Join us on Thursday, October 5 at the Langevin House at VTSU Randolph for an interactive workshop as part of VCPI's Annual Meeting featuring Dr. Suparna Choudhury and Dr. Joshua Moses.
Many people feel overwhelmed by the climate crisis and other social and environmental challenges. Finding resources and community connection to cope with increasing levels of uncertainty can be difficult. This workshop provides an overview of climate anxiety and other climate emotions while offering tools for working with clients, organizations, and communities experiencing climate-related distress. Participants will engage with each other to increase awareness of the different ways in which people experience climate anxiety. Topics include social and cultural context of climate anxiety, experiences throughout the lifecourse, how the mind/brain processes uncertainty, and developing collective capacity for working with climate anxiety. Participants will increase their ability to work with anxiety and grief around the climate crisis in clinical as well as community and organizational contexts.
"People are aware that they cannot continue in the same old way but are immobilized because they cannot imagine an alternative. We need a vision that recognizes that we are at one of the great turning points in human history when the survival of our planet and the restoration of our humanity require a great sea change in our ecological, economic, political, and spiritual values."
(Grace Lee Boggs)
Registration is free, required, and open to VCPI members and mental health practitioners, advocates, or graduate students. Breakfast & lunch are included. Seating is limited - please rsvp here.
Agenda
9:30am: Coffee & Welcoming
10am - 2pm: Workshop (with 1-hour break for lunch & networking)
Learning Goals
1. Deepen knowledge of ecoanxiety in adults and adolescents in clinical and educational contexts
2. Increase knowledge of working with climate anxiety in community and organizational contexts
3. Identify existing resources and strengthen coping skills for working with uncertainty
4. Acquire a set of ecoanxiety resources and tools for both practitioners and clients
Note: CEUs for allied mental health professionals and social work are pending.
Facilitator Biographies
Suparna Choudhury is an interdisciplinary researcher and writer, trained in cognitive neuroscience, transcultural psychiatry and creative writing. In her research, she examines the implications of the new brain sciences for health and society with a special interest in youth mental health and climate emotions. In her current role as Assistant Professor and Co-Director of the Culture, Mind & Brain Program at McGill University in Montreal, she is focused on youth-led research on adolescent mental health, dignity and mental health, cities and psychosis and eco-anxiety.
www.suparnachoudhury.com
Joshua Moses is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Environmental studies at Haverford College and Visiting Faculty in the Department of Anthropology at University of Vermont. He has over 20 years of experience working on disaster mental health, climate-related distress, and community response to socio-ecological change. He is author of the book, Anxious Experts: Disaster Response and Spiritual Care from 9/11 to the Climate Crisis (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2022), as well many articles on the social and environmental context of mental health.
https://www.haverford.edu/users/jmoses