“It's Hard to Give Hope Sometimes”: Climate Change, Mental Health, and the Challenges for Mental Health Professionals

Abstract

Mental health professionals (MHPs) are on the frontlines of assisting clients with mental health impacts of climate change (CC), yet challenges to their practice and required resources have not been adequately explored. A cross-sectional online knowledge, attitudes and practice (KAP) survey was conducted with active, licensed MHPs across the State of Minnesota (n = 517). Fifty-four questions were divided into sections on socio-demographics, knowledge and attitudes, familiarity with emerging terminology, practice behaviors and experiences, and needs for professional resources and training. Most MHPs agreed that CC is an important problem impacting mental health (81.6%), with many (61.0%) already observing these impacts. More than half (51.8%) report that clients would consider discussing CC as part of their treatment. Yet fewer (32.9%) feel well-prepared to have this discussion. A small proportion of MHPs are familiar with resources to assist with assessment (15.0%) and treatment (18.3%), but only 10.2% have made use of these tools with their clients. Results from this comprehensive survey underscore the need for interdisciplinary research and practice communities to design and implement assessment, intervention, and evaluation tools that address the broad impacts of CC on help-seeking clients.