Join guest speaker Andy Letcher for an Ecosystemic Psychotherapy workshop on 26th November 2026.

An old idea of animism persists as people try and find new ways to engage with the nonhuman, and yet this old animism was born out of anthropology’s colonial past in the 19^th century. Subsequently it was dismissed by scholars for almost a century until animism came to be revisited by a new generation of anthropologists around the turn of the millennium. We can now define animism as ‘the view that sees the world as full of persons, only some of whom are human, but all of whom are worthy of respect’. We will examine this powerful shift of attention and what it means for us today as we live with the ongoing ecological catastrophe. We will also play with some practical ways to learn to be better animists and will discuss along the way the importance of folklore, seasonal ritual, the role of psychedelics, and the delicate art of paying attention to the world about us.

Dr Andy Letcher is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Exeter, where he is programme director for the online and in-person MSCs in Psychedelics: Mind, Medicine, Culture. Prior to joining Exeter, he was Senior Lecturer at Schumacher College where he devised and ran the MA Engaged Ecology. He is the author of Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom and conducts research into contemporary animism, psychedelic spiritualities, especially the use of psychedelics within contemporary Paganism and the surprising revival of interest in the fly agaric mushroom.

This workshop will be held in-person at Washington Singer on 26th November 2026 from 9:30am to 4:30pm.

Places cost £125 per person. We also offer a concessionary rate of £100 for students & alumni.

You can book a place on this workshop by following this link.