In recent years, more and more young people have reported feeling anxious or depressed as a result of the dire warnings about climate change that are presented to them everywhere they look. Perhaps nowhere is this more prevalent than in institutions of higher learning.
In an attempt to address the mental health consequences of being constantly warned that the planet is on its last leg, there has been a push from within colleges and universities to provide climate change counseling services to students.
In 2020, members of the University of British Columbia’s Sustainability Initiative released a report detailing the relationship between climate change and mental health, offering a “systemic approach to action in post-secondary education.”
“Direct and indirect stressors from climate change,” they wrote, “as well as the overarching psychological and psychosocial challenges associated with acknowledging the magnitude of the crisis, lead to mental distress and disrupt mental health and wellbeing. Addressing the challenges that the climate crisis poses to mental health, and finding ways to live with and adapt to the overarching psychological and psychosocial weight of the crisis is needed to build healthy and resilient individuals and communities.” Read more…
