Sustainable minds, sustainable planet
We are a youth mental health charity turning climate emotions into climate action. We help young Australians build emotional resilience in the face of the planetary crisis.
We are a youth mental health charity turning climate emotions into climate action. We help young Australians build emotional resilience in the face of the planetary crisis.
The planetary crisis (climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution) is having a profound impact on the mental health of young Australians. The impact of climate disasters, constant barrage of stories of ecological collapse across social media and the reality of an uncertain climate future is resulting in increased rates of climate anxiety, eco-distress and burnout.
Young people's mental health is especially at risk because they’re most aware of the impacts of climate change, will face these effects the longest, and while considered the key to our planet's future, often lack the power to make change.
We exist to help young Australians process their climate emotions, not only to support their mental health and well-being but also to clear the path for effective climate action.
We are doing this by working with climate mental health practitioners and experts to develop evidence-based awareness campaigns, tools, resources and support networks to help young people care for themselves, each other and the planet.
Climate change and other ecological crises are having a profound impact on the mental health of young Australians.
Provide mental health resources and support networks to help young Aussies identify, process and activate their climate emotions.
We want to increase emotional literacy, reduce stigma and share stories at the intersection between climate change and mental health
In late 2024, alongside a team of researchers, we are releasing a national mental health survey exploring young Australians' experiences, feelings, and mental health and wellbeing needs concerning the climate crisis.
Our aim is to increase climate emotional literacy in Australia by sharing 1,000 young Australians' climate stories.
We provide tools and resources to help young people process their emotions and build resilience in the face of the climate crisis
Our Resource page is an ever evolving collection of incredible tools, resources and organisations that can help young people look after their mental health and wellbeing.
Partnering with climate mental health experts, our goal is to develop a climate mental health program for young people to care for their own and others’ mental health and wellbeing.
We're building community for young people to share their experiences, find solidarity, and build connections with others facing similar challenges
Through our social media channels, we are building a community of like-minded individuals, and providing a platform for young people to share their climate stories.
Our aim is to build IRL communities, through in-person activations and working with Psychology for a Safe Climate to hold more youth peer-to-peer climate cafes.
We empower young people to transform their climate emotions into meaningful action, driving positive change for both their mental health and the planet
We connect young Australians to opportunities to turn their climate emotions into climate action.
Our goal is to embed climate and mental health considerations into national and state climate policy through our advocacy.
We are a group of like-minded volunteers who believe that the key to a sustainable climate future is building climate emotional resilience in young Australians now.
Georgia is a sustainability lawyer and consultant at Sydney-based climate change advisory group Pollination. After herself struggling with the enormity of the climate challenge facing the world, she founded ecomind to help young people take control of their climate emotions by channelling them into climate actions. When she is not actively seeking meaningful ways to have a climate impact, she re-energises through yoga, beach swims and deleting (and re-downloading) her social media.
Veda is a climate and nature consultant and lawyer, with fire in her belly to try to do what she can in work and life address the climate and nature loss crises. Veda grew up on a farm on the South Coast of NSW, and her experience of how climate change already impacting that landscape and community is a huge part of what drives her. She's happiest in Blunstones, planting flowers and revelling in how cool and resilient nature is.
Gus is a dynamic communicator, educator, and advocate, passionate about helping people transform complex emotions into practical actions. He is committed to making lived experience central to the climate conversation, and to ensuring people across Australia are equipped to identify, express, and respond to their climate-related emotions. When he’s not working as an advocate or engineer, you’ll likely find Gus on a rock climbing wall or camped out under the stars in his swag.
Court is a content designer who is deeply driven by purpose. Her passion for preventative mental health education and looking after the environment meant that when ecomind came along, she felt the stars align. Court loves to move in fun ways, immerse herself in the ocean and spend time with her friends and family.
Christie Wilson is a Psychotherapist and Climate and Mental Health Manager at Psychology for a Safe Climate. She specialises in climate psychology, focusing on trauma-informed collaborative approaches to addressing climate-related emotions and wellbeing. As a faculty member of the Climate Emotional Resilience Network, she mentors climate-aware practitioners and leaders, supporting personal climate journeys toward just transitions and movement-wide regenerative development. Christie lives on Darkinjung Country, Central Coast, NSW, where she raised two children, and enjoys exploring wild spaces with her dingo, Skye.
Jess is a passionate advocate when it comes to amplifying the voices of young people. She has worked across a number of policy areas but has a particular passion for raising awareness around intergenerational climate justice and advocating for the rights of young people of all identities. When she’s not busy trying to change the world, Jess can be found spending time with her friends, especially when she’s meant to be working on a uni assignment.
Harri is a science communicator obsessed with the intersection between humans and nature. Trained as an environmental scientist, she became frustrated with the growing divide between public perception and the real world, and the wealth of misinformation about what is, and what isn’t, good for the planet. She now dedicates her work to translating and promoting global issues impacting our environments. She finds solace in identifying birdsong and spending as much time in the ocean as possible.
Mat is a climate technology venture capital investor passionate about finding solutions that address the multi-faceted challenges of the climate crisis. He believes, with a surprising optimism, that education and language to describe climate-emotions will create positive change. In his spare time, Mat can often be found hunting for the perfect baked good.
Dr Chloe Watfern is a maker and researcher with a longstanding interest in ecological emotions, climate distress, and human-nature connections. She is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Black Dog Institute, where she leads the Climate Lab, and a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Ecological Emotions Research Lab at the University of Sydney.
Ans is and experienced interdisciplinary researcher. Originally trained (in Belgium and the Netherlands) as an experimental psychologist and neuroscientist, a decade ago, she followed her heart and packed up her scuba gear to get hands-on conservation experience. She learned about sharks and coral reefs, but even more about people, their resilience and their power to drive positive change for their communities and the natural environment. Today, she uses her research skillset to understand the links between environmental change and human (mental) health and wellbeing. She lives and works on Whadjuk Noongar Country and is a lecturer in psychology at Curtin University where she supervises students branching into environmental and conservation psychology. She still loves scuba diving, but you can equally find her trail running in the hills around Perth.
Julie Souza (she/her) is a climate science communicator that aims to make climate information approachable. Her knowledge is informed by community research which she has been conducting since 2017 with a focus on eco-emotions in young people. Her research has been showcased and/or published at New York University, One Health International Conference with MDPI, and the Journal of Mental Health and Climate Change. Her research informs her work at climate nonprofits and has served Climate Mental Health Network, Filha do Sol, and Seaside Sustainability. She currently serves as the development coordinator at Good Grief Network. In her free time she helps make films more sustainable as an eco-coordinator and collects any zine she can get her hands on!
Infatuated with the reciprocity between wellbeing and connection to the natural environment from an early age, Hailey is a climate communicator/writer/researcher passionate about navigating climate emotions in order to cultivate and sustain transformative climate justice. A recent Columbia Climate School MA graduate, she has led research and communications projects with Urban Ocean Lab, the Climate Imaginations Network, and Time for Better to support positive, creative climate communications initiatives. A catalyst and a collaborator, she is thrilled to support the youth mental health initiatives of ecomind.
Ecomind is benefits from the deep a vibrant and experienced ecosystem of climate mental health professionals.
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of all the lands upon which ECOMIND operates. We recognise that First Nations communities are at the physical and emotional frontline of the climate crisis and have been caring for land, waterways and community for millennia.
Sovereignty has never been ceded. It always was and always will be, Aboriginal land.
ecomind (ABN: 78673469853) is an Australian registered charity