. and Dunk, J. (2025), Embracing Our More-Than-Human Family: Growing a Systemic Practice for Planetary Health and Multispecies Justice. Aust N Z J Fam Ther, 46: e70007. https://doi.org/10.1002/anzf.70007

Graham, M. 2023. “The Law of Obligation, Aboriginal Ethics: Australia Becoming, Australia Dreaming.” Parrhesia: A Journal of Critical Philosophy 37: 1–21.

https://parrhesiajournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/the-law-of-obligation-aboriginal-ethics-australia-becoming-australia-dreaming_mary-graham.pdf

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