Rural Health Seminar Series Research Seminar | Climate Change Emotions: How Can Communities Respond?

When:
21 April, 2022 @ 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
2022-04-21T16:00:00+10:00
2022-04-21T17:00:00+10:00
Where:
This seminar will be streamed via Zoom
For further information please contact Leanne E: [email protected] P: 6621 1113
Cost:
Free

Climate Change Emotions: How Can Communities Respond? | Presented by Dr Blanche Verlie

 

Click here to register

 

In the wake of the catastrophic floods in Lismore and much of northern NSW/southern QLD, no doubt many in our communities are experiencing significant distress: potentially both post-traumatic stress, and anxiety about future climate change. This can be particularly acute for specific demographics of people, such as young people. Mental health services are increasingly becoming ‘climate aware’, however such individual-focused professional services are valuable but not sufficient on their own for fostering wellbeing in the climate crisis.

In this presentation, Dr. Blanche Verlie will share insights from her research and experience as a tertiary educator and about how non-therapists can support people around them to navigate the complex and intense emotions that climate change – including specific local disasters such as floods – can generate , as well as how to sustain community climate action over the long term.  A facilitated Q&A session will follow.

 

 

 

Dr Blanche Verlie is an Australian climate change researcher and educator currently living on unceded Gadigal Country. Blanche has a decade of experience working alongside young people in the fight for climate justice, as well as experience in community-based climate change communication and teaching sustainability and climate change in universities. Her research explores how to respond to climate distress and she is passionate about supporting people to engage with the emotional intensities of climate change. She is currently completing a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Sydney Environment Institute at the University of Sydney and is the author of Learning to live with climate change: From anxiety to transformation (available as a free e-book).