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Youth Mental Health and the Climate Crisis

This webinar was held on February 11, 2025

Access the recording of the session HERE

*This enduring material is eligible for Continuing Nursing Education (CNE) credits!

Description:

Climate change has profound and escalating consequences for all aspects of human health, including our mental health and emotional well-being. In this webinar we will learn about how climate change is harming mental health, the reasons why children and youth are disproportionately vulnerable, and the emerging data on strategies for prevention and resilience. We will also consider how adults – including caregivers, educators, health professionals and researchers – might take action.

Objectives:

• Outline the pathways through which climate change harms mental health, and how each pathway disproportionately affects youth.
• Recognize that while all young people are at increased risk compared to adults, youth risk is unevenly distributed due to racism and other structural inequities.
• Describe emerging models for interventions targeting climate-related mental health.
• Discuss knowledge and care gaps to improve research priorities and clinical support for children affected by the mental health impacts of climate change.
• Identify ways to support youth through research, clinical practice, community outreach, or daily life

Bio: 

Elizabeth Pinsky, MD

Assistant Professor Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; Associate Director for Advocacy, Mass General

Elizabeth Pinsky is a child and adolescent psychiatrist and pediatrician and works on the Child Psychiatry Consultation Services at Massachusetts General Hospital and Shriners Children’s Hospital Boston. Her clinical interests focus on the intersection of child mental and physical health, including medical trauma and psychiatric care for medically complex children.    Dr. Pinsky believes that climate change poses the most urgent threat to children at the intersection of physical and mental health, and that clinicians caring for children must advocate for a rapid and just transition off fossil fuels. She serves as the Associate Director for Advocacy at the MGH Center for Environment and Health and is also a founding member of Climate Code Blue, a Boston-area climate action group for health professionals.

*Continuing Nursing Education (CNE) Credits

This enduring material is eligible for Continuing Nursing Education (CNE) credits accredited by the Emory Nursing Professional Development Center (ENPDC). To receive 1.0 contact hour please complete this evaluation after watching the webinar.

Please expect a wait time of at least 5-7 business days after completion of the survey for a follow-up email with proof of contact hours. For questions, please email sophia.lamb@emory.edu.