Improving the mental health of rural New South Wales communities facing drought and other adversities

Protective factors for mental health and well-being in a changing climate: Perspectives from Inuit youth in Nunatsiavut, Labrador

“…The findings from this research provide an important preliminary analysis of perspectives and ideas about key protective factors, and resonates with known protective factors that have been documented to enhance Indigenous youth mental health and well-being in communities across the Circumpolar North (Kirmayer et al, 1998;Mohatt et al, 2004;Allen et al, 2006;Wexler and Goodwin, 2006;Bals et al, 2010Bals et al, , 2011aKral et al, 2011;Ford et al, 2012;Decou et al, 2013;Petrasek MacDonald et al, 2013b;Spein et al, 2013;Wexler, 2013;Wexler et al, 2013Wexler et al, , 2014) (See Supplementary Data Table 2). Furthermore, these findings are also consistent with mental health and climate change research in other geographical contexts that points to the substantial impacts of changing climatic and environmental conditions, such as changing sea ice, long-term drought or flooding, on the mental health and well-being of individuals and communities (Morrissey and Reser, 2007;Hunter, 2009;Hart et al, 2011).…”

“…This research is beginning to identify direct and indirect linkages between climatic and environmental change and mental health and well-being Hart et al, 2011;Cunsolo Willox et al, 2012a. According to the American Psychological Association Task Force on the Interface between Psychology and M A N U S C R I P T A C C E P T E D ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 3 Climate Change and as identified in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fifth Assessment Report, climate change-related mental health impacts are expected to be experienced most severely by people with pre-existing mental illnesses, marginalized populations, communities dependent on the local ecosystems, and areas most susceptible to climate change (Berry, 2009;Swim et al, 2010;Doherty and Clayton, 2011;Swim et al, 2011;Bourque and Cunsolo Willox, 2014;Cunsolo Willox et al, 2014;Smith et al, 2014).…”

“…Globally, the field of mental health and climate change is emerging, with a growing number of studies coming from Northern Australia, focused on the impacts of long-term drought on farmers' mental health (Morrissey and Reser, 2007;Hunter, 2009;Berry et al, 2010Hart et al, 2011) and from the Canadian North, focused on impacts for Inuit populations (Cunsolo Willox et al, 2012a. This research is beginning to identify direct and indirect linkages between climatic and environmental change and mental health and well-being Hart et al, 2011;Cunsolo Willox et al, 2012a.…”

Climate change, human health, and epidemiological transition

“…First, direct effects will occur through personal experience of extreme weather events, as has been observed among victims of various extreme weather events (Amstadter et al, 2009; Bronen and Chapin, 2013; Hart et al, 2011; Larrance et al, 2007; Schmeltz et al, 2013). Second, disruptions in social, economic and environmental determinates of health will exacerbate a variety of mental health conditions (Blashki et al, 2007).…”

Drought, drying and mental health: Lessons from recent experiences for future risk-lessening policies

“…1 This type of program lays important foundations for building greater long-term resilience, that is, more healthprotecting social capital, in those communities.…”