ULusófona promotes awareness initiative on Eco-Anxiety
SPIC initiative raised awareness among the academic community on the mental health impacts of climate change and management strategies
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
On 19 February, an awareness-raising initiative on eco-anxiety took place in the atrium of building 1 at Lusófona University - Porto University Centre. This initiative formed part of a universal psychoeducational intervention aimed at promoting mental health within the academic community.
The main objective of this initiative was to increase awareness of the challenges associated with eco-anxiety, a recent social phenomenon that directly affects well-being, and to provide practical tools to cope with this type of stress. Throughout the day, informative materials were made available and discussions were encouraged around the concept of eco-anxiety, its main sources, higher-risk groups, warning signs, its impact on well-being and management strategies.
The initiative was led by Elisa Aires, psychologist at the Serviço de Psicologia Inovação e Conhecimento (SPIC) of the institution, and by Emanuel Vieira, trainee at the psychology service, who were available to answer questions and share practices for the prevention and mitigation of eco-anxiety.
Emanuel highlighted that “it is important to raise awareness, because people may experience some discomfort regarding climate change”. Often, this discomfort arises because individuals feel that something may affect them or others, or because they have already gone through experiences that trigger post-traumatic stress or anxiety. Therefore, the idea is “to raise awareness of the ways in which eco-anxiety may be experienced and what we can then do in terms of prevention or mitigation of these difficulties.”
Throughout the day, students had the opportunity to learn more about the signs of eco-anxiety, the main environmental stress factors and practical management strategies, including emotional regulation techniques and forms of community support. This initiative represents an important step towards legitimising the distress associated with environmental factors and empowering the academic community to deal with this emerging phenomenon in a healthy way.
View the Event Photographs on ULusófona’s Facebook
Text
Bruna Pereira
Photography
Paulo Renato
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