Climate Anxiety Outreach

Climate confidence: From anxiety to action

Classroom-based workshop giving young people the skills to talk about and take action on climate change, promoting mental wellbeing and emotional resilience.

Students will understand the science of climate change, its causes and impacts then engage in group discussions around how this makes them feel, identifying their emotions and coming up with coping strategies for resilience and wellbeing. Students will also understand what it takes to be an effective changemaker and empower them towards action. Finally, we will reflect on the session content by creating zines – using art to respond to climate anxiety.

Learning Objectives:

• To understand the science of climate change
• To strengthen students’ connection with themselves, the Earth and their emotions, to reduce anxiety, and to help people deal with tricky emotions especially in connection with climate change
• To use art and creativity as a positive way to respond to and process difficult emotions
• To understand how they can get involved in local climate action initiatives

National curriculum links

PHSE

• How to talk about emotions accurately and sensitively, using appropriate vocabulary.
• Promote a range of strategies – cognitive and practical – for promoting their own emotional wellbeing, for avoiding negative thinking and for ways of managing mental health concerns

KS3 Citizenship

• The roles played by public institutions and voluntary groups in society, and the ways in which citizens work together to improve their communities, including opportunities to participate in school-based activities

KS4 Citizenship

• The different ways in which a citizen can contribute to the improvement of their community, to include the opportunity to participate actively in community volunteering, as well as other forms of responsible activity