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Climate, Psychology, and Change: Reimagining Psychotherapy in an Era of Global Disruption and Climate Anxiety
28 leading psychologists, therapists, and mental-health healers reflect on the potential—and necessity—of adapting clinical care in response to the climate crisis
With essays from Francis Weller, Bayo Akomolafe, Hāweatea Holly Bryson, and more
As the devastating impacts of the climate crisis become clear, therapists and mental-health workers are increasingly finding it necessary to integrate a response to global environmental collapse into their work with clients. Weather chaos, wildfires, heat waves, the loss of biodiversity, flash floods, and other indicators of extreme global disruption are contributing to “climate anxiety” in many of us—and in the process, exacerbating existing mental-health issues. With so many immediate and intensifying crises unfolding around us, how can therapists adapt to promote healing and growth?
Climate, Psychology, and Change brings together a diverse group of psychologists and mental-health healers calling for a sea change in the field. In this provocative and necessary collection, editor Steffi Bednarek, a psychotherapist specializing in climate psychology, suggests that what is needed is “a regenerative disturbance to the commons of our profession”—an urgent and insistent call to action, but one that is also profoundly hopeful about our potential for positive change.
Within Western paradigms, psychotherapy has been seen as a way to bring a distressed person back within the realm of the “familiar”—but when the “familiar” or the dominant norms of a society are actively contributing to global destruction, we need to fundamentally reconsider this approach. We can no longer think of therapeutic practice as bringing clients back to a baseline “normal”; rather, we need to help others—and ourselves—navigate an unknown future with skill and grace, building resilience for the struggles we can clearly see unfolding before us.
Adopting a holistic and intersectional lens, the essays here address the historical relationships between psychology as a discipline and underlying structures (such as colonialism and capitalism) driving many of our current global crises. Conversations between Indigenous healers and Western psychotherapists reflect on what a decolonization of the field might look like, and how psychologists might reframe and re-vision its essential frameworks and tools.
Other chapters dig into what psychologists have to offer the struggle for social and climate justice, such as using therapeutic tools for responding to trauma; identifying patterns in unhelpful responses to climate emergency (denial; numbness; despair); and fostering the resilience in individuals and communities that is necessary to be able to work toward creative solutions to the complex and intersecting crises we face today.
With essays from Francis Weller, Bayo Akomolafe, Hāweatea Holly Bryson, and more
As the devastating impacts of the climate crisis become clear, therapists and mental-health workers are increasingly finding it necessary to integrate a response to global environmental collapse into their work with clients. Weather chaos, wildfires, heat waves, the loss of biodiversity, flash floods, and other indicators of extreme global disruption are contributing to “climate anxiety” in many of us—and in the process, exacerbating existing mental-health issues. With so many immediate and intensifying crises unfolding around us, how can therapists adapt to promote healing and growth?
Climate, Psychology, and Change brings together a diverse group of psychologists and mental-health healers calling for a sea change in the field. In this provocative and necessary collection, editor Steffi Bednarek, a psychotherapist specializing in climate psychology, suggests that what is needed is “a regenerative disturbance to the commons of our profession”—an urgent and insistent call to action, but one that is also profoundly hopeful about our potential for positive change.
Within Western paradigms, psychotherapy has been seen as a way to bring a distressed person back within the realm of the “familiar”—but when the “familiar” or the dominant norms of a society are actively contributing to global destruction, we need to fundamentally reconsider this approach. We can no longer think of therapeutic practice as bringing clients back to a baseline “normal”; rather, we need to help others—and ourselves—navigate an unknown future with skill and grace, building resilience for the struggles we can clearly see unfolding before us.
Adopting a holistic and intersectional lens, the essays here address the historical relationships between psychology as a discipline and underlying structures (such as colonialism and capitalism) driving many of our current global crises. Conversations between Indigenous healers and Western psychotherapists reflect on what a decolonization of the field might look like, and how psychologists might reframe and re-vision its essential frameworks and tools.
Other chapters dig into what psychologists have to offer the struggle for social and climate justice, such as using therapeutic tools for responding to trauma; identifying patterns in unhelpful responses to climate emergency (denial; numbness; despair); and fostering the resilience in individuals and communities that is necessary to be able to work toward creative solutions to the complex and intersecting crises we face today.
- GenresPsychologyNonfiction
272 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 18, 2024
28 people are currently reading
265 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 10, 2025
"At some point, our species can expect extinction. But surely there is a more dignified way to die than sleepwalking towards demise while taking other cultures and ecosystems down with us."
"Step forward/aside with maturity and intergenerational accountability: embrace the long-term project of becoming a good elder and ancestor for all human and nonhuman relations."
"Step forward/aside with maturity and intergenerational accountability: embrace the long-term project of becoming a good elder and ancestor for all human and nonhuman relations."
December 31, 2024
Great book! Even as a non psychotherapist I understood and took A LOT of value from this book. It’s intersectional and validating and gave me some tools to approach this time of living with “the death of the familiar” or this world essentially ending. The content connects strongly with the deep adaptation movement/philosophy. I hope more books like this are written for more laypeople to helps us work through the big feelings that so many therapists are (as this book explains) still not emotionally capable themselves of helping us through. Here are some quotes I loved:
“Nothing stays forever. At some point, our species can expect extinction. But surely there is a more dignified way to die than sleepwalking towards demise while taking other cultures and ecosystems down with us.”
“The unknown is often the most unbearable of places, and for many even the certainty of catastrophe is easier to bear than uncertainty. But we also know that disruption can serve as a powerful catalyst. We then speak of a maturational crisis or post traumatic growth, where the crisis serves as a threshold into an expanded identity. Maturity and wisdom often emerge when we are stretched large by facing the aspects of life that break is open. It is the falling apart that a new self can emerge.”
“At the heart of all of our sorrows is this profound sense of emptiness. This is part of the legacy of white amnesia and the forgetting of culture, and the trauma of rupture between cultures. And how much we’ve been cast out of a sense of continuity and connectivity to place, to language, to traditions, to practices and rituals. We’ve been left in that legacy of individualism, basically with an empty self. And so much of our attempt to cope with that emptiness has been consumption. Not just material goods but also of power and racism and everything we can do to somehow avoid that confrontation with that emptiness.”
“For me it’s not just a story about personal loss; it’s how long it takes to take in the death of the familiar, and all the different layers that we go through with the realization of it… other people have mentioned thats it’s not just creatures and people - it’s loss of trust, loss of familiar ways of doing things, and so on… how do we take it in? Losses on such a huge scale. It’s hard enough to face personal death. How do we take in the possible loss of the ending of our species?”
“Paradoxically, deep acceptance, not to be confused with passive resignation, opens a portal to potential reparative healing and to the Humilocene- a potential epoch of humility. This may be the dangerous threshold across which our modernist culture transits, a threshold that demands a frame within which disappointment, failure, sadness, and tragedy are given a place.”
“Nothing stays forever. At some point, our species can expect extinction. But surely there is a more dignified way to die than sleepwalking towards demise while taking other cultures and ecosystems down with us.”
“The unknown is often the most unbearable of places, and for many even the certainty of catastrophe is easier to bear than uncertainty. But we also know that disruption can serve as a powerful catalyst. We then speak of a maturational crisis or post traumatic growth, where the crisis serves as a threshold into an expanded identity. Maturity and wisdom often emerge when we are stretched large by facing the aspects of life that break is open. It is the falling apart that a new self can emerge.”
“At the heart of all of our sorrows is this profound sense of emptiness. This is part of the legacy of white amnesia and the forgetting of culture, and the trauma of rupture between cultures. And how much we’ve been cast out of a sense of continuity and connectivity to place, to language, to traditions, to practices and rituals. We’ve been left in that legacy of individualism, basically with an empty self. And so much of our attempt to cope with that emptiness has been consumption. Not just material goods but also of power and racism and everything we can do to somehow avoid that confrontation with that emptiness.”
“For me it’s not just a story about personal loss; it’s how long it takes to take in the death of the familiar, and all the different layers that we go through with the realization of it… other people have mentioned thats it’s not just creatures and people - it’s loss of trust, loss of familiar ways of doing things, and so on… how do we take it in? Losses on such a huge scale. It’s hard enough to face personal death. How do we take in the possible loss of the ending of our species?”
“Paradoxically, deep acceptance, not to be confused with passive resignation, opens a portal to potential reparative healing and to the Humilocene- a potential epoch of humility. This may be the dangerous threshold across which our modernist culture transits, a threshold that demands a frame within which disappointment, failure, sadness, and tragedy are given a place.”
September 29, 2024
"We are being invited to practice going against the normative grain that maintains things as they are. The threshold invites fertile abandonment of control to be welcomed by the stranger who is ourselves."
I have been waiting years for a book like this to be published. It's hard to rate such an important work - it feels absolutely critical, timely, essential, affirming, and urgent. I hope that this book presages a sea change of the literature on this topic. We don't need more books about climate hope or despair. I believe more people are waking up to how empty, futile, and wholly missing the point, that those concepts are (and always have been) in the face of climate annihilation. This book points the way to a collective re-imagining.
As far as details on the book itself - as others have pointed out, it begins with an opening dialog by multiple psychotherapy practitioners, which is then followed by essays grouped into related topics. I really appreciated this format; each essay is fairly short and you can read them in any order. I was really pleased at the diversity of perspectives, and how many authors came from the global south.
I have been waiting years for a book like this to be published. It's hard to rate such an important work - it feels absolutely critical, timely, essential, affirming, and urgent. I hope that this book presages a sea change of the literature on this topic. We don't need more books about climate hope or despair. I believe more people are waking up to how empty, futile, and wholly missing the point, that those concepts are (and always have been) in the face of climate annihilation. This book points the way to a collective re-imagining.
As far as details on the book itself - as others have pointed out, it begins with an opening dialog by multiple psychotherapy practitioners, which is then followed by essays grouped into related topics. I really appreciated this format; each essay is fairly short and you can read them in any order. I was really pleased at the diversity of perspectives, and how many authors came from the global south.
July 14, 2024
Fantastic- grateful for the insights here and diversity of voices, approaches to psychotherapy, and writing styles. Not a tight, coherent argument, but rather a well-curated set of disparate ideas and experiences to see how deep the well of climate psychology really is.
August 1, 2024
I really enjoyed reading this discussion among psyciatrists centering ecoanxiety and the way that collective trauma requires collective healing.
June 10, 2024
Climate, Psychology and Change is a series of articles from a range of professionals working within the fields of Psychology, Psychotherapy and Counselling, written to encourage conversations at all levels about the effect Climate Change is having on the wider population.
Having noted in their independent professional capacity the slow change within their patients regarding the reasons for seeking their services, they began to wonder how wide spread this change was; was it insular to an area or was there a global spread of the concern noted in regard to the effect of Climate Change.
People were not as concerned on the deeply personal levels as they had been previously and were becoming more distressed and anxious in regard to what is now a recognised, as well as a visual fact, that of a changing climate, a changing world.
There was also a growing concern within the profession that many of the ‘Counsellors’ were not prepared to talk with their patients about their deep concerns, their stress, distress and anxiety in regard to what now has been named a Climate and Ecological Emergency or CEE.
How to go about rectifying this situation and reaching out to support individuals in need, was of massive interest. A discussion group was formulated to discuss in an open forum, the topic of ‘the role of psychotherapy in a time when the familiar is dying’. This produced an open discussion, which in turn led to the creation of this ‘ground breaking’ book, Climate, Psychology and Change.
The topics for conversation and deliberation are wide spread, make fascinating reading and most definitely give rise to further discussion. Each piece also opens the door into how we as humans, deliberate on things that cause change; how we as a species have a thread that connects us to ancient times, which then causes change to be disturbing.
Each of the dialogues are best read individually rather than in continuum, to absorb the throughs and finding of the twenty-eight contributors whom collectively, offer deep insights into the way forward with gentle but firm insight and direction.
Having noted in their independent professional capacity the slow change within their patients regarding the reasons for seeking their services, they began to wonder how wide spread this change was; was it insular to an area or was there a global spread of the concern noted in regard to the effect of Climate Change.
People were not as concerned on the deeply personal levels as they had been previously and were becoming more distressed and anxious in regard to what is now a recognised, as well as a visual fact, that of a changing climate, a changing world.
There was also a growing concern within the profession that many of the ‘Counsellors’ were not prepared to talk with their patients about their deep concerns, their stress, distress and anxiety in regard to what now has been named a Climate and Ecological Emergency or CEE.
How to go about rectifying this situation and reaching out to support individuals in need, was of massive interest. A discussion group was formulated to discuss in an open forum, the topic of ‘the role of psychotherapy in a time when the familiar is dying’. This produced an open discussion, which in turn led to the creation of this ‘ground breaking’ book, Climate, Psychology and Change.
The topics for conversation and deliberation are wide spread, make fascinating reading and most definitely give rise to further discussion. Each piece also opens the door into how we as humans, deliberate on things that cause change; how we as a species have a thread that connects us to ancient times, which then causes change to be disturbing.
Each of the dialogues are best read individually rather than in continuum, to absorb the throughs and finding of the twenty-eight contributors whom collectively, offer deep insights into the way forward with gentle but firm insight and direction.
December 8, 2025
I’m a climate-aware therapist and I thought I was already “awake.” This book wrecked me anyway.
It’s not another eco-anxiety handbook with coping tips. It’s a full-on decolonial, intersectional, regenerative disturbance of everything we’ve been taught about what therapy is for. The conversations between Indigenous healers and Western psychologists are worth the price alone. I finished it shaking, with grief, with rage, and with the clearest sense of direction I’ve had in years. My practice will never be the same (in the best way).
It’s not another eco-anxiety handbook with coping tips. It’s a full-on decolonial, intersectional, regenerative disturbance of everything we’ve been taught about what therapy is for. The conversations between Indigenous healers and Western psychologists are worth the price alone. I finished it shaking, with grief, with rage, and with the clearest sense of direction I’ve had in years. My practice will never be the same (in the best way).
June 18, 2024
What a thoughtful, well presented dive into the tough conversations of climate anxiety, social and cultural concerns, and collective trauma that we currently experience!
The collection of authors featured in this book tackle the struggle of seeing a collapsing world with human-centric views and wanting to do better.
Even though the book is focused on psychotherapy and the role of therapists, many of the reflections are helpful for other practitioners who specialize in mental wellbeing.
The collection of authors featured in this book tackle the struggle of seeing a collapsing world with human-centric views and wanting to do better.
Even though the book is focused on psychotherapy and the role of therapists, many of the reflections are helpful for other practitioners who specialize in mental wellbeing.
February 15, 2024
The author uses a new way of conversing, to talk about these hard topics.
A look from an individual and collective perspective, at these intertwined subjects.
We live as the planet, and it’s all connected.
The only way forward is through global collaboration.
We’re all in this fight together, a soulful opening.
A look from an individual and collective perspective, at these intertwined subjects.
We live as the planet, and it’s all connected.
The only way forward is through global collaboration.
We’re all in this fight together, a soulful opening.
March 20, 2024
Such an interesting book. As a coach and a counsellor I am really fascinated by the systemic issues in today’s world and how they show up in the therapy room. This covers lots of different avenues of interest around climate change and I thoroughly enjoyed it. #ClimatePsychologyandChange #NetGalley
February 27, 2025
Transformational conversation on addressing the climate crisis and reforming the patterns of behavior that got us here. One of them ones
May 3, 2025
love it when researchers do research, feeling enlightened and slightly hopeful
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews