Increasingly, the climate crisis and ecological damage are things we can’t ignore.
Increasing extreme weather, the loss of familiar landscapes, and dire projections of future human and non-human impacts of climate change impact our physical lives and our mental health. A large proportion of adults, and young people in particular, now report feeling anxious, depressed, and pessimistic or hopeless about the future.
If you have strong emotions about the climate crisis, it’s because you care about the world around you.
These feelings aren’t wrong, and you aren’t alone in experiencing them. But, sometimes, this grief and worry about the future can become too much and begin to impact your ability to function, to experience positive emotions, to connect with others, and to engage in meaningful activities in your life. Climate-aware therapy can help.
Climate-aware therapy begins with the assumption that your emotions are not wrong, and that anxiety, grief, anger, and other intense emotions about climate change are a reasonable response to the crisis we face.
In climate-aware therapy, you can make space to process and move through these difficult emotions, find your sources of resilience, and find meaning in your life.
Bodhi therapist Kate Maurer is a climate-aware therapist and member of the Climate Psychology Alliance of North America, and has facilitated group events focused on sharing and processing climate emotions. To be kept aware of any upcoming events related to climate distress and coping with climate change, subscribe to Bodhi Counseling's newsletter or follow us on social media.