It was early May and wildfire season had already started to rage in Western Canada when seven people settled into a monthly support-group meeting over Zoom.

The facilitator, Toronto-based Kady Cowan, opened the conversation by prompting others to acknowledge any climate change-related concerns weighing on their minds. Worrying her, Cowan said in her soothing voice, were the unprecedented 91裸聊视频渮ombie fires91裸聊视频� burning in British Columbia that feed on peat and woody tree roots over the winter and re-emerge in the spring.

Discussion gradually ramped up as others on the call shared their own concerns during what Cowan calls the 91裸聊视频渃limate sanctuary,91裸聊视频� a peer-support group she founded more than four years ago for people in climate-linked roles, both professional and volunteer. The rest of the 90-minute meeting was punctuated by poetry readings, controlled breathing exercises and chances to explore a constellation of emotions.

91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 not abnormal to be distressed when you91裸聊视频檙e watching a world around you evaporate 91裸聊视频� the types of things that we all relied on disappearing,91裸聊视频� Cowan said in an interview. 91裸聊视频淵ou91裸聊视频檙e not sick to be worried about that.91裸聊视频�

Climate peer-support groups, like Cowan91裸聊视频檚, are increasingly recognized as one way to help build mental health resilience in a world that can sometimes appear indifferent to the effects of climate change.

At that session in early May, several people in the group expressed a sense of relief at being able to open up with like-minded peers. That91裸聊视频檚 important, said Cowan.

91裸聊视频淎 lot of people just need those feelings validated,91裸聊视频� she said.

The impetus for the group came out of the 91裸聊视频渉uge disconnect91裸聊视频� Cowan said she felt between what scientists had to say about climate change and the inaction it was met with by decision makers.

Anger and resentment started to build, and it had no place to go, she said.

91裸聊视频淧eople burn out of this work fast because of a lot of different reasons, not least of which is that the issues are so big that it becomes overwhelming,91裸聊视频� said Cowan, who has spent much of her career on efforts to make the health-care sector more environmentally sustainable.

Yet, as more Canadians grapple with catastrophic impacts of climate-fuelled extreme weather, the question of how a person can keep up the fight for planetary health while tending to their mental health has extended beyond the environmental circles.

Mental health effects from climate change have been dubbed a pressing, but still largely understated, public health challenge in Canada.

A report prepared for the Public Health Agency of Canada last year, based on interviews with more than 20 key public health experts, said the impacts had been underestimated and Canada91裸聊视频檚 health-care system was 91裸聊视频渨holly unprepared and understaffed to address this growing issue.91裸聊视频�

Climate anxiety is a piece of that larger public health challenge. It often refers to the heightened distress a person feels about the impending threat of climate change. Those fears may be rooted in a direct experience with extreme weather or exposure to climate change messages.

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91裸聊视频淭here is a looming mental health crisis coming with this anxiety about the climate crisis,91裸聊视频� said Nate Charach, a Toronto psychiatrist who hosts climate-focused group psychotherapy sessions.

It91裸聊视频檚 not considered a mental illness 91裸聊视频� and, in fact, some researchers argue it91裸聊视频檚 an appropriate response to the scale of the crisis 91裸聊视频� but climate anxiety has been characterized by symptoms such as dread, trouble sleeping and obsessive thinking that can disrupt a person91裸聊视频檚 daily life.

91裸聊视频淥ne of the major problems that I see is that people don91裸聊视频檛 feel permission to feel some of the things they91裸聊视频檙e feeling,91裸聊视频� Charach said.

91裸聊视频淭hat91裸聊视频檚 where the mental health crisis comes in, because I91裸聊视频檓 feeling this way and being told I can91裸聊视频檛 feel this way, but I can91裸聊视频檛 change that hopelessness either and then you get stuck.91裸聊视频�

That feeling of powerlessness, or getting stuck, is one of the dangers of climate anxiety, said Alexis Palmer-Fluevog, a Vancouver-based public health researcher.

Support groups can help, experts say, as can engaging in activities that could be viewed as taking action against climate change.

Some of the most 91裸聊视频渟uccessful interventions91裸聊视频� for climate anxiety are to get people involved at a local level, whether taking part in a neighbourhood cleanup or an environmental rally, Palmer-Fluevog said.

91裸聊视频淪omething that makes them feel like they do have a sense of agency,91裸聊视频� said Palmer-Fluevog, the executive director at the Mental Health and Climate Change Alliance.

But climate action does not always feel like an antidote to despair, especially when it91裸聊视频檚 already a feature of your life, said Cowan, the peer-support group facilitator. 91裸聊视频淎ction-oriented91裸聊视频� responses to climate anxiety can, at times, appear to skip over or diminish how we relate to our emotions in the first place, she said.

91裸聊视频淲e cannot face what we have at our doorstep until we91裸聊视频檙e better at doing this relational work,91裸聊视频� she said.

While last year91裸聊视频檚 PHAC report noted there91裸聊视频檚 limited data about climate anxiety in Canada, there are some indications of just how widespread it91裸聊视频檚 become.

Researchers out of Lakehead University conducted a survey of people between ages of 16 and 25 across Canada and found four in 10 reported that their feelings about climate change negatively affected their daily functioning.

It91裸聊视频檚 left some parents grappling with how to support their children through heightened climate emotions.

Severn Cullis-Suzuki, the daughter of environmentalist David Suzuki and now executive director at the Suzuki Foundation, said her preteen son experienced a 91裸聊视频渧ery dark91裸聊视频� period of depression. Overcome by stories about humanity91裸聊视频檚 ecological destruction, he did not want to be human anymore, longing to be a different species, she said.

In his struggle, she also could see parts of her own childhood.

91裸聊视频淲hen you teach your children to love the Earth and love nature, you91裸聊视频檙e also, you know, teaching them to experience pain. Because what we are doing to the Earth is very, very painful right now,91裸聊视频� she said.

Along with counselling, Cullis-Suzuki said one of the things that proved helpful for her son were community cleanups, a way for him to see himself as part of the solution. When he was feeling upset, they would head to the beach or the roadside to collect garbage and his mood would often quickly change.

It also helped for her sons, who are both Haida through their father and grew up on reserve, to be exposed to a different narrative unfolding on the other side of their family.

91裸聊视频淭his story of resilience, the story of revitalization, the story of resurgence of the (Haida) Nation,91裸聊视频� she said.

91裸聊视频淲hat I want to tell youth is, especially with respect to Indigenous mindsets, you know, humanity is at a turning point with our relationship with the natural world. And amazingly, there still are human societies that still hold examples of other ways of being.91裸聊视频�

Janna Wale, a climate policy researcher from Gitanmaax First Nation, said she91裸聊视频檚 routinely reminded of that climate resilience in her community. Its members have contended with declining salmon populations, scorched huckleberry harvests and more intense wildfire seasons, said Wale, who is also Cree-M茅tis on her mother91裸聊视频檚 side.

Loss, she said, has been something Indigenous communities have long endured.

91裸聊视频淚 think (communities) have, for the most part, been able to move through a lot of the climate anxiety and start to think about how to build resilience,91裸聊视频� said Wale, who works with the Canadian Climate Institute. 91裸聊视频淲e want to be involved in building resilience for the next generation.91裸聊视频�

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Jordan Omstead, The Canadian Press