As we go about our daily lives at work and at home, it has become near impossible to avoid thinking about, or indeed observing, climate change and the impacts it is having on people around the world.

While the science and research that has been accumulating for more than half a century may still not be fully understood by many, especially given the efforts of powerful influencers to dismiss it, the reality is nonetheless right there in front of us. The increasingly extreme weather events that we have been warned about for decades are happening.

This challenges us in ways that can be difficult to articulate. It clouds almost every imagining about our future, our children’s futures and the world’s future. It adds another layer of complexity to modern living, and to the role of professional counsellors and psychotherapists in helping people navigate through this challenge and change.
The differentiating factor, perhaps, with climate change is that it affects everyone. No one is facing this alone, so it becomes a community conversation – an intergenerational conversation.

In this edition of Counselling Australia journal, we examine the mounting mental health impacts of climate change, especially on young people. These can be impacts caused not only by scenes of climate disaster consuming more and more of the daily news cycle, but also the angry nature of the debate. Most young people find this unfathomable, especially when you consider the hundreds of communities across Australia that have, in recent times, been traumatised directly by devastating fires, floods and storms.

The CA community is on the frontline of these weather crises, and everybody is feeling the intensity of what is unfolding. It is very close to home at the Australian Counselling Association, which suffered tremendous losses in March last year when our offices were deluged by an unprecedented rain event and subsequent flooding in Brisbane. We are still managing repairs and the fear of another such calamity.

In the meantime, we all wrestle with the challenge of conquering uncertainty, and shining light onto avenues of hope – onto the many ways people around the world are responding. From a climate scientist’s perspective, it might not be fast enough, but when I look at all of this through the eyes of my youngest son, Kiernan, I am given hope and confidence. His generation will not ‘mess about’ as ours has. His generation is our hope.

As a 10-year-old, he is more present and concerned about how action and inaction will really affect us. Through him, I observe how climate change is creating intergenerational trauma that is colouring how we see and judge ourselves and others.

The other week, Kiernan was clearly troubled when he watched a news story about recycling in Brisbane. He said the story was not telling the whole truth. He was informed. He had already researched how much of the recycling in Brisbane goes to landfill, and how industry and governments are missing opportunities by not embracing sustainability principles such as the circular economy.

He explained the lifecycle of recycling and how it is so poorly done in Australia, how it is neither efficient, effective or sustainable and, in the end, actually creates more waste and pollution.

More disturbingly, he spoke of his distrust of adults and their ability to address the issue because of their readiness to manipulate truth. He is 10 years old and he investigates these issues. He is informed about the complex interactions and consequences of unsustainable consumption of the Earth’s resources, and the impacts on wildlife and food chains.

Kiernan will also talk to anyone about his concerns and what people – adults – could be doing that would make a difference to our future.

He pushes me to do better, to learn more. That’s why I hope this edition of our journal captures the spirit of the generations to come.

As health professionals, it is imperative that we all reflect on the challenge, our own feelings about it and how we can start to make a difference, in many small ways, in our own lives. These will be the seeds of hope and rebuilt trust between our generation and those that follow. ■