I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by one of my ex-students and podcaster, Cassandra Fletcher Duham, who explored this topic during her PhD research before shifting her focus to private practice and podcasting on this and related topics.
Listen to the full conversation: https://youtu.be/umc3wqbLKoM
Art Therapy Podcast Summary
From The Eco-Informed Approach to Mental Health Care podcast, hosted by Cassandra Fletcher Duham
Art doesn't wait for permission — and neither does trauma. Sitting down with host Cassandra Fletcher Duham, Rob Gray explored how climate-related distress often slips into therapy sideways, surfacing through the creative process long before a client ever names it out loud.
Cassandra pushed the conversation into bolder territory, drawing on her own research into a question she'd long wanted answered: could climate trauma echo across generations, written into gene expression itself? Rob linked epigenetics, ancestral trauma, and climate anxiety as part of the same evolutionary story — one we're still learning to read.
When Cassandra asked where his knowledge comes from, Rob described his approach as informed both by clinical, scientist-practitioner training and by relational, land-connected ways of knowing drawn from First Nations perspectives.
The episode closes with Cassandra inviting Rob to share more about his work through the College for Educational and Clinical Art Therapy and his book, Art Therapy and Psychology, which digs into the unconscious mind at work in the therapy room.
Enjoyed that?
Don’t hesitate to get in touch via: https://arttherapycourses.com.au/pages/contact
Robert Gray
Director and Senior Lecturer at CECATRegistered Art Therapist and Psychologist
MA A. Th., AThR; B. Soc. Sc. (Psych.) (Hons.), MAPS, AAPi.; BA. Theol. (Hons), MA Theol.
A highly regarded art therapy lecturer from Germany, Robert Gray has become a much sought-after art therapy lecturer and practising art therapist in Australia. His unique approach, spanning psychodynamic, humanistic, spiritual, and cognitive behavioural frameworks, has distinguished him as a thought leader who is frequently invited to present at conferences in Australia and abroad.
Trained overseas and multilingual, German-born Robert shares the benefits of his international affiliations and access to cutting-edge research published in various languages with his students and readers. Robert is a professional member of the Australian and New Zealand Arts Therapy Association (ANZATA), the Australian Psychological Society (APS), and the Australian Association of Psychologists Inc (AAPi).
