Anxiety to Action - Finding the positives in eco-anxiety

When does normal concern about the planet become climate anxiety? Who does eco-anxiety affect and what can we do about it? How can we look after our mental health under a cloud of Covid? We explored these questions and more with Dr Patrick Kennedy-Williams, a Clinical Psychologist specialising in Climate Anxiety, Dr Emma Lawrance, Mental Health Innovations Fellow at the Institute of Global Health Innovation (IGHI) at Imperial College London and Rowenna Davis, Director of Global Future, a think tank dedicated to using psychological insight to pursue progressive politics.

Our guests:

Dr Patrick Kennedy-Williams is co-director of Climate Psychologists, an independent organisation providing individual therapeutic support and wider consultation regarding the mental health implications of climate change. Central to their work is climate change communication. They work with individuals, parents, educators, national government and media organisations to promote psychologically-informed, constructive communication. Their aim is to inspire hope and positive, sustainable action to combat climate change. He is co-author of ‘Turn the Tide on Climate Anxiety’, due out in January 2022 with Jessica Kingsley Publishing.

Dr Emma Lawrance is the Mental Health Innovations Fellow at the Institute of Global Health Innovation (IGHI), Imperial College London. She leads the IGHI-Grantham Institute program, Climate Cares, working with researchers, designers and policy experts to better understand and respond to the interconnections between climate change and mental health, for the communities of a safer climate future. Other work focusses on digital mental health, in collaboration with Shout crisis text line, and youth mental health. She completed her MSc and DPhil in computational and clinical neuroscience at the University of Oxford. She also holds a BSc(Hons) in physics and chemistry from Flinders University, and a science communication graduate diploma from the Australian National University. She is the Chair of Trustees and co-founder of youth mental health charity It Gets Brighter. She loves spending as much time in the natural world as possible, including her homeland of the Adelaide hills, and on a bike.

Rowenna Davis is the director of Global Future, a think tank dedicated to using psychological insight to pursue progressive politics. She is also a writer published in The Guardian, The Independent and other national publications as well as appearing on Sky News and the BBC. She has also been a teacher and is proud to be a new mum living with her family in Croydon.