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Climate group addresses ‘eco-anxiety’ among next generation of lawyers
As part of its new internal initiative, young person-led climate change organisation GreenLaw has developed a program that allows its young members to safely discuss the emotions and burnout that can come with working closely on the climate crisis.
Naomi Neilson
The aspiring young lawyers behind GreenLaw, who are often working on important research around climate change, can often be exposed to the “eco-anxiety” that comes with being involved with such heavy topics. To combat the burnout from “the doom and gloom”, the organisation has rolled out a vital wellbeing program.
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GreenLaw’s head of community, Emma Bryant, recently appeared on The Protégé Podcast to discuss the program, which, in addition to the Thunderstone Aboriginal Culture Services on-country tours, includes guided sessions with a psychotherapist. These meetings “put into words the things we are feeling and validates” them.
“I think there’s something to be said about knowing other people are feeling the same way,” Ms Bryant said. “When you’re starting to feel burnt out, it’s really easy to look at people and think to yourself, ‘Oh, they’re not burning out. I’m not good enough to be in this space. I’m just going to drop off now’. But when you can see other people are struggling with the same things, you can work together to overcome that.”
In online sessions, GreenLaw members can talk through their emotions and the anxieties that are coming out of the climate crisis with an expert in the field. Ms Bryant explained that the members would share their experiences and are then given coping mechanisms to deal with those feelings of stress and anxiety.
Ms Bryant said it’s been a “very reflective process” that has made them think about the way that climate change impacts different people. In particular, it “became quite a consideration” of how each of their projects also impacts the community.
“The impact that we’re seeing from the program has been really evident. It’s been one of the key considerations that we wanted from the project, that it wasn’t just a session you could come to once a semester or every month,” she said.
“We really wanted to permeate it and inform our behaviour as an organisation in all the projects that we do. We found that members who do come to the sessions have implemented a culture of compassion in the way they deal with the projects as well.”
For more on the programs, Emma’s work in the organisation and GreenLaw as a whole, have a listen to the episode here!
