We are in the midst of a climate crisis whose psychological impact will only increase. As a clinical psychologist, I ask myself: What can my field offer in response to the climate crisis? I joined a community of psychologist colleagues via the Climate Psychology Alliance North America (CPA-NA) who share these concerns.
Last year, I gave a talk on clinical psychology and the climate crisis to students and faculty in the clinical psychology doctoral program at the Washington, D.C., Campus of The Chicago School. Based on this talk, I was encouraged to design and teach a semester course to introduce students to the knowledge, skills, and professional support systems they will require to work on climate-related psychological issues in their future careers.
What are students learning? The course highlights how climate-related increases in heat, drought, flooding, severe storms, and wildfires affect not only people’s livelihoods and physical health but also their mental health. For example:
- During heat waves, psychologists must address mental health effects people experience, such as the impact of heat on suicidality, efficacy of psychotropic medications, aggression, and sleep.
- For people struck by climate-related storms, fires, and other disasters, psychological first aid is an immediate intervention, and communities also require ongoing mental health support to recover and prepare for future disasters.
- Increasing numbers of people, especially young people, seek climate-aware psychotherapy to find meaningful ways to act on the severe anxiety, grief, anger, and other feelings they have about the future of our planet.
Psychologists can also practice leadership and advocacy around climate issues. Low-income communities and communities of color have unjustly suffered the worst health and mental health effects of heat, air pollution, toxic chemicals, impure water, and other environmental hazards. These same communities stand to be disproportionately affected by future climate change. Psychologists can testify in court, help design legislation, shape implementation of policies, and assist community groups.
The course format enhances students’ learning in several ways:
- Each student is paired with a practicing mental health professional mentor from CPA-NA. In a series of one-on-one videoconference meetings throughout the semester, mentors acquaint students with a wide range of climate-psychology-related activities, give them role models in the field, provide them with emotional support, guide their career development, and connect them with professional opportunities.
- Students work in pairs to interview invited experts on designated topics such as disaster response with children, indigenous wisdom on climate, advocacy on climate issues, and mental health issues facing climate activists and frontline workers.
- Students practice conducting climate-related conversations with a variety of individuals, to develop their expertise in eliciting different people’s feelings, thoughts, and responses around climate in honest, meaningful, and productive ways.
- Each student keeps a journal throughout the semester to reflect on their own evolving feelings about the climate crisis.
Addressing the climate crisis will require individuals, communities, and nations to practice resilience and make changes on an unprecedented scale. Working at all these levels, psychologists can play a key role in facilitating productive conversations, generating hope, helping people adapt, addressing barriers to change, and shaping solutions that promote human and planetary well-being.