Image credit: Hillary Waters Fayle
You can weather this.
Climate-aware therapy and psychiatry for turbulent times.
I’m a holistic psychiatrist online in MN and CA supporting folks who are feeling the mental health impacts of climate change and political upheaval.
How are we all just going to work when the world is on fire?
Planning for the future when everything feels bleak.
Spending time in nature when you can already feel the effects of climate change on your favorite places.
Feeling guilty about contributing to climate change and participating in capitalism.
Worrying about the world the young people in your life will inherit.
Falling asleep when you’re ruminating about the latest terrifying climate report.
Maybe you’re struggling with…
"To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
Buckminster Fuller said,
You suspect there is a way to stay engaged with the external struggles while calming the internal ones. You’re ready to shift your focus from everything that’s wrong to the conditions that you want to create. You just need some support to do it.
There is a path to feeling joy while fighting the power.
The Work That Reconnects provides a transformative framework for climate anxiety.
Joanna Macy created the Work That Reconnects (WTR), a collection of practices that fortify us to take part in The Great Turning, her name for the transition to a just and sustainable society. Drawing on systems theory, deep ecology, and wisdom traditions, WTR methods match up with established treatments for anxiety, depression, and trauma. Macy understood how to create conditions where painful feelings can be accessed safely; then she saw how those powerful emotions lead to creative problem-solving. This profound observation is supported by cutting-edge neuro-psychological studies.
How we heal climate anxiety:
Reframe
Apocalypse as adventure. Pain as evidence of interconnection. Facing fear as a sign courage. We still feel the grief, fear, and despair, just within a new context.
Resource
It takes deep wells of nourishment to meet this moment. Luckily, we have our bodies, communities, ancestors, and Earth herself to help sustain us.
Refocus
Instead of doomscrolling and filling our minds with the worst, we can train our talents on envisioning and embodying the world we want to create.
(See what I did there? With the 3 re-’s?)
Imagine a life where…
You can make small purchases without obsessing over your carbon footprint.
You recognize the ways you already make the world a better place.
You feel part of the web of life, as well as a larger movement and community.
The crises feel like a call to adventure that draws out your deepest strengths.
You can envision the world you want and take small, meaningful steps in that direction.
Climate anxiety is a portal to creative action.
Let’s chat about how climate change, politics, and injustice are impacting you and how we can fortify your spirit to thrive.