CLIMATE ANXIETY ... what it is, how it's growing and how to manage it ...

FREE speaker meeting and Q&A for all ages

Presented by: Muswell Hill Sustainability Group

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0	LONDON: Muswell Hill Methodist Church
P	Monday 2nd March, 2026
N	7:15pm

Event information

If news reports of rising temperatures, melting ice caps, or forest fires fill you with dread and anxiety, you aren’t alone. You might be experiencing ‘climate anxiety’, and while it is a relatively new term, it’s on the rise and particularly affects young people.

We are bringing together an exceptional panel of speakers to unpick the facts, the stats, offer advice and inspirational stories on how to identify, manage, discuss and leverage the associate feelings of fear, hopelessness, , disempowerment, anger, frustration ... and the rest.

This is an evening for all, from the young generation that are statistically most affected by eco-anxiety, to parents and carers looking to understand and support, to mental health and education professionals ... and everyone in between.

THE PANEL ...
Listen to talks from a stellar line-up of experts and join in the Q&A afterwards with::

CAROLINE HICKMAN - Psychotherapist, University of Bath teaching fellow, writer, leading psychosocial researcher on climate change.

Caroline will bring her immense body of experience, research and knowledge to discussing the impact of Climate Anxiety specifically on children and young people.

She has a background in mental health & child protection social work. She is an integrative psychotherapist and lecturer in social work at the University of Bath, researching children and young people’s emotional responses to climate change in the UK, Brazil, The Maldives, Nigeria & USA for 10 years examining eco- anxiety & distress, eco-empathy, trauma, moral injury, and the impact of climate anxiety on relationships. She was also co- lead author on a 2021 quantitative global study into 10,000 children & young people’s emotions & thoughts about climate change published in The Lancet Planetary Health.

SUE HEAP - Climate activist, grandmother, member of the Climate Psychology Alliance and Psychotherapist.

Sue will be sharing her own coping strategies and reporting back on "Breaking Boundaries - Planet, Mind & Action", a landmark Royal College of Psychiatry conference, which on Feb 27th, which will update on the Climate & Ecological Emergency Bill (CEE) and it's wide reaching impacts on mental health.

AMY MEEK - co-founder of the award-winning plastic waste, youth-led campaign and now global charity, Kids Against Plastic (KAP), which she set up with her sister Ella Meek when they were just 10 and 12 years old. KAP has a bold vision – to empower young people to become agents of change on environmental issues close to their hearts, all while building essential skills and confidences for their futures.

Through her work, Amy has spoken to young people around the world, ministers in all three Parliaments in Great Britain, business conferences internationally from Seoul to Barcelona, and diplomats and young people at the UN Headquarters in Geneva. She is also a two-time TEDx speaker, speaking firstly at TEDx Exeter alongside her sister in 2018, and most recently at TEDx Geneva 2021. Amy and her sister have been recognised for their charity with the Prime Minister’s Points of Light Award and the Pride of Britain 2021 Green Champion Award.

Amy will be focussing on how we can turn eco-anxiety in young people into tangible action pathways for them: "a lot of eco-anxiety stems from a feeling of helplessness in young people, and so putting the power back in their hands to make a difference is a powerful and effective way that we've found to combat it through our charity (both from my personal experience and the young people that we work with). I'll also touch on the role that all generations can play in helping to combat this issue, and how we can support the young people in our lives to feel equipped and empowered to take action for the planet no matter their age."

ARE YOU AN ECO-WORRIER ...?
With the help of psychotherapist Sue Heap, we have put together an ECO-WORRIERS questionnaire, which we invite you to fill in in advance (https://tinyurl.com/yxukf3jf). It's anonymous, suitable for all ages, takes no more than 5 minutes and will inform the evening.

THE FACTS ... (Office of National Statistics survey, 2022)
3/4 of UK adults admit to eco-anxiety
2/3 of secondary school children report associated mental health problems
4/5 primary school children worry about the effects of climate change

... It’s time to talk ...

JOIN US ...
Book your FREE tickets here, and join us for an evening of information, debate and inspiration, or find it LIVE STREAMED, and available to watch live or after the event, at the @mh-sustainability-group YOUTUBE channel: https://youtube.com/live/po9LhS62uxs?feature=share