about me

laura carter robinson, psy.d.

I'm a fully-licensed clinical psychologist and ecotherapist in Ann Arbor, Michigan, who sees clients locally in-person, virtually, and outdoors, and virtually in most states. In addition to working with adults in general, I have a specialty in working clinically with undergraduate and graduate students, as well as with the overall academic community. Through my business, Humanity&Planet, I'm also a speaker, educator, and consultant on psychological aspects of climate change and provide climate coaching to help people who want to focus on finding their own space in the climate world or who are seeking guidance and support in taking environmental or climate-based action.

I am part of the American Psychological Association's Climate Change Community of Scholars and Practitioners and until December 2023 was on the executive committee of Climate Psychology Alliance of North America. I've also trained and volunteered as a psychologist-advocate on climate change and mental health with the American Psychological Association and have testified in front of the Michigan Senate Committee on Natural Resources, Environment, and Great Lakes.

As an award-winning environmental grassroots organizer, experienced hiker, and lifelong outdoors person who's had a deep reverence for nature my whole life, I've personally long felt part of and sustained by nature and drawn to protecting it and our environment. I feel it's essential for me as a clinical psychologist to use my professional experience to intervene in whatever way I can to address the climate crisis.  

I've been featured in interviews in several national digital publications for my climate psychology work and have had numerous public radio, television, and press appearances for my past grassroots work. My own environmental writing encompasses a co-authored online resource on wildfire smoke and mental health, as well as a previous position paper on the need to keep the oil industry in Michigan away from homes, waterways, and sensitive ecosystems.

my values

I'm a culturally sensitive therapist who values and respects people of all abilities, races, ethnicities, religions, sexual orientations, and gender identities. 

My passions for psychology and for the environment have come together in committing much of my clinical practice to climate- and ecotherapy work. Although traditionally psychologists don't always visibly bring certain values of their own into therapy, I believe that there is a moral and ethical imperative to doing so when it comes to the climate crisis. ​

education, training, & clinical experience

After graduating with a B.A. in English from Duke University in 1991, I worked in publishing as an editor and writer for several years. However, always drawn to the arc of narrative and the inner worlds of the characters I read and wrote about, and also seeking to be of direct help to others, I came to realize that psychology was the field that called to me in a meaningful way. I received my doctorate in clinical psychology with a focus in psychoanalytic therapy in 2012 from the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and completed my predoctoral internship at the University of Michigan's Psychological Clinic and the University Center for the Child and Family. I received predoctoral clinical training at Counseling and Psychological Services at the University of Michigan, the Rutgers University Psychological Clinic, the Center for Cognitive Therapy in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Hospital's inpatient unit and outpatient clinic, and the University of Houston Psychological Clinic. After receiving my doctorate, I had some additional advanced training in psychoanalytic psychotherapy through the Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute. 

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