About Me
Mike Haber at The Cove 2005
I am a graduate of the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco. I have a Masters degree in counseling psychology with an emphasis in integral psychology and ecopsychology. I recently have been accepted into the East-West Psychology PhD program at CIIS.
I became interested in being of service to others when I overcame an alcohol addiction and the anxiety that followed with the help of counseling and meditation. My long-time friend Noah Levine, author of Dharma Punx and Against the Stream, shaped my first experiences in meditation and counseling. His father, author Stephen Levine, is a mindful meditation teacher, and a leader in the early hospice movement. He is a formative inspiration to the both of us. Stephen used Vipassana meditation with healing techniques that include all faiths. It was through his books that I got involved in hospice and end of life care in San Francisco and Santa Cruz.
In 2007, while attending the California Institute of Integral Studies, I learned about ecopsychology from my professor, Fernando Castrillion. Ecopsychology fit in with what I learned in early childhood. Growing up in the Santa Cruz forest of Carbonera, I learned about healthy interactions with nature—fishing, fort building, wildlife, dear trail running, and redwood trees. In 1970, my mom, sister, and I became a part of the Stone Hill Commune where I learned about sustainable living and farming. Growing up in Santa Cruz, I also realize that surfing played an important role in my survival and healing. I came to understand that psychology and ecology belong together and that it was only an illusion that humans were separate from the natural world.
Today, I have a three-year-old daughter and a wonderful partner. We live in Santa Cruz and spend most of our free time at the beach, camping, walking through the woods, and gardening. My research focuses on utilizing ecopsychology in traditional counseling. Everyday, I am seeking new ways to integrate nature and healing in my practice.
When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe. ~ John Muir