Resourcing the Future: Building a Sustainable Response to Climate Mental Health

Jul
6:00pm
Resourcing the Future: Building a Sustainable Response to Climate Mental Health

By Social Impact World
As climate disasters intensify, so do the associated mental health impacts. Each year, reports of eco-anxiety increase, especially among young people – the next generation of leaders. Yet, where is the response from industry leaders and businesses?

Even as our awareness of climate anxiety and trauma expands, resources for projects that seek to address this growing mental health crisis are lagging behind. Why is this critical work underfunded? What is the impact on corporations of an overlapping climate and mental health crisis that seeps into workplace productivity? Why isn’t there a wider conversation about it, and what can we do to change that?

Join Dr. Lise Van Susteren, Jennifer Uchendu, and Sarah Jornsay-Silverberg for a ground-breaking conversation on the connections between climate change and mental health and what the corporate sector can do to protect current and future wellbeing from mounting climate threats and associated mental health impacts. In this discussion, we will explore the barriers to financial support, highlight innovative projects that deserve investment, and discuss how industry leaders, funders, and social enterprises can work together to ensure that mental wellness is part of our collective climate response.

Key takeaways:
The connections between climate change, mental and physical health, and business resilience.
How corporations can boost productivity and cost savings by protecting the wellbeing of their teams.
How to build mental health considerations into work culture and governance models.
How climate change acts as a “threat multiplier”, harming the most vulnerable and widening inequalities.
Speakers

Dr. Lise Van Susteren, a general and forensic psychiatrist in Washington, DC, is an expert on the physical and mental health effects of climate change. In 2011 she co-authored “The Psychological Effects of Global Warming on the U.S. – Why the US Mental Health System Is Not Prepared.” In addition to community organizing on climate issues, Van Susteren serves on several boards including the Climate Psychology Alliance. She is a frequent contributor on television, radio and in the print media. In 2006 Dr. Van Susteren sought the Democratic nomination for the US Senate from Maryland. Her book, Emotional Inflammation was released in April 2020.

Jennifer Uchendu is the founder of SustyVibes, a youth-led and youth focused organisation driving sustainability advocacy and implementation in Africa. Recently, her work has focused on climate change and mental health where she is exploring safeguarding and support systems for Africans through research, advocacy and community action. Jennifer has a masters degree in Development Studies from the Institute of Development Studies, UK under the prestigious Chevening Scholarship. She is also an alumnus of the Cambridge Institute For Sustainability Leadership and the Lagos Business School. In 2017, Jennifer co-authored the e-book: “A Guide to Business Sustainability in Nigeria.”

Sarah Jornsay-Silverberg (she/her) is a Lisbon-based environmental attorney and peer-support facilitator who helps organizations build climate-resilient relationships. She has practiced law and activism across continents to support indigenous herders in Mongolia, the U.N. Environment Programme in Kenya, asylum seekers at the southern U.S. border, and Pacific Island nations facing climate disaster. Sarah served as first executive director and board president of Good Grief Network, and has contributed to climate mental health pieces in the New York Times, Guardian, SF Examiner, and KQED. In her current work, Sarah consults with social and environmental change organizations to strengthen their practices for building resilient relationships, structures, and processes for engaging in meaningful climate action in uncertain times.
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Social Impact World