Our Launch
“Progress only happens through open dialogue among diverse actors”, said Professor Sir David Nabarro, Imperial College London, who co-chaired the launch of Connecting Climate Minds with Jennifer Uchendu, Sustyvibes.
On 18 April 2023, we launched Connecting Climate Minds with an online interactive webinar. The session involved over 430 attendees, and brought together voices of our team and a vision for how we can come together across geographies and disciplines to address two of the greatest challenges we face: climate change and mental health.
Setting the scene
Dr Emma Lawrance, Climate Cares, Imperial College London, helped set the scene of why we need a project like Connecting Climate Minds. Climate change affects communities around the world, and destabilises the conditions we need for good mental health. These burdens are unjust, with many people, such as those in poorer communities, Indigenous communities, smallholder farmers, young people or with pre-existing health challenges more at risk.
In this context, research in the climate and mental health field has been growing rapidly, but progress remains uneven, disconnected and siloed. There is a real need to connect people across disciplines and geographies to create shared understandings of the interconnections between climate change and mental health and how to respond.
Project vision
Omnia El Omrani, Climate Cares, Imperial College London outlined the vision for Connecting Climate Minds:
1) To create an aligned and inclusive research and action agenda for climate change and mental health, based on lived experience needs and insights. This will be based on identifying the gaps and opportunities - both regionally and globally - where either new evidence or translation of current knowledge could make the most difference for climate change and mental health.
2) To catalyse connection across climate change and mental health fields, building regional and global communities of practice.
This work will be done by working inclusively, listening to people who have experienced mental health challenges and climate vulnerabilities, and creating a connected community of practice through development of Regional Communities and a Global Online Hub.
Working together
Jessica Newberry Le Vay, Climate Cares, Imperial College London called for those working in and who hold experience of the interconnections between climate change and mental health to get involved. Being part of the project creates opportunities to:
Help shape the research and action agenda
Join a regional community, to learn from and connect with each other
Take part in capacity building and training
Inform the development of resources
Connect what we know with what can be done in policy and practice
Irini Pantelidou and Alessandro Massazza from Wellcome’s Climate and Mental Health teams outlined why the project, which is delivered through Imperial Projects, is a strategic focus for Wellcome.
Voices of Connecting Climate Minds
In powerful short talks, representatives of the project team spoke about the working groups within the Connecting Climate Minds core team.
Dr Natalie Greaves, Lecturer in public health and Coordinator of the MPhil/PhD program in public health and epidemiology, University of the West Indies - Barbados, represented the Regional Community Development Group (RCDG) of Connecting Climate Minds.
Natalie emphasised the urgency and importance of work exploring the relationship between climate and mental health, noting the ultimate goal of building and fostering communities of practice that empower local communities. Natalie also stressed the expertise within the RCDG which would be available to support regional communities,“We bring expertise in our qualitative methodology, psychology, climate health.” further urging persons to be involved, “Who in your region can join what we hope will be a game-changing movement?”
Lian Zeitz, represented the Lived Experience Working Group which includes Sustyvibes, Force of Nature and the Climate Mental Health Network, of which Lian is a co-founder.
“This work comes from a deep place of love of the planet and all it holds, especially people navigating mental health challenges…Importantly, history has shown us that without lived experience integration across the board, projects of this scale and ambition can remarginalise and minimise the realities and expertise of populations they aim to serve…We seek the lived experience engagement with curiosity, humility and a constant spirit of learning.”
Margot Curl, of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, spoke on boundary-breaking engagement approaches. Margot and colleagues address the impacts of climate change to the most vulnerable people, including mental health. “We have years of experience supporting open dialogue, and engaging people online in creative ways.” The Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre aims to get meaningful engagement by enriching the project’s dialogues and to draw upon the best results.
Dr Friederike Otto, Senior Lecturer Climate Science at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment,Imperial College London, spoke about Climate Research and Policy.
“In the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), we show that climate change has severe adverse effects on mental health globally…We need much more research to understand how climate change is affecting mental health of different parts of the population and different parts of the world.”
Questions and answers
Attendees were so engaged in the project that the team answered 87 questions live online and are developing a set of FAQs. Live in the webinar the panel was able to address three common questions. First, about including the voices of the lived experiences of young people, Indigenous communities, and small holder farmers.
Second, about how this project will draw insights from already established programmes, including the importance of community leaders to culturally and relevantly engage.
Third, how Connecting Climate Minds will build the body of evidence to show to policy-makers that the connection between climate change and mental health is important, and to link the research agenda meaningfully to policy and practice.
Creative engagement
Throughout the session, the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre facilitated interactive games, addressing painful climate realities through serious fun and kick starting the community building which will be so central to this project.
The webinar began with a creative game “I think, we think”, led by Pablo Suarez of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, as an example of the creative methods of engagement Connecting Climate Minds will use to hear from diverse voices. Participants shared what words come to mind when they think about climate change and mental health, and then guessed what words they thought other people had said. This highlighted how we tend to expect others to focus on the problem, with guesses around ‘anxiety,’ ‘fear’ and ‘depression,’ but also ‘hope.’ While these words were prevalent in what people actually shared, solutions-focused words like ‘community,’ ‘resilience’ and ‘transformation’ also came through strongly.
The launch webinar was illustrated in real time by artists Hameed “Ham” Khan and Eugenia Rojo, who developed a dozen cartoons reflecting the content of the webinar. To conclude the online launch event, attendees participated in creative activities developed by the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre and led by Pablo Suarez, to address the serious issues of climate change: Considering how the cartoons resonated, typing what about climate and mental health issues induce anger in a ‘rant’, and considering solutions to redress those issues in climate change and mental health.
Please find below some examples of the rants and ‘rant solutions’ that many people liked:’
OVER-SIMPLIFIED --> Hold space for complexity
NO ACTION UNTIL IT IS TOO LATE --> Let's collaborate to prepare early
PEOPLE ARE IN DENIAL --> Denial is a form of grief. Let's help the grief
PEOPLE LOVE MONEY --> Most people love love, and health. They are the majority
Join us
The project is a call to connect, explore, listen and create, grounded in equity and inclusivity.
