Feeling Climate Anxiety? Seek Support in Community.

Climate change, super storms, rising sea levels, large-scale pollution—do these problems seem large, looming, intractable? If you’re feel vulnerable, disempowered, or burnt-out, you’re not alone: climate anxiety is a real phenomenon that is beginning to be recognized and named by psychologists.

Eco-anxiety is described by Psychology Today as a “psychological disorder afflicting an increasing number of individuals who worry about the environmental crisis.” Eco-anxiety has been particularly exacerbated in the United States as more people are directly impacted by climate change.

Addressing these heavy feelings in community can be a way of generating the personal resilience needed to cope with an uncertain future. Alex Trope of the Climate Psychiatry Alliance asserted to The Daily Beast that, “It’s important to find someone who can hold it with you, not crack jokes or not recognize the crisis,” he said, adding that person-to-person interaction could help counteract the “doom-and-gloom online coverage.” Luckily, for residents of Monmouth County, this kind of support can be found near you.

This fall, the eco-spiritual nonprofit Waterspirit will be piloting a climate anxiety support group using the Good Grief Network’s “10 Steps to Personal Resilience and Empowerment in a Chaotic Climate” method. This method aims to help build personal resilience and empowerment while strengthening community ties to combat despair, inaction, and eco-anxiety on the collective level.

Please join Waterspirit for an informational meeting on Thursday, September 26 at 6 p.m. in the downstairs lounge at First Presbyterian Church of Rumson (4 East River Road). At that meeting, we will provide more information about the 10 steps, the fall meetings calendar, and the $100 suggested donation for the course of the program. Further inquiries may be directed to water@waterspirit.org.

Waterspirit is a center for spiritual ecology sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace.