The threats posed by our warming world are felt deeply by young people, inspiring a UNE team to develop a targeted Bee Well workshop. Twice in October, psychology researchers will offer support for 16-18-year-olds exposed to a climate disaster, whether it be drought, bushfires, floods or the 2022 super cell.
“Younger populations tend to have the highest levels of climate change anxiety,” said UNE’s Dr Amy Lykins. “Through climate activism and protests, they are demonstrating their concern about what their futures will look like and expressing their worry.”
In the past 15 years the negative emotions associated with climate change have been dubbed eco-anxiety, which correlates with insomnia and poor mental health. Defined as a “chronic fear of ecological doom”, eco-anxiety is characterised by emotional distress, paralysing fear, and a deep sense of despair about the future harm climate change is likely to cause. Young people are thought to be especially vulnerable because they are the generation that will have to contend most with climate change yet currently lack decision-making and political power.
“We are still investigating the impacts and how we can help people learn to cope with eco-anxiety,” Amy said. “However, there is a suggestion that typical one-on-one therapy sessions with a psychologist will not be an effective model going forward, due to the cost and the number of people likely to be affected. Our focus is on what we can do in groups, in the community, to build strength and resilience.”
The two workshops funded by the Peregrine Centre – on 4 and 11 October at UNE’s SmartFARM Newholme – will engage young people in a pilot intervention that helps them to prepare for future disasters, learn how to manage stress and develop protective connections with peers.
“This is a particularly tricky age, when people are vulnerable to developing mental health, still developing coping strategies and going through a lot of stressful life transitions,” said Dr Suzie Cosh. “Their mental health needs are quite unique, which makes them uniquely vulnerable. Our focus is on trying to understand and support the psychological resilience of this rural population of 16-18-year-olds and to reconnect them with nature in positive ways. Simply understanding your emotions and having a supportive space to talk about them helps.”
Setting up a bee hive will hopefully give participants the chance to “feel like they are leaving the environment in a better state than they found it”.
For more information go to https://www.une.edu.au/about-une/faculty-of-medicine-and-health/school-of-psychology/research/psychosocial-health-and-wellbeing-focussing-on-rural-communities/bee-well-project or contact: scosh@une.edu.au, rryan43@une.edu.au
Interested individuals can also register their interest via https://unesurveys.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_aW3WcfycXzny5yS
