Episode 56: Climate Change & Mental Health
“It’s really talking about transformation on all kinds of levels. And I think because we know this is an existential threat, it kind of opens the question, well, what would an existential level of transformation look like?”
A conversation with climate psychologist and author Leslie Davenport about eco-anxiety, eco-grief, and mental health strategies for coping with climate change. Released October 11, 2024.
guests on the show
Leslie Davenport
Leslie Davenport brings the role of psychology into interdisciplinary efforts that advance creative and effective solutions for climate change. Leslie is a founding member of the Institute for Health & Healing, one of the nations’ first and largest hospital-based integrative medicine programs. Her 25 years of medical experience developing an empowering and collaborative approach to resolving crisis has informed her community-oriented climate psychology model. Currently she serves in a climate psychology advisory role to Project InsideOut, One Resilient Earth, Climate Mental Health Network, and the Post Carbon Institute. Leslie divides her time between the Tacoma/Seattle and San Francisco Bay areas with offices in both locations. She is Program and Faculty Lead of the nation’s first Certificate Training in Climate Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies.
Leslie’s years of clinical experience culminated in the publication of the books: Emotional Resiliency in the Era of Climate Change, Healing and Transformation through Self-Guided Imagery, and Transformative Imagery: Cultivating the Imagination for Healing, Change, and Growth (Ed.). She was also a reviewer with the American Psychological Association, EcoAmerica and Climate for Health to help shape the document: “Mental Health and Our Changing Climate: Impacts, Implications, and Guidance (2017).” She has contributed a chapter to Existential Toolkit for Climate Justice Educators, Being a Therapist in a Time of Climate Breakdown, Integrative Rehabilitation Practice, and an essay for Parker Palmer’s book,The Heart of Higher Education.
Her latest books support kids and youth with tools for navigating a warming world by blending climate science, emotional resiliency tools, and support for engagement with a social justice perspective. All the Feelings Under the Sun, and What To Do When Climate Change Scares You: A Kid’s Guide to Dealing with Climate Change Stress, are published through the American Psychological Association’s children’s book division, Magination Press.