On Sunday, the West Coast was up in flames as wildfire evacuation orders spread around Osoyoos, B.C.—the latest in a series of historic wildfires that have engulfed the nation. On the same day, at the other end of the country, three months’ worth of rain pummelled Nova Scotia, flooding homes, destroying bridges and claiming at least four lives.
If we start with anxiety itself, that’s a natural human response to danger and threat. It’s the constant or frequent experience of vigilance, of hyper-arousal, of being extra attentive and alert to the possibility that things will go badly. Often that comes from a lifetime of learning that things will go badly.
Clients who live in the North have experienced a great deal of psycho-emotional impact from the wildfires. Children unable to play outdoors and are stuck inside, for example, are experiencing more adverse effects. People with existing health issues—which are already disproportionately high in Northern communities due to intersectional struggles—are struggling with compounding emotional effects on top of physical ones, such as respiratory distress.
Climate anxiety is a systemic threat: an individual can’t really do anything about it on their own. Sometimes, climate therapy can just be sharing and validating anger—the anger that a young person might feel at their parents or the older generation for their lack of action. We can make ourselves feel better. We can go outside and appreciate nature, we can focus on gratitude.
What kind of training should therapists get to treat patients with eco-anxiety or climate-related grief?