Counselling and Climate Change: Unprecedented planetary climate change and environmental degradation are creating stress, anxiety, anger, depression and trauma for people around the world. Higher temperatures, and more frequent and intense weather events, all correlate with worsened mental health. Levels of stress differ depending on circumstances, environment and views/perspectives. For example, some people fear what they now see happening, and others worry about what is to come. IAC believes that it is important to have a unified global response from the counselling profession.

IAC is currently consulting with two national counselling associations about a global climate counselling project. The initial discussion is focusing on what counselling -- as a unified profession -- can do about it and is likely to involve the development of a detailed global Climate Counselling policy and a practical toolkit/guidelines for therapists worldwide. Importantly, this project will be carried out in consultation with all national counselling associations worldwide and individual members will also be invited to input and make recommendations. We look forward to sharing more details of this ethically imperative project in early 2024.

Please contact IAC CEO, Naoise Kelly, with any related enquiries: ceo@iac-irtac.org