Clinical work with eco-distress: developing resilience and community engagement
Elizabeth Szpilka
A growing percentage of the population is experiencing distress related to the climate crisis, extreme weather events, and ongoing environmental degradation. New research highlights methods clinicians are using to address this in therapy settings. We can help our clients find meaning and purpose in a world with a dysregulating climate and with governments that are not acting with adequate speed and effort. Our mental health model can expand to include psychological impacts from our ecosystem, and the importance of developing resilience as we face humanity’s greatest existential threat. Hopefully, this wake-up call will lead to the development of more equitable, caring, and sustainable communities.
Models of psychotherapy for this crisis can expand to include community engagement. Methodologies that are developed and implemented by local community members as well as clinicians are noted in recent research. There are many ways to be of help as clinicians working within this “Code Red” emergency, as the Secretary General of the United Nations termed it. We can be role models for our clients by being willing to tolerate difficult emotions related to this crisis, and by supporting clients’ efforts to come to terms with its meaning in their lives
Skills / Knowledge
- eco-distress
- social work