2023 – The Gatherings – A series of three events run jointly by the Division of Clinical Psychology South West and the BPS South West Branch

Note from the branch committee

It's probably a bit of an understatement to say that we live in complex and disturbing times, where climate change is no longer a distant threat, wars are raging in many parts of the world, the geopolitical scene is increasingly complex and the systems that inform and govern our lives are relentlessly influenced by the never-ending pursuit of economic growth.  

All of this is impacting the sustainability of our home, this wonderful planet and inevitably, societal values as well as individual and collective safety and psychological wellbeing are also casualties. 

Over the last three decades, individuals have been considering their own response to these challenges but now collective action is on the rise, both in terms of individual citizens coming together to take action but also now professional groups are speaking out in an attempt to influence government and organisational responses to these existential challenges.   

What does this mean for us, as individual psychologists and as a profession? What is our role here?  How can we find our voices and be part of the solution to address these interconnected challenges and contribute to positive change? 

A quick wander through the web pages of the British Psychological Society's (BPS) website shows the many groups that have emerged from different parts of the Society, including the Climate and Environmental Action Co-ordinating Group (CEAC), all looking at climate change and related issues through the different lenses of psychology.  

In 2019, the Climate Coaching Alliance was formed and now provides a global space for the many psychologists who work as coaches in different organisations to come together and share resources and gain support, both professionally and emotionally. There is also a movement supporting the creation of a BPS Section of Environmental Psychology.

Back in March 2023, The Psychologist featured articles covering the application of research and theory to social policy, as well as how to have impact outside the world of academia, and most recently, in December 2023, the BPS released its own positioning statement on 'The Climate and the Ecological Crisis'. In that statement, the BPS pledges to 'review its own practices to address the crisis, supporting psychologists to contribute to climate & ecological crisis mitigation and adaptation.' 

So the scene is set, the platform for change is being built.  How can we accelerate the building of that platform and how can we leverage it?  Here in the South West, thanks to the sheer passion and unstinting enthusiasm of a group of volunteers, a fabulously collaborative series of events was hosted across the region. 

Read on to find out how the Division of Clinical Psychology (DCP) South West Branch and the BPS South West Branch came together to provide three events packed with highly relevant content delivered by engaging speakers and covering issues that are close to all of our hearts as well as central to much of our work as we support our clients, whoever they are.  

On behalf of the South West Branch committee I would like to thank Angie Carter (retired SW Branch chair), Annie Mitchell, Tony Wainwright, Steve Heigham, Lisa Thorne and Laila Jamil, as well as all the fantastic speakers listed below who gave their time to offer up these events for us. 

Thank you also to those of you who attended and shared your thoughts, ideas and support. I was incredibly moved and felt wonderfully supported as I explored my own thoughts and ideas during the final event in December.  

As psychologists, regardless of our field or the nature of our work, we are all well placed to communicate complex issues effectively, to contribute valuable insights through research, to develop and implement interventions and to nurture an environmentally conscious mindset in current and future generations.  

Read on for inspiration to contribute towards building an environmentally and psychologically responsible society. 

Anne-Marie Rowson

Co-chair, BPS SW Branch

Article

During 2023, the British Psychological Society (BPS) South West Branch and the Division of Clinical Psychology (DCP) South West Branch collaborated on a series of events connecting three issues: poverty, homelessness and intergenerational justice, exploring how these relate to psychology and the climate and environmental crisis. 

During this time the BPS published a position statement which clearly set out the society's commitment to taking action, recognising the existential threat we face.

Below we present brief summaries of key points and links to the material presented at each of the three events; we hope you will find these useful in taking personal, professional and political action yourselves.

As social work professor Avril Butler conveyed in her talk for our second event: there is always something we can do.

The direct evidence of local extreme weather on our final day brought home the urgency of the predicament, but together we had had our imaginations ignited by our attention to the voices and concerns and hopes of children, students, and trainees.

Together we generated visions of how new psychologists may support future planetary health.

Overall, the three events emphasised how important it is for us all to get involved in assertive advocacy. 

Introduction

Imagine a world in which we listened more carefully to those with the quietest voices, in which good psychology helped shift our collective concern to the wellbeing of our descendants of seven generations hence, and in which we laughed and cried, thought and acted together, irrespective of our identities and individual interests.

As we write up this account of our BPS/DCP South West 2023 series of events on social justice and climate harm, we witness the birth of the new year with trepidation.

2024 looks set to be a year of seismic political volatility in the UK and globally. We know that we cannot, and must not, continue with business as usual: our psychologies, our mindsets, our dominant culture, business and politics have to change, and change fast, if we humans are to survive into the future with any semblance of health and wellbeing.

Our series of events were designed to be part of a shift in which psychology contributes to a better world of participation, fairness, justice and restoration.   

Heeding the concerns and inspirations of quieter voices, especially younger voices (and those of grandparents too) does not mean abandoning the rigour and enlightenment (through attention to reality and truth) that good science brings. Far from it.

It is vital that we stay sceptical, entertain our doubts, persist with reality checks, and maintain our immunity to misinformation, while also understanding the complex values and challenges of our emotional engagement with the challenges we face.

The cognitive scientist and child development psychologist Alison Gopnik observes and researches the devotion to curiosity, learning, exploration and dissent displayed by babies, children and adolescents (as well as the ways that  grandparents can facilitate playful creativity through non-instrumental care and storytelling).

She concluded in The Philosophical Baby (2009):

"Children are not just our future because they carry our genes. For human beings, in particular, our sense of who we are, both as individuals and as a group, is intimately tied to where we come from and where we're going, to our past and our future.

The human capacity for change means we can't figure out what it is to be human just by looking at the way we are now.

We need instead to peer forward into the vast ramifying space of human possibilities. The explorers we see out there at the farthest edge look very much like our children."  

Background

Globally we have seen the impact of the disruption to the climate and environmental systems underlying our weather, and the impact these have on communities that have contributed least to the causes of the harms.

The three gathering events explored the role psychologists can play in challenging inequality and in supporting those who are experiencing hardship through poverty and homelessness.

We also addressed another central issue: the world we leave behind for young people today and future generations depends critically on what has been described by the United Nations as urgent social transformation.

That there is currently little sign of this transformation shows we must redouble our efforts to prevent the worst impacts of climate change and to find ways to respond to the damaging effects we are seeing now and which are rapidly coming down the line towards us.

Children and young people, everyone living in poverty, those who are rendered homeless, those who have suffered from the impacts of colonialism, people with long-term health conditions, and those with physical and intellectual disabilities are, as is inevitably the case in an unequal world, most immediately vulnerable in facing the various impacts of climate change.

This includes extreme weather events, flooding, excess heat, air pollution, fuel poverty, the threat of future shocks and all the associated traumas. Yet they are the least well-resourced to take action.

Recognising the unfairnesses of the system as it stands, emerging research shows how vital it is that we shift away from an emphasis on individual behaviour change and towards structural changes and equality, with co-benefits in terms of, for example, well protected environments, stronger community engagement, respect for indigenous and expert-by-experience wisdoms, improved well-insulated safe housing for all, accessible public transport, clean air, healthier plant-based diets, honest media reporting and stronger participatory democracies.

Meanwhile, climate change is causing massively increased death and suffering. The World Health Organisation anticipates there will be a quarter of a million extra deaths per year between 2025 and 2030 from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea, and heat stress.

Research by our colleagues at the University of Bath has had a global impact in conveying the huge level of concern and sense of abandonment and betrayal experienced by children and young people across the world in realising the uncertain and damaged future they face.

Citizens, politicians and business leaders increasingly recognise that climate and ecological harm present a serious threat to human health and wellbeing, as well as to that of all the other species with whom we co-exist.

Perhaps we are reaching a tipping point in social engagement with our predicament, as the consequences are becoming impossible to ignore: our gathering events took place during the hottest year ever recorded as well as on one of the wettest days of the year.

We psychologists have personal and professional responsibilities to face these threats (while recognising the huge emotional and cognitive load in doing so).

We also, more positively, must share ideas, stories, knowledge and inspiration to support the individual and systemic changes that could lead to better and fairer lives through preventing and mitigating climate harm.

Concluding remarks

At the BPS Conference in Brighton in 2023, Serdar M. Değirmencioğlu's keynote presentation underlined the way in which psychologists have ignored some of the most uncomfortable facts about the causes of the climate and environmental crisis including the commitment of many countries to militarism.

Our series of events didn't cover this and we need to return to it. We appear to be entering a phase of international relations where war and military conflict are on the rise once again. There is increased talk of rearmament and the threat of nuclear war has never been so real.

These three events emphasised how important it is for us all to get involved in assertive advocacy. Samuel Finnerty's recent article in The Psychologist "Responding to the climate crisis: opportunities and challenges around activism" sets out some ideas about how all of us can get on the right side of history and engage actively in many different ways to oppose policies that lead to harm and to find ways to support those most severely affected.