Community and educational mental health interventions
Community and educational approaches include nature-based solutions and climate literacy initiatives. They can help people build resilience and process emotions.
Applies to England
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Topic: health impacts
Part of: Climate change and mental health
Key community and educational mental health interventions resources:
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Community and educational mental health interventions
Community and educational support
Community interventions
Community interventions have been shown to help people process climate-related emotions, build resilience, and enable them to take action. Interventions identified by the climate change and mental health report include:
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climate cafés; safe spaces for people to share and process eco-distress that foster emotional connection and community support
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group activities like citizen science, and nature prescribing (the recommendation to sepnd more time in the natural environment) can reduce post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), grief, and improved emotional regulation
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lay-led programmes; trained non-specialists delivering psychosocial support such as the SOLAR programme in Australia, that can improve PTSD, anxiety, and depression
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community cohesion; strong social networks and local support systems that protect against mental health impacts from extreme weather events like flooding
Educational interventions
The report identified educational approaches that aim to build climate literacy and coping skills, especially among children and young people. Interventions include:
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school-based cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) programmes: delivered after extreme weather events, that have reduced PTSD, anxiety, and depression in children
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climate literacy workshops: community-led sessions that combine emotional processing with collective action that have shown promise in reducing anxiety and increasing purpose
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youth-focused initiatives like The Sustainables Academy and Force of Nature that help young people understand climate change while supporting mental wellbeing and instilling a sense of purpose
Evidence limitations
The report has identified limitations in the evidence on community and educational interventions including:
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limited UK-specific evidence for interventions - most studies have taken place in Australia, Canada and USA
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short-term focus - there is little data on long-term outcomes (effects) or how to maintain benefits
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some groups are under-represented - at risk populations such as ethnic minorities, disabled people and rural communities are rarely included or assessed
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limited co-design - few interventions are produced together with communities or young people; peer-led approaches are lacking
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unclear mechanisms - studies often don’t explain how or why interventions work
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mixed results for educational interventions - climate literacy programmes show inconsistent impacts on wellbeing
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no data on cost-effectiveness - economic evaluations are missing so cannot influence policy