The October BABCP Article of the Month is from the Cognitive Behaviour Therapist (tCBT) and is entitled ‘My climate journey: One cognitive-behavioural psychotherapist’s account and a commentary linking to the scientific and practice literature” by Claire Willsher and Mark Freeston.

I (CW) am a passionate climate activist and a therapist, not a researcher, not an academic, not an author. I was invited to write this article to highlight my lived experience as a person with climate anxiety and a cognitive behavioural psychotherapist.  I agreed to tell my story to encourage others to explore their own thoughts, feelings and behaviours in relation to this ever-increasing threat the world faces.  The process of writing has been enormously therapeutic to me – I have learnt that I am having a normal response to an existential crisis.  Mark’s detailed commentary running alongside my ramblings helped me, and others we hope, to understand that my journey was not that unusual. 

Climate change distress is a challenge to both people seeking help and to those who seek to provide help. I fall into both categories. Parallels can be made between the experiences we shared in the pandemic, a crisis that affected us and our clients. Those providing help are working in a new area of clinical practice where little is known but we may also be experiencing climate change distress ourselves. The aim of this article is to highlight the personal and professional implications of the unfolding climate crisis and how we might better comprehend and support those with understandable, yet intense, emotional reactions in response to the climate crisis.

This article consists of a first-person narrative by the first author (CW) and a commentary through by the second author (MF). We have worked independently on the narrative and commentary; each is responsible for their own contribution. The narrative highlights my personal experience of moving from denial to face the truth of the climate crisis and the impact on professional practice. The commentary by the second author found that the literature is scarce, but more familiar areas of practice may be relevant to understanding and responding to climate change distress.

I am aware not everyone reading this will be at the same place in their climate awareness as I am now. 5 years ago, I was not a member of Extinction Rebellion, I had never been on a march for nature or so much as signed a petition for Greenpeace.  I hope this article engages with people in this position too. Awareness of the crisis is daunting, but therapy, self-reflection and action can help us hold our emotions and support our clients.  The evidence base is limited but experience of the pandemic suggests that CBT can respond, adapt, innovate, and even revolutionize mental healthcare. As Anderson et al (2024) recognises:  

“Our message to the therapeutic community is that every therapist must become a climate aware therapist.”

References:

Anderson, J., Staunton, T., O’Gorman, J. and Hickman, C. (2024) Being a therapist in a time of climate breakdown. Oxon: Routledge. 

From Stirling Moorey, BABCP President: Why I chose this article

I find this article fascinating as the themes in it overlap with my own work with people facing life threatening illness – how do we cope with an existential threat that is shared by both therapist and client, and where the boundaries between realistic and unhelpful thinking and coping are by no means clear. Claire Willsher’s description of how she navigated these threats as a committed climate activist is inspiring, and Mark Freeston’s commentary contextualises it in relation to the growing research in this area. BABCP has recently outlined its commitment as an organisation to promoting awareness of climate distress and supporting therapists professionally and personally, so this is a timely exploration of the challenges thrown up by the climate crisis.

Author Bios:

Claire Willsher is a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist and a humanistic counsellor working in private practice in West Berks.  Claire worked for the NHS for over 5 years in the IAPT service before setting up a small private practice in 2016.  Claire is a single parent to 3 very active boys (young men now really) and became concerned about the climate crisis in 2019. Claire is a member of several environmental groups including Extinction Rebellion Psychologists, Climate Psychology Alliance and Friends of The Earth.