{"id":3296,"date":"2023-02-14T16:43:19","date_gmt":"2023-02-14T16:43:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ighi\/?p=3296"},"modified":"2024-10-23T10:01:24","modified_gmt":"2024-10-23T10:01:24","slug":"the-cost-of-caring-how-to-support-wellbeing-in-climate-careers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ighi\/2023\/02\/14\/the-cost-of-caring-how-to-support-wellbeing-in-climate-careers\/","title":{"rendered":"The cost of caring: How to support wellbeing in climate careers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr Emma Lawrance, Lead Policy Fellow for Mental Health, IGHI and Jessica Newberry Le Vay,<\/em> Junior Policy Fellow in Climate Change and Health are part of Climate Cares<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Former
Former COP President Alok Sharma speaks at COP27
(Credit: Rory Arnold \/ No 10 Downing Street)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In November 2022, we brought discussions about the interconnections between climate change and mental health and wellbeing to COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt \u2013 at the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference. This was only the second time that mental health has been a focus of COP events, with our COP26 Resilience Hub event<\/a> the first, and overdue. We built new relationships with others who work in the climate change and mental health space, fostering community and collaboration. We published papers bringing together voices from all corners of the globe. And we were exhausted! But we pitched for funding to do more, and have big plans for 2023 to deliver on our vision to better understand and support mental health and wellbeing in the climate crisis.
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About Climate Cares<\/h4>\n

Climate Cares is a team of researchers, designers, policy experts and educators, based at Imperial College London. Our aim is for individuals, communities and healthcare systems to have the knowledge, tools, and resources to become resilient to the mental health impacts of the climate crisis. We lead the programme of work to help create a future that centres caring for people and the planet: Watch this short video on Twitter<\/a> to learn more.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When we were at COP, we were really excited for in person meetings with collaborators, some of whom we had met only virtually over many, many calls! We were also eager to learn and bring discussions about mental health in the climate crisis up the agenda. But honestly, the emotions ran deeper than that \u2013 the guilt of flying there, the pressure to respond to the urgent need for change through our work, feeling energised by and connected to all those working to make change, and the mix of overwhelm and marvel that this topic was once more on the global stage.<\/p>\n

At the launch of COP2<\/span><\/a>, Care of People x Planet, we listened to Jennifer Uchendu capture the room with her powerful reflections on the emotional toll of working in this sphere, and the burden on the many already living with the effects of the climate crisis. And in fact, mental health was raised as an issue in many COP spaces\u00a0\u2013 you can read more about our experience at COP in our Grantham Institute blog post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Collaborating on climate<\/h3>\n

Though COP27 was one of our highlights of the past year, it wasn’t all we did.<\/p>\n