Joining the Climate Minds Coalition

The climate crisis and mental health

Research increasingly highlights the profound psychological impact of climate change on individuals and communities.

Art therapy has a unique role to play alongside other psychological professions. As we explored in our 2023 annual conference, art therapy can offer accessible therapy for experiences that are difficult to find words for, could help reduce the NHS’ carbon footprint by being a preventative intervention, and could support the emotional and psychological resilience of our communities to be able to cope and respond.

However, as a small profession and association, we can achieve much more collectively with our colleagues across the sector.

What is the Climate Minds Coalition?

The Climate Minds Coalition unites leading UK mental health organisations – including Mind, BACP and UKCP – to raise awareness of the mental health impacts of the climate crisis and to ensure our sector is recognised for the essential psychological support we can offer in response to the crisis.

By using a collective voice as a sector, we can more effectively influence UK policymakers, parliamentarians, the media and the public on the climate emergency and mental health.

We want to make sure parliamentarians are more informed about the implications of the climate crisis on our mental health, and to ensure that mental health is included in environmental and health policy.

Crucially, we also want to improve the quality and access to mental health support for people experiencing the psychological impacts of climate change.

How we’re working with the coalition

We will be working with the coalition to:

• Improve training and support for mental health professionals working with individuals and communities who are negatively impacted by climate change.
• Support and promote efforts – both within the mental health field and in communities across the UK – that strive to protect the environment and slow climate change.
• ​Bring together colleagues to feel confident and supported in dealing with the emotional reactions to climate change.
• Campaign to improve access to a wide range of support options that help people increase their ability to cope with the impacts of climate change.
• Work with political leaders to better understand how and why people react in different ways to the climate emergency and what they can do to help.

Here at the association we are working on:

• support for members brought to an HCPC fitness to practise case for climate activism
• articles in InSight from our members about how they are responding to the crisis
• sharing the nature-based special issue of our academic journal, which includes six practice-based articles on nature-based art therapy.

Find out more

Through this coalition, we hope our members will feel more confident in addressing the mental health impacts of climate change in their practice.

You can find out more about the Climate Minds Coalition at their website. 

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