Peggy & Lea from For Their Future in Yukon have been busy organizing a series of Climate Cafes for their community, as a way to bring people together and explore the mental health impacts of climate change and how to stay resilient. This is incredibly important in a Northern region, seeing a rapid acceleration of climate impacts.
They designed their cafe based on templates and models from the Climate Psychology Alliance of North America, bringing together small groups of participants, supporting them as volunteer facilitators, and holding the cafes at Peggy’s house. After learning of interest in their work from the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Yukon, they met, revised their template and added important new sections to the model, including mindfulness exercises and tools to bolster mental health and resilience in the face of the climate crisis.
Getty Images
They’re very excited that this work will expand in 2024, in collaboration with the CMHA Yukon, who will provide two additional facilitators and help with the costs of running the cafes. This will allow them to open up the experience to more participants and larger groups.
The team has also shared their initial facilitation guide with For Our Kids Alberta, who has run a similar series of Climate Cafes in partnership with the Camrose Library. And any other parents or climate organizers interested to learn from their guide, please get in touch with For Our Kids and we’ll connect you: [email protected].
Here is the link to Peggy and Lea’s CBC North radio interview about their work, which aired on January 22, 2024. https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-206-midday-cafe/clip/16036990-yukoners-create-opportunity-discuss-emotional-impact-climate-change
