Stronger, faster action on climate change needed to protect mental health

Published: Wednesday, May 14, 2025

An event held today by the Women’s Mental Health Network, a joint initiative from the National Women’s Council and St Patrick’s Mental Health Services, has reinforced the profound implications of climate change for mental health, with a special focus on women’s mental health. Speakers at the event highlighted the vital message that stronger, faster action to protect our environment and climate is essential to protect mental health.

Climate change has growing and serious consequences for women’s mental health and wellbeing, from the earliest stages of development to later life.  Exposure to extreme weather events which Ireland will see more of, such as floods, can lead to mental health impacts persisting far beyond the event itself.

 The most recent 2024 Lancet study looking at climate change and health in Europe found that extreme weather events can trigger PTSD, major depressive disorders, anxiety, depression, grief, and recovery fatigue. Women, children, older people, marginalised communities, and migrants were identified as among the most at risk. The report also highlighted that heat-related mortality across Europe was twice as high in women compared to men, and that pregnant women tend to be more severely affected by climate-related health impacts. Yet the profound impacts of climate change on mental health, and the implications for marginalised groups, are at present, not sufficiently recognised or responded to.

Young people, in particular, are very concerned by the climate crisis, with surveys by Eco-UNESCO showing high rates of anxiety, stress, and fear about their future. This has led to increased levels of anxiety and depression among youth, underscoring the urgent need for climate action, climate justice and mental health support.

Recognising the need for shared learning and effective responses to an urgent and often overlooked topic, the Women’s Mental Health Network today hosted ‘From Challenge to Change: The Climate Crisis and Women’s Mental Health’, which brought together health and climate professionals, experts by experience and others with a special interest in women’s mental health. Speakers at the event highlighted the need for more attention within public policy to the mental health impacts of climate change, including for women who are already affected by health or other inequalities, and for greater conversation and understanding about climate and mental health. Climate change needs to be integrated into mental health policy, and mental health needs to be integrated into climate change policy.

Presenting the key findings of the health chapter of the Feminist Communities for Climate Justice (FCCJ) report, Vanessa Conroy, Project Officer with FCCJ said,

“Climate-related health impacts are expected to worsen worldwide, affecting billions of people, overwhelming health services, and worsening the health and wellbeing of vulnerable and marginalised communities. The Feminist Communities for Climate Justice project seeks to highlight the particular impacts of climate change on these groups, especially older people, women and low-income communities. It is vital that the national mental health strategy and climate action plan prioritise and invest in healthy communities and wellbeing for all. But so far, it appears as though there is no joined up thinking by Government.”

Louise O’Leary, Advocacy Manager at St Patrick’s Mental Health Services and a founding member of the Women’s Mental Health Network, said: “Having more open and informed conversations about climate change and how it can impact our mental health is vital if we are to meet the challenges it poses. We’re increasingly learning of the profound consequences of climate change for mental health across all ages and of its gendered impacts. But crucially we also know meaningful wide scale climate action, like ensuring clean air and access to all for safe walking, wheeling and cycling, will help protect mental health. Research indicates too that collective climate action can serve as an empowering way for people to respond to the rational feelings of distress, anxiety or overwhelm many of us have when considering the realities of the climate crisis.”

Speakers at the included, Dr Marica Cassarino, Environmental Psychologist, University College, and Secretary of Psychological Society of Ireland Special Interest Group (PSI SIG) Climate; Dr Amy Brogan, Senior Clinical Psychologist and member of PSI SIG Climate; Dr Liam MacGabhann, DCU Recovery College and Elena Manciu, Roma Climate Justice Peer Education Worker, Cairde.

The event will also feature a climate café – an inclusive space to talk about climate action – and a nature based sensory activity by Dr Sinead O'Connor, Head of Social and Therapeutic Horticulture and Sustainability Services, Festina Lente Enterprises.