Connecting Climate Minds
SustyVibes is on a mission to make sure the voices of young people from the Global South are heard loud and clear when it comes to the mental health impacts of climate change. Through The Ecoanxiety Africa Project (TEAP), we are part of the Lived Experience Working Group (LEWG) for an ambitious global initiative called Connecting Climate Minds (CCM).
This groundbreaking project, led by Imperial College London and funded by The Wellcome Trust, aims to explore the intersection of climate change and mental health. The ultimate goal is to develop an inclusive, actionable research agenda that brings people worldwide together on this critical issue.
Youth Dialogues
To make this happen, we hosted two youth dialogues, creating safe spaces for young people to express their concerns about the impact of climate change on their mental health. These dialogues also acted as a platform where young people in the Global South can share their ideas and aspirations and be confident that they will be represented in the CCM research and action agenda.
Rising Resilience (Regional Pop-up dialogues)
Rising Resilience regional dialogues were held in Port Harcourt, Nigeria and Bangalore, India. These dialogues built on the insights and lessons from the global virtual dialogue to inspire participants to explore local contextualised resilient ideas, initiatives, and actions to address the nuanced mental health impacts of climate change. During the session, participants engaged in guided conversations, creative games and storytelling to facilitate meaningful connections.
Other Lived Experience Work
Together with the Lived Experience Working Group (LEWG) team, we inspired a lived experience approach in the project process by developing a Decolonial Approach & Power Mapping Webinar for the global team. We supported dialogues with Farmers, Fisher people and Indigenous communities to gather their lived experiences to inform the global research agenda. Finally, we co-created key lived experience resources, including the Lived Experience Engagement Toolkit, Youth Engagement in Dialogue Terms of Reference, and Lived Experience Story Gathering and Telling Terms of Reference.
