You deserve support, »Yale's Climate Connection

A mother in Kansas City, Missouri was transferred to the operation after the tragedy.

Sami Aaron committed suicide by losing his son Kevin Aaron in 2003. Kevin is an environmentalist, and Aaron says his concerns about the climate crisis and other environmental issues have led to his mental health struggles and feelings of despair.

“I understand sustainability all the time, but I don't know how to sustain myself,” Kevin wrote in one of his journals.

At the time, few people were aware of the mental health effects of climate change, Aaron said. There is little support or resources for activists and others immersed in these issues. Even now, she said, many activists are still stressed, burned out or anxious about the climate situation.

So after her career as a software developer, yoga and meditation teacher after retirement in 2018, Aaron founded Resilience Activist. This is a nonprofit organization that provides tools and resources for climate activists and others to help improve their emotional and mental health They are in a state of crisis. The group hosts speakers and hosts seminars and trainings in person and online – activists can come together to talk about their feelings.

Yale’s climate links talk to Aaron about why activists prioritize their emotional and mental health and some self-care skills are important.

Editor's Note: If you are in a crisis state, you should be supported. You can call, text or chat with Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988, or contact Crisis Text Line by texting 741741. Some crisis lines use police intervention; if this is a problem, this link can provide additional options.

This interview has been edited in length and clarity.

Yale Climate Connection: Introduce me to resilient activists. What's your job?

Sammy Aaron: Our main audience is climate activists and environmental justice activists. Our main vision is to build communities that provide resources for personal self-care and important ecological health. We work closely with the Alliance for Climate Psychiatry, Alliance for Climate Psychology North America and the Network for Climate Mental Health. We provide the Board of Speaking programs. We have workshops that can help activists reassess when they are approaching overwhelming and burnout. And, we have climate cafes monthly to create safe spaces where people share what they are in their hearts and know that no one will keep their eyes open because they are frustrated with something about the environment.

[Earlier this spring, we were at a big climate conference] There are a lot of people out there who are sustainability directors, such as their city or county. And I have heard more than once, like, “I’m so happy to be here. No one works with me and cares about what I want to do. This sense of isolation is common throughout the environmental sector and in people’s families, in their relationships, in the people they have and in the people they work with. So, entering the community is a huge emotional uplift.

We also do a lot of nature-related events in the Greater Kansas City area, because the time spent in nature can be very healing. We work with climate activists who work in land use, who don’t find joy in nature because all they see is invasive species and destruction. Therefore, we have ways to help them gain the benefits of time in nature that will not cause any sadness or trauma they encounter in their daily lives.

YCC: How old are the people who usually attend your events?

Aaron: Very interesting. Until last year, most of our audiences were over 50. Many people are people like me, they have been 10, 20, 30, 40 years, but they still feel this sadness, this isolation and depression. However, over the past year, our board has doubled in size and we have five new members under the age of 35. So we are attracting more and more young audiences to help young people really understand the support there, they are not alone, they are not alone, they are not alone, they are not alone, and they are really promoting their feelings, they have to work hard for their own psychology, they have to work hard for their own psychology, they can provide anything to themselves, and they can provide anything to themselves, and they can provide anything to themselves, and they can provide anything to themselves, and they can provide real effort to them.

YCC: You want people to know why fostering these resilience-building practices is so crucial?

Aaron: Among environmentalists, there is a type called Martyrs Syndrome, which is quite common – thinking that what they need is almost worthless with what is happening around them. There is a feeling, “I don’t need to spend time or energy to get help because there is so much to do.”

[You can think about it this way:] You have a teaspoon of water and that's the energy – that's the work you do. And, you just need to continue pouring out the water, pouring out the water and pouring out the water. Eventually, you have a teapot burning. What we want to stay away from is overwhelming, burnout and isolation.

YCC: Can you describe some different ways in which stress, overwhelming or sadness may show? What ways can people charge themselves and care about?

Aaron: I would go back to my yoga meditation teacher training and put on my hat. We talk about mind, body and spirit.

We start with the body – to make people pay attention to their feelings. So if they are in a tight shoulder situation, with teeth clenching tightly, and stomach clenching, maybe they are suffering from ulcers or some kind of chronic tension problem – this is the first step to note.

Many people live in combat, flight or freezing mode, right? They have been in this state. And the body is not ready for this. The corpse is ready for this in a brief outbreak—like when there is a tiger around you—but not necessarily every day.

Therefore, there are a variety of very excellent practices that can help you restore your body to a relaxed state – breathing exercises, yoga, meditation, tai chi. Take care of the body, breathe, the food you eat – these are all important parts of this elasticity.

About the thought, see how much doom you are doing. Suppose we have 10,000 ideas every day, and 2,000 of them are: “Oh, I think I’ll brush my teeth now”, or “I’m going to wear this dress”, or what… There are 2,000 ideas every day about what you do in your regular daily life. If the remaining 8,000 thoughts are all about wrong, it is sadness, pain, pain, pain and fear, then this is a new way of thinking, without creativity, without self-care and without time or energy. Therefore, we recommend reducing 8,000 to 2,000. You won't put your head on the beach – you can still grasp those issues that really care about you. But, take 6,000 ideas to see what you can do with them, who can connect with, who can get along with.

For the spirit, we do promote the practice of contemplation. There are all kinds of ways to easily be in your mind – get rid of the daily thoughts and reflections that many people experience. So find a teacher, community or group, or even make an agreement with yourself, every Sunday morning you pack your lunch and then blend into nature, sit under your favorite tree and write with your diary. Just take the time to really resonate with what you’re bubbled from the heart, not broadcasting, social media, your emails, your work and more. Just get out of your mind, go inside, go into nature, and find a way to get all ideas so that new ideas, new ways of being, creativity, all of them will come out.

There are many people who don’t know how to determine how they feel about climate change. We have a climate emotional wheel called the climate mental health network. It's just one way people look at the wheel and point out how they feel: “Oh yeah, I feel desperate. I feel betrayed.” At a recent meeting, we asked people, “How does climate change make you feel?” And there are a lot of people who can't overcome the word “anger.” Or they can’t get rid of the word “frustration.”

Many times people are not taught how to recognize their hearts really tell them how they feel. So we encourage people to diary, just free form – to enter a state of meditation. “How do I feel? What does my body tell me? How did I react when I come back from doing an activity? – Am I angry with the dog, or am I happy and happy?”

Then find someone to talk about it. Probably a companion. This could be a mental health professional. It may be someone else in the environmental community. Prevent burnout and overwhelming – If people feel resourced, they will be happy, even outside the scope of environmental activism, they will feel good, and this will happen the only way. This is the only way they can maintain the work they do.