18-3 Psychological Resources in the Age of Gobal Warming: Guidance for Geoscience Professionals to Understand the Psychological Distress Created by Climate Change and Mitigate Mental Distress.

Session: Shaping a Sustainable Future with Geology in the Twenty-First Century: Geology and Society Division Turns 22

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Researchers and educators in the field of geoscience may benefit from guidance from the American Psychological and Psychiatric Society that is aimed to prepare psychologists, psychiatrists, and mental health providers to address the impact on mental health resulting from climate change. Both organizations acknowledge climate change as a major contributing factor for mental distress, trauma, and anxiety, especially for vulnerable populations. Dr Barnum, who instructs trauma resolution and crisis intervention at The University of Oklahoma Clinical Mental Health Counseling program, highlights resources to support geoscientists professionals, teachers, and students to address the mental health consequences of climate change.  Despite controversial positions concerning global warming and environmental changes, this crisis presents a unique opportunity for the geoscience and psychological community to collaborate and for geoscience professionals to be supported in an issue that has psychological consequences for all humanity.   

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program. Vol. 57, No. 6, 2025

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-5082

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