climate change kids

​​How to address the looming crisis of climate anxiety

As climate change worsens, the need will grow for mental health services. Some therapists are recommending climate action to ease worry. Others are advocating for community-based therapies to fill the gap.

The more people experience climate change, or even hear about storms and wildfires, the more it is expected to impact their mental well-being.


Some mental health experts have started preparing for the tsunami of need some leaders anticipate in the coming years.

A small group of high school students from around Pittsburgh set up chairs in a circle on the patio outside of Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens for a monthly climate action meeting, organized by Communitopia.

Each student expressed their own reasons for getting involved, like Claire Bertolet, a 9th grader at Pittsburgh Allderdice High School, "I'm afraid life is not going to be like it is today, and we're not going to be living as comfortably," she said. "In the future it's going to be too late and we're not going to have time to act on it."

Some expressed concern for social and environmental justice, others for the impact of large corporations on the climate.

Allderdice junior Malcolm Kurtz is an avid hiker and bird watcher. "I am really concerned with how species are affected by climate change," he said. Kurtz finds meaning in climate work, while Ava DiGiacomo, a sophomore at North Allegheny High School, said the state of the world sometimes makes her feel helpless.

"This summer I started spending a lot more time outside, and there were moments when I would just sit and think, 'This world is so beautiful, and it's slowly getting ruined,'" she said. "And sometimes it feels like, personally, I can't do anything that's really going to make a big change. And that's not that's not an easy feeling to deal with."

But they are creating community around climate action, so they don't have to do it alone. On the evening they gathered in early October, some had just attended a climate march, and the group had organized a bicycling event called Pedal-Topia.

Rebecca Carter, a junior at Pittsburgh CAPA 6-12, appreciates the community they are creating. "Things like Pedal-Topia, where we can get together and do something in nature as a group of activists can be really helpful and cathartic," she said.

A need for climate-aware therapists

Dr. Elizabeth Haase, chair of the American Psychiatric Association's climate change committee, thinks students like this are on the right track. Feelings of anxiety, grief and longing for what's been lost in the environment, and worry about what will happen in the future with climate change, are all becoming more pervasive, according to Haase.

She's among a growing group of mental health professionals pushing for more climate awareness among counselors. Haase is also on the steering committee of the Climate Psychiatry Alliance, which is growing. "I think in five years we've gone from being a band of seven to eight people to 240 members," she said. The group has a directory of climate-aware mental health professionals.

Treating climate anxiety is not the same as clinical anxiety disorders, according to Haase. "It's a different animal, a different response when you're facing a real world problem," she said.

She compares it with treating someone with claustrophobia. She would encourage that person to face their fear, and spend time in enclosed spaces, like a subway car.

Related: Feeling anxious about climate change? Experts say you're not alone

"That is not an appropriate response when the subway car is on fire, right?" Haase asked. "The subway is on fire. You don't want to sit there and let your fear wash over you. You want to start doing stuff."

When her patients express concerns about natural disasters, climate change and ecological collapse, she advises them to find ways to talk with their family and friends about it and also to take action - join a climate group, write to their local congressperson, or pack up photographs and important belongings in an emergency backpack.

"Even just doing something like that gives you a greater sense of control, and it creates a safer space for you to be in when something bad is happening," Haase said.

A call for therapists to train others to serve the growing needs

climate change mental health

Rebecca Carter, talking with Julie Grant of The Allegheny Front about her concerns about climate change. (Credit: Njaimeh Njie)

Dr. Gary Belkin, a former deputy health commissioner of New York City, and founder of the Billion Minds Institute, which is focused on the social aspects of climate change, wants the mental health community to start taking action quickly.

He already sees more mental health needs than there are available therapists, and climate change - the heat, droughts and wildfires, and general background stress it causes - is going to make that worse.

"We really have to get good at rethinking how we can reach a ton of people across that spectrum, And the only way we're going to do that is by enlisting communities to be part of doing that," Belkin said.

Belkin spearheaded a program in New York where mental health professionals trained employees at child care centers, churches and programs for at-risk youth, places that he calls the front lines for mental health.

"We skilled those staff in screening for distress and illness, for basic counseling skills," he said. "We have to engineer things so you don't have to look for care or support. You trip over it. And that's really what we have to aim for."

Beginning efforts to expand climate care in Pittsburgh

Climate change pittsburgh

Walter Lewis, CEO of the Homewood Children's Village in Pittsburgh, says a few years ago he wouldn't have connected climate change with the mental health of his organization's clients. That's starting to change. (Credit: Njaimeh Njie)

One group on the front lines in Pittsburgh is starting to look into climate change and mental health: the Homewood Children's Village. It has six advocates that stay in touch with 300 members, including more than 100 families, according to the nonprofit's CEO, Walter Lewis. They regularly check in about education, economics, food, and health, including mental health.

"Probably three or four years ago, it would have never dawned on me to think about some of the types of trauma and mental health impacts of climate change," he said.

Disadvantaged communities like Homewood are expected to experience worse climate impacts than their wealthier neighbors. Lewis now sees the neighborhood's high rates of basement flooding, and childhood asthma, as potentially climate-related. So even though his advocates are not mental health professionals, Lewis says he can raise their awareness about how traumatic these types of incidents can be for their clients.

"People are now more empathetic to knowing that, 'Hey, we just had a heat wave, these are some things you might want to think about when you're talking to your families or the children that you work with,'" he said.

A new approach: Community-based therapy

mental health climate change

Dr. Kenneth Thompson and his daughter Alice Thompson (pictured in Shadyside) (Credit: Njaimeh Njie)

As the number of people reporting anxiety and stress around climate change grows, others in Pittsburgh are trying to expand the available mental health care.

Dr. Ken Thompson, a community psychiatrist, based at the Squirrel Hill Medical Center in Pittsburgh, and his daughter Alice Thompson, a fourth year medical student, have been working to bring Integrated Community Therapy to the U.S. through their Visible Hands Collaborative.

Currently their free sessions are held twice a week online.

A trained facilitator welcomed more than a dozen people to a recent Tuesday evening online session, using a technique practiced in Brazil for 27 years, where in-person groups as large as 200 people gather to share their experiences, learn from each other and gradually deal with problems in their families and neighborhoods.

"The goals of this method are to help people learn how to express themselves and sort of have emotional literacy, how to talk about their feelings, and how to help people develop a sense of empathy with each other," Ken Thompson explained.

Stay informed on Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania
Sign up for our FREE weekly Pittsburgh newsletter, keeping you up to date on environmental news in your community and region.

Facilitators are trained over months, it doesn't take years like mental health professionals. There are now around 40,000 facilitators in Brazil, as well as other countries, and the Thompsons are starting to train facilitators in the U.S.

"Having a safe space that's sustained over time is going to be really helpful, especially as climate change progresses," Alice Thompson said. "It will allow people to connect not only over their trauma, but also externally so they can support each other in other ways."

Her father continued, "It becomes a real powerful glue, and I feel like we need a lot of glue in this society...to keep us hanging together," he said.

In our polarized society, efforts like this are starting to help more people re-learn how to talk with others, and see their shared humanity, and hopefully reweave some of the community fabric that's been pulled apart. Because as the climate worsens, people are going to need each other.

Banner photo: The student climate strike on September 24, 2021 in Pittsburgh brought out more than 150 young people. Experts say this kind of action can help people who are anxious about the climate crisis. (Credit: Julie Grant/The Allegheny Front)

This story is part of a collaboration between Environmental Health News and The Allegheny Front for a series called "Pollution's mental toll: How air, water and climate change shape our mental health," with funds from the Pittsburgh Media Partnership.

Follow the fallout from this investigation on Twitter at the hashtag: #EHNmentalhealth

Struggling with your mental health? Want to take action against pollution and climate change? Check out our solutions guide.

Scales of justice with green trees and water on one side and polluting industry and smokestacks on the other.
Credit: digitalista/BigStock Photo ID: 324918955

EPA slashes key staff fighting pollution in low-income communities

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is firing hundreds of staffers who worked to protect overpolluted, underserved neighborhoods, effectively gutting its environmental justice efforts.

Rachel Frazin reports for The Hill.

Keep reading...Show less
Sunrise in the woods

Get our Good News newsletter

Get the best positive, solutions-oriented stories we've seen on the intersection of our health and environment, FREE every Tuesday in your inbox. Subscribe here today. Keep the change tomorrow.

a large body of water surrounded by mountains.

Elon Musk-linked aide gains sweeping control over U.S. Interior Department operations

A former oil executive with ties to Elon Musk now holds expansive authority to reshape operations at the Interior Department, raising alarms among conservationists and longtime federal employees.

Dino Grandoni and Maxine Joselow report for The Washington Post.

Keep reading...Show less
Clear blue water beside mountain covered with snow.

Arctic cold once defended Canada — now climate chaos threatens military readiness

A warming Arctic is complicating Canada’s military operations, with unpredictable weather destroying equipment, thwarting training, and eroding the region’s role as a natural line of defense.

Leyland Cecco reports for The Guardian.

Keep reading...Show less
man in black coat standing near round logo with world flags.

World Bank tones down climate messaging as Trump allies threaten U.S. withdrawal

The World Bank has scaled back public climate advocacy as it navigates the political risks posed by President Trump’s administration and its review of U.S. involvement in global institutions.

Sara Schonhardt and Zack Colman report for POLITICO.

Keep reading...Show less
a lego man standing next to a wooden cross also made of legos.
Credit: Worshae/Unsplash

Evangelical churches in Indiana turn to solar and sustainability as an expression of faith

A growing number of evangelical churches and universities in Indiana are embracing renewable energy and environmental stewardship as a religious duty, reframing climate action through a spiritual lens.

Catrin Einhorn reports for The New York Times

Keep reading...Show less
A firetruck parked next to a hillside on fire

Lawsuits allege that insurers colluded to limit wildfire coverage and shift costs to state plan

Two lawsuits allege that major insurance companies coordinated to drop coverage in wildfire-prone California areas, pushing homeowners onto a costly, state-backed insurance plan.

Trân Nguyễn reports for The Associated Press.

Keep reading...Show less
Two men in baseball caps, yellow shirts and shorts installing solar panels on a roof.

Solar tax credit trading brings clean energy to underserved communities — but faces political risk

A tweak in tax law that made clean energy credits transferable has helped small developers build solar and wind projects in low-income areas, but congressional Republicans may roll back the benefit as part of federal budget talks.

Syris Valentine reports for Grist.

Keep reading...Show less
From our Newsroom
Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

"The reality is, we are not exposed to one chemical at a time.”

Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro speaks with the state flag and American flag behind him.

Two years into his term, has Gov. Shapiro kept his promises to regulate Pennsylvania’s fracking industry?

A new report assesses the administration’s progress and makes new recommendations

silhouette of people holding hands by a lake at sunset

An open letter from EPA staff to the American public

“We cannot stand by and allow this to happen. We need to hold this administration accountable.”

wildfire retardants being sprayed by plane

New evidence links heavy metal pollution with wildfire retardants

“The chemical black box” that blankets wildfire-impacted areas is increasingly under scrutiny.

People  sitting in an outdoors table working on a big sign.

Op-ed: Why funding for the environmental justice movement must be anti-racist

We must prioritize minority-serving institutions, BIPOC-led organizations and researchers to lead environmental justice efforts.

joe biden

Biden finalizes long-awaited hydrogen tax credits ahead of Trump presidency

Responses to the new rules have been mixed, and environmental advocates worry that Trump could undermine them.

Stay informed: sign up for The Daily Climate newsletter
Top news on climate impacts, solutions, politics, drivers. Delivered to your inbox week days.