Climate change and the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people in Western Australia

Setting

The state of Western Australia (WA) was colonised by Britain in 1829. WA comprises 2.5 million km2 (one-third of Australia’s landmass) with four climate zones (see Figure 1). WA has 2.66 million people including 89,000 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples and 818,000 children and young people aged 0-24 (1). Mining is central to WA’s economy, particularly lithium, iron ore and natural gas (52.4%, 33.6% and 12.2% of global production, respectively), and WA’s petroleum sector was worth AU$52 billion in 2021-22 (2).

Figure 1: Climate classification map, Australia – temperature/humidity zones (3)

Impacts of climate change

Since 1910, WA’s average temperature has increased by 1.3°C (4). Rainfall has increased over most of WA except for significant decreases in the far west and southwest. Bushfire risk has increased. WA climate projections by 2050:

• Under a high emissions scenario, an average annual temperature increase of 1.5-2.4°C.Longer bushfire seasons with 40% more very high fire danger days.Sea level rise of 24cm.More intense extreme rain events.Significant rainfall decline in the southwest.

Mental health and wellbeing of WA children and young people

The Climate Health WA Inquiry found that climate change detrimentally affects the mental health and wellbeing of WA children and young people (5). Many express that they have feelings of worry, fear, ecoanxiety, solastalgia, anger, frustration, depression, grief, anxiety, and powerlessness about gradual and vicarious climate impacts on their futures. For Aboriginal children and young people, these impacts are exacerbated by climate change-related losses of sense of place, identity, culture, land, and customs informed by kinship relationships with Country:

“When we talk about mental health impacts of climate change, we’re talking about the loss and disconnection of our spiritual identity, our cultural beliefs and our values, which are essential requirements for our own lifeforce”. (Aboriginal Health Council of WA (6))

Climate change is a source of stress for 9.1% of WA Grade 9-12 young people (7), while 20% of 15-19 year-olds are personally extremely or very concerned about climate change (8). However, knowledge gaps exist about how children and young people cope with climate change as a psychological stressor, and support resources are lacking.

In our survey with 76 WA children and young people aged 10-25, some said:

• “It's very hard to enjoy my life without thinking I'm going to roam in a wasteland when I'm in my 40s-60s”. (Gender non-binary, 22, Aboriginal)“I try take deep breaths and try remind myself that I'm going to kill myself before climate change happens too severely so I won't have to face it”. (Gender non-binary, 19, with a disability)“I don't want to have kids because what kind of world would I be bringing them into and for how long?” (Female, 22, rural).

Co-producing research and action

Our work examines the mental health and wellbeing impacts of climate change on WA children and young people, and develops resources and programs with children and young people, the community, parents, community and health services and policymakers to strengthen children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing in a changing climate.

Team: WA young people, Aboriginal community leaders, practitioners and advocates from Climate Justice Union WA, Ngarlark Katitjin, Youth Affairs Council of WA and WA Association for Mental Health, and researchers from Edith Cowan University’s Centre for People, Place and Planet, Telethon Kids Institute, and the Australian National University.

Methodology: We use Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) co-produced with children and young people, Aboriginal Elders and community members, parents, and mental health and youth practitioners as co-researchers. FPAR involves ongoing cycles of action and reflection whereby communities and stakeholders co-design and implement research and action to address social injustices and inform practice and policy (9).

• Cycle 1 - Relational work with young people and partners through collective co-design, co-authoring, and supporting Climate Justice Union WA’s Systemic Advocacy and Collective Care Youth Program with youth climate activists.Cycle 2 - Establishing governance structures with the Aboriginal Steering Group of the Healthy Environments and Lives Network WA, and a Youth Advisory Group.Cycle 3 - Surveys with WA children and young people (aged 10-25), parents, and practitioners. Questions consider children and young people’s levels of climate concern, emotional responses to climate change, health and wellbeing, individual and collective coping strategies, and engagement in climate-relevant activities including activism and relating with Country.

Cycle 4 - Participatory and arts-based workshops with children and young people, parents, and practitioners in regional and urban sites. Workshops explore coping and wellbeing strategies.

• Cycle 5 - Participatory data analysis and writing with young people, parents, practitioners and academics.Cycle 6 - Communicate findings and resources back to children and young people and through public reports, academic publications, policy briefs, and community information.Cycle 7 - Culturally-responsive programs and actions will be co-designed, implemented and evaluated.

Key insights and lessons learned

As climate change and associated mental health risks escalate, appropriate proactive support strategies are required. Initial insights from our cyclical work suggest support must be place-based and responsive to Country, cultures, and local context:

• First Nations governance: Cultural governance is integral for decolonial, place-based and community-led climate research and action regarding climate change and mental health. The Aboriginal Steering Group provides high-level governance and oversight for the entire body of work and shares knowledges, wisdoms and cultural direction about matters such as engaging with communities, culturally-secure methods, and being inclusive of the diversity of WA regions and Aboriginal language groups. Given the protective and healing capacity of connection to Country and place, our work highlights that opportunities to strengthen children and young people’s wellbeing in the context of climate change must be grounded in Caring for Country, in partnership with and led by Elders and community.Care-full climate activism: Taking action is a commonly-promoted antidote to climate grief, but comes with risks:

“We know taking action can help when we feel despair – but if we do not have support, good mentoring and capacity building opportunities, this action can lead to us burning out. We need adults around us to support our actions and help us be effective”. (WA youth climate activists (10))

Climate Justice Union’s Systemic Advocacy and Collective Care Youth Program developed recommended practices for adults in climate groups to better support young people’s collective action and wellbeing while responding to their diverse needs and safeguarding them from harm, in collaboration with other support systems.

• Structural approach: A critical lens is vital to understand, and confront, the systemic causes of climate change: colonialism, capitalism and patriarchy. This approach resists individualistic and medicalised approaches to mental health, and instead focuses on structural injustices to facilitate collective wellbeing. For example, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples conceptualise mental health as ‘social and emotional wellbeing’. Without a structural approach, projects risk causing further harm and disempowering young people, their families and communities.

Recommendations

Methodologies: Methodologies such as Aboriginal Elder- and community-led participatory action research (PAR) offer opportunities to conduct climate change research and action in collaboration with Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities and young people. Through PAR, young people can develop and implement research questions, methods, actions, and interventions; a best practice approach. As co-researchers, young people can also build individual and collective self-efficacy and resilience, and cope with climate-related stress.

Policies and programs: Policies and programs to support children and young people affected by climate change must address the systemic causes of climate change, while also strengthening the capacity of parents, adults and the youth and mental health sectors to respond to young people experiencing climate change-related stresses. Decolonising our systems must go hand-in-hand with preventing dangerous climate change and supporting mental health, wellbeing, and resilience. As climate impacts worsen, policymakers and services must work with children and young people across cultures to co-design culturally safe and appropriate strategies that support and increase resilience to the psychological impacts of climate change. Interventions must be grounded in the local Country/place, landscapes and culture and be responsive to other local contexts.

Culturally safe clinical and community support frameworks: WA services currently lack an evaluated and culturally safe framework for clinical and community support interventions on climate change-driven mental health issues. Such frameworks should be grounded in Aboriginal science, knowledges and wisdoms, and the best of Western science; and draw on existing knowledge about community organising, community mental health support, promoting community wellbeing and mental wellbeing, activist wellbeing, navigating vicarious trauma and building community connection as protective factors.

Links / Resources

• Co-authored article - Climate change, activism, and supporting the mental health of children and young people: Perspectives from Western Australia.Climate Justice Union WA’s Systemic Advocacy and Collective Care Youth Program report

References

1. Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2021). Census Quick Stats. Available from: https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2021/5 [accessed 25 January 2024].Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety. (2022). Western Australian Mineral and Petroleum Statistics Digest 2021–22. Available from: http://www.dmp.wa.gov.au/Documents/About-Us-Careers/Stats_Digest_2021-22.pdf [accessed 25 January 2024].Bureau of Meteorology. (2024). Climate Classification Maps. Available from: http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/maps/averages/climate-classification/?maptype=tmp_zones [accessed 25 January 2024].CSIRO. (2024). Western Australia’s Changing Climate. Available from: https://www.climatechangeinaustralia.gov.au/en/changing-climate/state-climate-statements/western-australia/ [accessed 25 January 2024].Weeramanthri, T., Joyce, S., Bowman, F., Bangor-Jones, R., & Law, C. (2020). Climate Health WA Inquiry: Final Report. Perth, Australia: Department of Health.Aboriginal Health Council of WA. (2019) Hearing evidence to the Climate Health WA Inquiry. Climate Health WA Inquiry. Available from: https://ww2.health.wa.gov.au/~/media/Files/Corporate/general-documents/Climate-Health-WA-Inquiry/PDF/Transcripts/Aboriginal-Health-Council-WA.pdf [accessed 23 January 2024].Commissioner for Children and Young People. (2021). Speaking Out Survey 2021. The views of WA children and young people on their wellbeing – a summary report. Perth, Australia.McHale, R., Brennan, N., Freeburn, T., Rossetto, A., Richardson, E., Boon, B., & Christie, R. (2023). Youth Survey Report 2023: Western Australian sub-report. Sydney, Australia: Mission Australia.Godden, N.J., Macnish, P., Chakma, T., & Naidu, K. (2020). Feminist participatory action research as a tool for climate justice, Gender & Development, 28: 593–615.Godden, N., Farrant, B., Yallup Farrant, J., Heyink, E., Carot Collins, E., Burgemeister, B., Tabeshfar, M., Barrow, J., West, M., Kieft, J., Rothwell, M., Leviston, Z., Bailey, S., Blaise, M., & Cooper, T. (2021). Climate change, activism, and supporting the mental health of children and young people: Perspectives from Western Australia. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, 57(11): 1759-1764. Climate change, activism, and supporting the mental health of children and young people: Perspectives from Western Australia.Wrigley, K (2022) Climate Justice Union WA’s Systemic Advocacy and Collective Care Youth Program Report. https://climatejusticeunion.org/youth-advocacy-wellbeing

Acknowledgements

Project partners: Strategic Research Centre for People, Place & Planet at Edith Cowan University, Western Australian Association for Mental Health, Youth Affairs Council of Western Australia, Australian National University, Telethon Kids Institute, Healthy Environment and Lives, Climate Justice Union, Ngarlark Katitjin

Contact: Dr Naomi Joy Godden

Centre for People, Place and Planet, Edith Cowan University, Wardandi Boodja (Bunbury)

n.godden@ecu.edu.au

This project is funded by Healthway.