Conference on children and climate crisis

Children and the climate crisis: working with their anxiety, anger, grief and hope.

Conference: Jan 21st 2022

I have just been part of this amazing conference. It was powerful because every speaker is engaged deeply and personally with supporting children and young people in the face of climate change, and because they shared it powerfully and urgently. It was inspiring because we heard from youth activists about their experience of eco-anxiety and what helps. And we heard from a range of people who are immersed right at the heart of this work.

The conference was held by Confer, for psychotherapists and others working to support the mental and emotional wellbeing of children and young people in the climate crisis and I was honoured to be invited to speak.

What stood out for me most at this inspiring gathering is the clarity about what young people need from adults.

Jennifer Uchendu, a young Nigerian activist spoke clearly and passionately:

‘If you want to know how to support young people, we need you to validate our feelings and take action on climate’

She spoke with vivid pain of the dismissal and denial she has experienced from adults when trying to talk about climate crisis. In Nigeria she is seeing the impact every day of ecological life-threatening disaster that is hugely and unjustly experienced in countries that have contributed least to causing it. On top of this injustice there is the betrayal of those who have power to act and do not act. Jennifer told us of meetings where young people are told, ‘the future is in your hands, you have to act,’ and she asks

‘What exactly am I supposed to do?’

The global survey of climate anxiety in young people, presented at the conference by Caroline Hickman confirms that 66% of young people in Nigeria have been dismissed or ignored when they try to talk about climate change. 48% in the UK and worldwide.

No wonder that anxiety, despair and helplessness are so widespread. Not only are adults failing to act, they are failing to listen too. This leaves children and young people deeply alone, abandoned by those who are supposed to protect them.

The conference offered much research, practice and wisdom about young people and climate crisis. A wide range of views with strong agreement about the urgency of listening to young people and validating their experience.

What does validating mean? Fundamentally it means listening with interest and believing the experience you are hearing about. That sounds so utterly simple yet of course much gets in the way. Our own reluctance to face it, the unbearable pain of what our children are facing as they grow up, all the lack of listening and believing that we grew up with ourselves, a culture of dismissing the experience of the young. There is a lot to face.

My session was on deep resilience and embodiment. It was about adults taking wise action to create a network of safety for the young people in our lives.

When we are connected with ourselves, warm others, and with the earth we can be solidly present and available to those who needs us. When we have knowledge of embodied practices that support the regulation of our nervous systems, then we can be trustworthy and resilient, for ourselves and for each other.

So every time you wonder what to do to support the young people in your life, perhaps come back to the clarity of Jennifer Uchendu: ‘Validate our feelings, and take action on climate’. This is our work, my friends, this is our work. Let’s do it together.

Learn about Jennifer’s youth climate project Susty Vibes here and I will be sharing more insights and practical tools from the conference soon.