Table Of ContentPREVENTING AND
HEALING CLIMATE
TRAUMAS
Using extensive research, interviews with program leaders, and examples, Preventing and
Healing Climate Traumas is a step- by- step guide for organizing community- based, culturally
tailored, population- level mental wellness and resilience- building initiatives to prevent and
heal individual and collective climate traumas.
This book describes how to use a public health approach to build universal capacity
for mental wellness and transformational resilience by engaging community members in
building robust social support networks, making a just transition by regenerating local
physical/ built, economic, and ecological systems, learning how trauma and toxic stress can
affect their body, mind, and emotions as well as age and culturally tailored mental wellness
and resilience skills, and organizing group and community- minded events that help residents
heal their traumas. These actions build community cohesion and efficacy as residents also
engage in solutions to the climate emergency.
This book is essential reading for grassroots, civic, non- profit, private, and public sector
mental health, human services, disaster management, climate, faith, education, and other
professionals, as well as members of the public concerned about these issues. Readers will
come away from this book with practical m ethods— based on r eal- world examples— that
they can use to organize and facilitate c ommunity- based initiatives that prevent and heal
mental health and psycho- social- s piritual problems and reduce contributions to the climate
crisis.
Bob Doppelt coordinates the International Transformational Resilience Coalition (I TRC),
a global network working to prevent and heal the mental health and p sycho- social- spiritual
problems generated by the climate emergency.
“The health of our planet is inherently connected to our well-being. Preventing climate trauma
and supporting holistic healing and resilience in the ways that our diverse communities interact
with the stresses of climate change is quickly becoming one of the biggest challenges of our
generation. Bob Doppelt’s new book offers an essential blueprint towards building a healthier
future in the places where we live.”
Antonis Kousoulis, director for England and Wales,
Mental Health Foundation, UK
“The world is beginning to experience an epidemic of climate change-related mental and emo-
tional distress that, regrettably, is likely to become a pandemic. Developing community-based
approaches to promoting mental and emotional resilience in the face of climate change is one
of humanity’s most pressing imperatives. In this book, one of the world’s leading experts, Bob
Doppelt, shares his deep insights into how we rise to this challenge.”
Edward Maibach, MPH, PhD, Distinguished University Professor and director of
the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication
“I strongly encourage everyone to read this wonderful book because it emphasizes the impor-
tance and the magic of community work. It is about time we evolve from individualistic models
of mental health care that focus on what is wrong with a person. The teachings this book pro-
vides will help us, our loved ones, and our communities face the climate change mental health
crises successfully in a just and equitable way.”
Carissa Cabán-Alemán, MD, associate professor,
Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Florida International University, and
member of the Climate Psychiatry Alliance
“This is the book we’ve been waiting for. Frankly setting out the frightening and challenging
effects of climate change, Bob Doppelt’s book also gives us hope that by coming together as
communities, we can help ourselves mitigate some of the worst impacts on our own lives and
the lives of our families and our neighbours. This is an essential read for policy makers, practi-
tioners, and community organisations.”
Fiona Garven, director of the Scottish Community
Development Centre, Glasgow, Scotland
“The obvious consequences of climate change—extreme weather events, droughts, floods—sit
among the clearer results of manmade global warming. This important new book from Bob Dop-
pelt helps us mitigate the often invisible outcomes of global warming, including anxiety, depression,
PTSD, and trauma. Drawing on psychology, spirituality, and bottom up, community-based resil-
ience practices, this monograph can help us build the capacity to manage mental wellness, recover
from current and forthcoming shocks, and ensure equitable outcomes.”
Daniel P. Aldrich, director of the Security and Resilience Studies Program at
Northeastern University, and author of Building Resilience and Black Wave
“Bob Doppelt is a recognized international leader on the human impact of climate change. His
knowledge and wisdom illuminates Preventing and Healing Climate Traumas. This is a must read for
anyone interested in conceptualizing new systems of support for our worldwide community.”
Elaine Miller-Karas, cofounder of The Trauma Resource Institute
“Ultimately, the responsibility for preventing and healing climate trauma falls to family, friends,
and neighbours, the three supportive social units of our lives. As a municipality we are making
way for this prevention and healing by resourcing and organizing the irreplaceable capacity of
neighbourhoods to foster mental wellness and resilience. This new book by Bob Doppelt will
serve us well as in this regard.”
Howard Lawrence, Abundant Community Edmonton coordinator, Neigh-
bourhoods Services, City of Edmonton, Canada
“In this book Bob Doppelt presents a compelling argument that damage to person’s mental
health and overall well-being is occurring in reaction to the ever-increasing climatic disasters
and that we have well-understood approaches for building population level resilience to miti-
gate these effects. It is critical that we implement these science-based approaches to increase our
communities’ ability to more healthfully react to the inevitable increase in climate trauma. Bob
provides the call to action.”
David Shern, PhD, senior associate in the Department of Mental Health,
Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, and vice chair of
the Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice
“Bob Doppelt’s new book offers high-impact recommendations on how to bring community
resilience to the forefront of the climate change crisis. Bob excels at describing the impact a
community-based approach has on cultivating the power of the collective spirit in addressing
the health of our communities. Read it now and put it into action!”
Theresa Barila, founder and board president emeritus of the Community
Resilience Initiative
“Bob Doppelt is a leader in the movement to build effective community responses to climate change
and prevent its most severe mental health impacts. This book contains solid information and insights
that can be readily applied by community leaders, practitioners, and policymakers.”
Howard Kurtzman, PhD, former senior science advisor (retired) to the
American Psychological Association
“Bob Doppelt is one of my heroes: a man who was far out ahead of the curve anticipating the
psychological and social consequences of climate change and climate trauma. Read his new
book because you and your loved ones are going to need the information that is in it.”
Sandra L. Bloom, MD, associate professor of health management and
policy, Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University; cofounder of the
Sanctuary Model and founder of Creating Presence
“Bob Doppelt’s book sets out principles for challenging our growing global climate emergency.
We can’t address a crisis of this magnitude with the same methodologies we’ve been using—we
need to rescue those drowning AND address why they’re drowning in the first place. As Bob
notes, this means focusing on community-level strategies that start with healing and foster resil-
ience in our systems, communities, neighborhoods, and families.”
Ruben Cantu, associate program director for community trauma, mental
health, and violence prevention, Prevention Institute
“We are at a crossroads in our country in terms of how we understand and respond to mental
health. At a time when the eco-anxiety of young people is at an all time high, we need concrete,
research-based strategies to support them in navigating in a rapidly changing world. Bob’s book
lays out a clear framework on how to do it and should be required reading for anyone working
on adaptation and mitigation strategies for our climate.”
Lil Milagro Henriquez, executive director and founder,
Mycelium Youth Network
“If you are in the fight against climate change, it can actually be easier to face what is happening
and the damage that is surely coming. But for most people, that is not the case, and a new type
of community action is needed. A key chapter in this important book tells us to ‘begin building
community capacity for mental wellness and transformational resilience,’ and that about says it
all. The book describes how to do that. It is needed today and will be even more so in the years
to come.”
James Gustave Speth, former dean, Yale School of the Environment
“As much as I wish we didn’t need this book, at this point I am not sure we can live without it. A
practical guide to understanding what we must do to prepare ourselves for the reality of the climate
crisis, Bob’s book outlines concrete, accessible strategies we can implement now, to build upon the in-
credible resilience that is in all of us, individually and even more so, collectively. I am beyond grateful
for this engaging, thought-provoking, well-researched, powerful resource.”
Ann DuPre Rogers, LCSW, executive director, Resources for
Resilience™, coauthor, Reconnect for Resilience™
“Bob Doppelt’s new book weaves together intersections of prevention science and environmental sci-
ence to elevate a self-healing journey where social connection is key, raising hope comes with concrete
action steps, and resilience helps us move forward with increased community-wide wellness to mit-
igate the impacts of toxic stressors and traumas we increasingly face as humanity, including harsh
environmental and climate events. This book is hope raising...and we need it.”
Kristi Slette, executive director, Whatcom Family and Community Network
“Bob Doppelt has surfaced a critical problem that is grossly under addressed by climate solu-
tions. He listened to the voice of the communities and the traditions of our ancestors that have
taken us through the storms of the past and identified that it is only through strong community
bonds and caring relationships and systems that we can weather present and future climate
catastrophes.”
Jacqui Patterson, founder and executive director,
The Chisholm Legacy Project
“To build transformational resilience and hope amidst a global cataclysm, traditional diagnos-
tic constructs and individual-based mental health treatments will not suffice. A community/
population-based strategy is necessary, one with a focus on prevention. Bob Doppelt’s insightful
approach outlines the complex dilemma of climate change and mental health and provides a
pragmatic template for guiding communities toward wellness.”
Andrew J. McLean, MD, MPH, chair of the Department of
Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, University of North Dakota School of Medi-
cine and Health Sciences
“In this sobering and insightful book, Bob Doppelt provides us with an immersion in the facts
of our climate challenges and then the community-based ways we can rise to this moment in
our collective human history to make the necessary changes in how we live while building our
relationships with each other and with nature. The power of this book rests in its emotional
intensity, bringing us from the realization of our fear and loss, to the empowerment and hope
of potential growth.”
Daniel J. Siegel, MD, New York Times bestselling author of IntraConnected:
MWe (Me plus We) as the Integration of Self, Identity, and Belonging; executive director,
Mindsight Institute; clinical professor, UCLA School of Medicine
PREVENTING AND HEALING
CLIMATE TRAUMAS
A GUIDE TO BUILDING
RESILIENCE AND HOPE
IN COMMUNITIES
Bob Doppelt
Cover image: Itsanan Sampuntarat/Getty
First published 2023
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Bob Doppelt
The right of Bob Doppelt to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form
or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are
used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Doppelt, Bob, author.
Title: Preventing and healing climate traumas: a guide to building
resilience and hope in communities/Bob Doppelt.
Description: New York: Routledge, 2023. | Includes bibliographical
references and index. | Identifiers: LCCN 2022041918 (print) |
LCCN 2022041919 (ebook) | ISBN 9781032200217 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781032200200 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003262442 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Climatic changes—Psychological aspects. | Community
psychology. | Community mental health services. | Resilience (Personality trait)
Classification: LCC RA790.55 .D67 2023 (print) | LCC RA790.55 (ebook) |
DDC 362.1—dc23/eng/20221004
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022041918
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022041919
ISBN: 9781032200217 ( hbk)
ISBN: 9781032200200 ( pbk)
ISBN: 9781003262442 ( ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/ 9781003262442
Typeset in Baskerville
by codeMantra
This book is dedicated to all the people willing to see and act on truths
that overcome the ignorance, delusion, and dissociation that created
the global climate emergency and can set humanity on a socially,
economically, and ecologically regenerative path.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
About the Author xi
I ntroduction 1
Part I A Public Health Approach is Required to Build Population- Level
Capacity for Mental Wellness and Transformational Resilience for the
Long Climate Emergency 17
1 Climate Overshoot “ 101” 19
2 The Causes and Consequences of Individual, Community, and Societal Traumas 36
3 Elements of a Public Health Approach to Enhancing Mental Wellness and
Transformational Resilience for the Long Climate Emergency 54
Part II Organizing and Operating Community- Based Initiatives that Build
Universal Capacity for Mental Wellness and Transformational Resilience 73
4 Get Organized 77
5 Begin Building Community Capacity for Mental Wellness and
Transformational Resilience 100
6 Establish RCC Goals, Objectives, Strategies, and Action Plans 116
Part III The Five Foundational Areas RCCs Must Emphasize to Enhance
Universal Mental Wellness and Transformational Resilience for the
Climate Emergency 127
7 Build Social Connections across Boundaries in the Community 129
8 Ensure a Just Transition by Creating Healthy, Safe, Just, and Equitable
Climate- Resilient Local Physical/ Built, Economic, and Ecological Conditions 147
9 Cultivate Universal Literacy about Mental Wellness and Resilience 170
10 Foster Engagement in Specific Practices that Support Mental Wellness and
Resilience 183
