This blog is reposted from the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation, here.

By David Southgate, Climigration Network Council & Next Step Cohort Member

As the climate crisis intensifies, it is time to recognize the emotional and psychological toll on communities facing the brunt of these impacts. Environmental challenges, from rising sea levels and extreme weather to pollution and resource depletion, affect physical and psychological health. These impacts include extreme anxiety, depression, suicide, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (U.S. GCRP, 2016, 2018). We are learning that socially vulnerable communities are the most emotionally affected (Walinski et al, 2023). Trauma studies link severe emotional distress to digestive and  cardiovascular health, as well as to chronic pain. 

Trauma is generally so misunderstood that it’s common to hear people wrongly exclaim that missing the bus or getting a poor haircut has traumatized them. Trauma is nothing to laugh about.  Events that are so stressful can cause one to see the world as a dangerous place, which in turn can result in intrusive thoughts, loss of trust, and debilitating anxiety (Robinson et al.,  2024).

For already disadvantaged communities, structural barriers such as poverty and language differences, limited access to mental health resources, and cultural stigma make obtaining help a real challenge. Moreover, there’s a gap in knowledge about how leaders in distressed communities cope emotionally with climate disasters (Everett et al., 2020). For frontline community leaders—neighbors like me who are actively working within climate-affected communities—addressing environmental crises can take an emotional toll.  

Among the places I am embedded as a community-based participatory action researcher is a Community of Practice (CoP). About 12 community leaders have been meeting on Zoom regularly for over two years.   Folks hail from various backgrounds and geographies, including Indigenous community leaders from South Central U.S., African-American leaders in urban regions of the Southern U.S., and non-Hispanic white leaders from the rural Midwest. The Climigration Network convenes us and my colleague Camille Hadley of Little Growers Inc. masterfully guides our bi-monthly discussions.

We have come to understand that our hyper-local efforts to confront environmental injustices, protect our neighborhoods, and drive collective resilience often expose us to high levels of stress and emotional exhaustion. This led to us collectively agreeing to do a deep dive into our recorded conversations, with the goal to eke out common stressors, identify how they manifest, and spot the ways we are all coping. 

With partners Buy-In and the Climigration Network, we wrote a winning grant with the Department of Health and Human Services’ Environmental Justice Community Innovator Challenge and launched an exploratory study to answer the following questions: what are the emotional stressors and adaptive coping mechanisms for community leaders exposed to climate and environmental traumas? 

I provided the research framework drawing on an observational protocol (Creswell, 2007, p. 137), a grounded theory approach (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Strauss and Corbin, 1990, 1996; and Charmaz, 2006) and a co-production method for theory building (Eisenhardt, 1986). The Climigration Network helped with getting informed consent from the CoP participants. I trained Camille in qualitative thematic analysis, and we got to work co-interpreting the texts of CoP recorded discussions. 

The study had two key findings: 

• Frontline community leaders deal with constant emotional stressors as they battle oppressive systems to bring resources to their communities. 

• Many of these same leaders heal their own and their community’s emotional traumas through collective action. 

The Impact of Burnout and Trauma on Frontline Leaders

Burnout, a state of chronic physical and emotional exhaustion, shows up in several ways among these leaders. Many reported feeling overwhelmed by the enormity of the tasks at hand. Emotional and physical exhaustion, skepticism about progress, and even thoughts of giving up were the stressors most mentioned. This type of burnout is exacerbated by the deeply personal nature of the work: leaders are not only responding to environmental crises on behalf of their communities but are dealing with their climate-distressed households. This overlap of personal and professional creates a continuous cycle of stress, in which leaders may feel inadequate or question whether they are doing “enough,” despite their considerable efforts.

We can never do enough.

Feelings of burnout can sometimes stem from what leaders perceive as implicit institutional oppression. When community leaders identify systemic issues—such as environmental injustices, racism, and misuse of public funds—they often face institutional pushback or resistance. For example, leaders have reported experiences of aggression from those in power, feelings of isolation from authorities or peers, and a deep sense of betrayal by systems meant to protect them. These factors compound the existing mental health strain by creating an environment in which leaders feel unsupported, ignored, or even sabotaged in their work.

Building Resilience Through Support Networks

A key finding from the study highlighted the power of support networks in fostering resilience. The CoP members connecting with others who share similar experiences has created a sense of solidarity and understanding that is otherwise hard to find. Support networks offer emotional relief and practical advice on coping strategies, which leaders can adopt or adapt to better manage their own stress. Through our CoP, for instance, leaders share their knowledge about funding and technical resources for climate adaptation. But we also are vulnerable with each other, offering coping tools through these informal peer conversations. Through these exchanges, leaders can build their own emotional resilience, an essential aspect of sustaining their work.

Speaking from my own experience as a community leader in Puerto Rico, I found strength in a collective of local leaders with shared lived experiences following the emotional trauma of Hurricane Maria. This community-based support through collective action has brought camaraderie and healing. It also propelled me to pursue graduate studies. Support networks such as the CoP may be instrumental in helping leaders push through difficult moments, remain motivated in their fight for environmental justice, and even experience personal transformative growth.  

The Role of Institutional Support in Combating Burnout

To truly address the mental health needs of community leaders, our overburdened public health systems would be wise to acknowledge that there are insufficient numbers of medical professionals to handle the vast societal angst as climate destruction accelerates. What would it take to actively support emergent and radical community-born mental health practices?

While the mental health field is inarguably invaluable, it’s also deeply rooted in extractive capitalism, a system of medicalization, pill-popping, labor extraction, and use value. Systemic change is essential. Institutions could start by offering funding and resources to neighborhood leaders, thus ensuring they have the necessary tools to handle the stress that comes with their work, much of which is unpaid.

Furthermore, transparency in funding, fair allocation of resources, and institutional accountability play a crucial role in reducing feelings of betrayal and frustration among leaders. By implementing clear and equitable systems, institutions can show that they value and support the work of frontline leaders. A focus on mental health and resilience-building programs within environmental justice initiatives could transform the experiences of leaders and, by extension, the communities they serve.

Key Practical Strategies for Coping with Climate Trauma

Our group’s study provides evidence that peer support and spontaneous mutual aid, an active form of altruism, are common practices among CoP members. A handful of CoP  members repeatedly shared that peer support coupled with their local advocacy shifted their belief systems and subsequently their decisions for pursuing positive life-altering changes, such as deciding to migrate to safer places. Is this a manifestation of post-traumatic growth that sometimes occurs after trauma? We are looking into that. 

No less important to maintaining emotional balance are practices such as mindfulness, expressing appreciation, and recognizing personal limits by accepting help or even taking a nap. These are all also practices we are cultivating. 

Moving Forward

The climate crisis is a collective issue, and the associated trauma has far reaching implications for communities everywhere, even in those deemed climate havens, such as Asheville, North Carolina, gutted by Hurricane Helene. 

The findings of our little study underscore the importance of support networks, institutional accountability, and practical coping strategies for frontline community leaders. Ensuring that these environmental and neighborhood activists can sustain their efforts is part of the larger fight for environmental justice.