Climate Aware Therapy
Climate change and the many connected crises may be the greatest challenge of our day. It makes sense to have strong feelings about it. And yet, these feelings don't always contribute to a healthier life for you or a healthier planet for us all. Sometimes these feelings can paralyze. Sometimes they isolate you from those who could help, or puts strain on your relationship. Perhaps you feel drained by your helplessness. These feelings can even prevent you from enjoying the outdoors or taking action to reduce temperature rise. For these reasons and more, you might be looking for a therapist who gets it.​
My Approach
Climate aware therapy is about providing an understanding environment in which you can begin to digest the many thoughts and feelings you may be having about the changing world. Although you may feel alone in how intensely you feel the effects of climate change, therapy is a place to understand that you aren't alone and that those feelings are valid. As a professor of mine liked to say, "dysfunction, in a dysfunctional world, can be functional." Being sad, or anxious, or angry--is all very reasonable. When these begin to detract from your ability to live and relate to other people and the rest of the natural world, however, therapy can help you reorient towards connection, appreciation, and develop the resilience needed to tolerate an uncertain future. ​As a member of the Climate Psychology Alliance who serves as the regional coordinator for Washington State, and an avid lover of the outdoors, I am well-suited to help you process the complicated feelings that climate change inspires.​
If you have questions or are ready to see if we'd be a good fit to work together, schedule a free 15-min phone consultation on my contact page.
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How Climate Change Comes up in Therapy
Everyone has different reactions to the climate crisis, but here are some common ones:
MEANINGLESSNESS
Climate change can really rattle your sense of meaning. "What does it matter if the world is headed for disaster?" I've talked with a lot of folks who describe the sense that their long term goals feel pointless, who doubt they should pursue careers or children, and who are skeptical of putting down roots anywhere and having some community.
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Therapy can help you anchor your values beneath all this uncertainty to something solid. Help you articulate how climate change affects your identity and how you want to create your community. We can help you identify what desires may have been sidelined, and reanimate them in the service of joy and purpose (why fight for a world devoid of art and food and laughter and friends anyways?). The story you told about your life may have changed when you learned about climate change--I can help you write a new one that makes sense and is worth telling.
BURNOUT
Climate burnout doesn't mean you stopped caring--it probably means you've been caring in an unsustainable way. Perhaps you thought you were doing all you could before, but now you're: numb, cynical, hopeless, unmotivated, and feel less like taking climate action than "eating, drinking, and being merry for tomorrow we die." I understand this--climate change is so big and any one of us is so small. How could therapy possibly help you find your spark again?
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First, we'll grieve your limits. We all have them, and almost all of us are quite limited in what we can accomplish (individually). We'll figure out how to rest and still feel like a good person. We might untangle your efforts to fight climate change from your worth as a person. We'll shift your motivation from something outside yourself, to an inner source that sustains you. As a climate aware therapist I'm not here to disengage you from the work to make you "feel good." I'm here to help you re-engage in a way that actually works.
GUILT/MORAL INJURY
You feel complicit in the warming of the world. You care for children, but still fly for long trips, and don't know how to reconcile those. You feel bad when you purchase what you need, and especially when you buy what you want. You feel anger at many corporations, but also your past self. You likely carry around more responsibility for warming the planet than one person can reasonably carry. You feel conflicted, and sad, and angry, and guilty.
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Therapy can help you name your conflicts clearly. We can understand the emotional side of responsibility and how your guilty feelings can change so much week to week. Perhaps we can soften your expectations that you as an individual will be perfect, so that you can sustainably keep working to minimize your impact rather than burn out. We'll work on forgiving yourself. And healing the pain of being lied to about all this. And ultimately, transform your guilt into action that matters to you and to the planet.
ECO-ANXIETY
You live with a sense of dread. News about the climate feels either (1) catastrophic or (2) meaningless because good news is never enough, and perhaps you cycle between consuming a ton of it and avoiding climate news altogether. You might cry when you think of the future--especially when you think of your kids' future, or the futures of children around the world. You often feel guilty for not caring enough, but also feel isolated because it feels like no one else cares as much as you. And ultimately, all these anxieties feel pretty rational--but they're still overwhelming.
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Ecoanxiety emerges as a reasonable consequence of trying to process something as big, as complicated, and as devastating as climate collapse. Eco-anxiety may be a reason to do therapy, but it isn't irrational. Rather, it's the consequence of feeling something without knowing what to do with it. Therapy can help. We'll work on self-regulation, making room for uncertainty, and connecting with others for support. We'll help you find ways to take action that's grounded in your interests, values, and skills. Last, we'll help you grieve what needs to be grieved. Anxiety is a fear about the future, but sometimes learning to grieve what's already lost helps us grieve what we expect to lose in the coming years, and tolerate loss more effectively.
AVOIDANCE
Perhaps you used to care a lot but now feel numb about climate change. You joke about it, skim over news about it. Maybe you feel irritated by activists or folks newly aware of climate change. Maybe your life hasn't changed a bit since learning of climate change, which surprises you. You may avoid news about climate change related events, or deny your feelings about these. If you're doing this (and looking at my website), chances are that you aren't underinformed about climate change--in fact it may be just the opposite. You've taken in so much it overwhelmed you. But avoidance only works until it doesn't.
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Therapy can help you reconnect to the things you care most about--including the climate. We can rediscover your values about climate refugees, ecological destruction, political action, and education. We can figure out how to set media boundaries and develop strategies to navigate what can quickly become overwhelming. Building tolerance for uncertainty, naming grief and fear and anger and guilt, and allowing emotions to emerge in an understanding validating space will all help you avoid less and connect more.