The Climate Awareness Play Therapy TM (CAPT) is the first evidence-based, professional credential equipping licensed mental health clinicians to recognize, assess, and address the psychological impacts of climate change on children and families.
Complete all 8 modules across both training days. All modules required for credit. Receive your 12.0-hour CE Certificate of Completion upon finishing both days and submitting the post-training evaluation.
The Certificate in CLIMATE Awareness Play Therapy (CAPT-C) signals to clients, employers, and the profession that you have completed a rigorous, evidence-based, nationally recognized training in the clinical treatment of climate-related distress in children and families.
Every module is grounded in this framework. Every learning objective maps to at least one pillar. Every citation traces to peer-reviewed science.
Climate change severely impacts mental health. Extreme weather events trigger anxiety, trauma, and depression. Extreme heat worsens mental health symptoms.
NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness)
The CAPT-C was built by a clinician, counselor educator, and ACES policy contributor who saw the gap between what climate change is doing to children and what the profession was equipped to do about it. Identify it.
Founder Co-Chair, Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) Climate Change Task Force (2022–2025) Co-Author, Climate Change and Environmental Justice Competencies for Counselor Education, CCEJC-CE (ACES, 2025)
Counselor educator for CMHC Academia, Registered Play therapist supervisor, specialization in play therapy & Exceptional Children. Research on the effects on marginalized communities, children, and adolescents' mental health due to climate change.
The CAPT-C is not advocacy. It is the clinical application of documented, peer-reviewed evidence-based theory.
“This program is not asking clinicians to take a political position on climate change. It is asking clinicians to be clinically competent with a population of clients who are increasingly presenting with climate-related distress — the same call to competency that drove multicultural counseling standards, trauma-informed care standards, and every other expansion of the profession’s clinical scope.”
Marquita Garrett, PhD, LPCC, RPT-S— Program Director
APA reaffirms its 2011 policy resolution and commits itself to continued action to address global climate change on the basis of scientific evidence and applied and clinical psychological expertise.
“APA reaffirms its 2011 policy resolution and commits itself to continued action to address global climate change on the basis of scientific evidence and applied and clinical psychological expertise.
Further, APA adopts an interdisciplinary and interprofessional approach to addressing climate change, including collaborations with other scientific, professional, policy, and community organizations in the United States and internationally.”
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ACA 2018
The American Counseling Association adopted a position statement on climate change: “ACA stands in alliance with all individuals who have been and will be impacted by climate change and supports counselors who work to address the needs of those most vulnerable to the consequences of climate change.”
The International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies published the Global Climate Change and Trauma Briefing Paper (Augustinavicius et al., 2021), establishing the clinical framework for acute vs. chronic climate trauma and calling for rapid development of climate-informed clinical practice.
The Association for Counselor Education and Supervision approved the Climate Change and Environmental Justice Competencies for Counselor Education — the first national competency standard for climate-informed counselor training. The CAPT-C Program Director collaborated on the task force that developed these competencies.
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Whether you’re a play therapist, counselor, educator, graduate student, or parent, we’re here to help you better understand Climate Awareness Play Therapy (CAPT).
Explore our frequently asked questions to learn how this emerging framework supports resilient children and the professionals who care for them.
CAPT-C is seeking approval to offer Climate Awareness Play Therapy for continuing education credit. Please check back for updates.
12 Hours to obtain your CAPT CERTIFICATE – including the Core Training Intensive, the required book study, the certification exam, and the post-exam supervised clinical lab.
Join the waitlist to receive early access, program updates, and upcoming training schedules.
The Climate Awareness Play Therapy Certification equips clinicians to address the psychological impact of climate change on children.
