Abstract
Climate distress in young people is very likely to increase in coming years, and young people’s mental health services need to be prepared to meet the demand. This paper reports a qualitative pilot study to establish the views of three stakeholder groups involved in youth mental health counselling services in England: young people, mental health counsellors, and strategic partners. We find broad agreement amongst youth mental health service users and providers that climate distress comprises a range of emotional responses to climate change, including anxiety, hopelessness, isolation, guilt and injustice, exacerbated by developmental, social and informational contexts. Service providers can support young people by surfacing, validating, and channelling these emotional responses, but they themselves need training and support to do this effectively.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 2409815 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | Cogent Mental Health |
| Volume | 3 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 1 Oct 2024 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 31 Dec 2024 |
Data Availability Statement
Participants only gave consent for anonymized excerpts of interview transcripts to beshared in publications; no additional data will be made publicly available.Funding
This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust [523645].
Keywords
- climate anxiety
- Climate distress
- eco-anxiety
- mental health services
- young people
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Psychiatry and Mental health
- Psychology (miscellaneous)
- Clinical Psychology
