ITRC PNW Transformational Resilience Network

By Nikki Carvajal, CNN Politics, October 21, 2021 A series of new reports from the Biden administration will issue a stark warning on Thursday: The effects of climate change will be wide-reaching and will pose problems for every government. "No country will be spared from the challenges directly related to climate change," a senior administration official told reporters in a call previewing the reports. The four reports -- which President Joe Biden called for in executive orders in January...

The International Transformational Resilience Coalition (ITRC) today released a letter to Congress calling for the introduction and enactment of the "Resilience for All Act of 2021." The letter is endorsed by over 80 national, state, and local mental health and human services organizations from across the nation, and by over 240 individual professionals. The letter can be found on page three of this document. Overview : The "Resilience for All Act of 2021" will, for the first time, make the...

I have always been afraid to talk about climate change. The barrage of doomsday numbers and the overwhelming magnitude of the problem leave me feeling small and powerless. But in the run up to COP26 , the most important climate change meeting in history, running away from the world’s toughest problem was no longer an option. So, as an audio journalist and podcast producer, I instead tried to imagine what a different approach to the discussion around climate change could sound like. So I...

In advance of COP 26, health professionals from around the world are signing on to demand action to avert the climate crisis. Please see below for more details, and consider signing here: https://healthyclimateletter.net/sign-the-letter/. This action is for health professionals and allied health professionals, including public health, environmental health, etc. Thank you! Dear Colleagues, I am writing to ask you and your organization to join me in signing a letter:...

Transforming Climate Trauma: Building Wise and Resilient Responses to the Climate Crisis With Bob Doppelt, James Baraz, and Pawan Bareja For more information and to register go to: https://spirit-rock.secure.retreat.guru/program/transforming-climate-trauma-jb1c21/ Description: This 6 week series will start on Tuesday November 9 and continue until Tuesday December 14 from 6-8 pm Pacific Time. It will help you learn how to build personal, group, and community “Transformation Resilience” for...

By Jennifer Silverstein, LCSW, jennisilverstein.com, Blog 2021. “Every time I rescue a bee, it matters. If I didn’t rescue it, the hive may not have enough bees, and then there’d be less honey, and less flowers, and less fruit, and when people go shopping there would not be enough for them to eat.” – Dani, 7 years old I have spent 7 years teaching her about the interdependence of all life, and our place in the web of living beings. Yet upon hearing her articulate the values I so carefully...

Through fires and hurricanes, through lethal heat waves and flash floods, the world seems to be ending — or at least, that's what it feels like. All around us, we're seeing the effects of climate change. Wildfires are raging through the West. Much of southeast Louisiana was flattened by Hurricane Ida , and parts of New York and New Jersey are digging out from disastrous flooding. And if it seems like natural disasters are happening more and more often, that's because they are : Climate...

As the effects of climate change become severe, more people than ever may experience mental health challenges. To provide solutions, experts say the system will need to evolve. The resonances were eerie as Hurricane Ida, a Category 4 storm, broached Louisiana’s coast on Sunday, 16 years to the day after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the same area. “It’s very painful to think about another powerful storm like Hurricane Ida making landfall on that anniversary,” Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D)...

Please join over 50 organizations & 175 professionals that have endorsed the letter. Endorsers range from the American Association of Community Psychiatry, to the Alliance of Nurses for a Healthy Environment, The Prevention Institute, Black Psychiatrists of America, Physicians for Social Responsibility, American Association of Suicidology, and more than 45 other diverse national, regional, and local organizations. Request for Organizational and Individual Endorsements of Letter Below...

From International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, August 2021 As human beings, our physical and mental health cannot be separated from the environments in which we live. Climate change, if left unaddressed, is projected to have catastrophic consequences on the mental health of entire populations. This ISTSS Friday Fast Facts series will feature ISTSS’ recent work to highlight the intersections among global climate change and trauma. Look for new materials every Friday in August 2021.

Please consider making an organizational and/or individual endorsements on a letter below (and attached) to Congress calling for the Introduction and Enactment of the "Resilience for All Act of 2021." The deadline for endorsing the letter is September 30. To the Honorable Chuck Schumer Majority Leader United States Senate 322 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 To the Honorable Mitch McConnell Minority Leader United States Senate 317 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC...

By Jay Pitter, Policy Options Politiques, August 9, 2021 It has been said that traumatic incidents dislocate “ the lived and imagined landscapes ” of a city’s emotional ecosystem. This theory feels especially palpable as we approach the precipice of the post-COVID city. Scarred by decades of car-centric infrastructure and festering social divides, our already wounded urban landscape, along with its services and amenities, has been further threatened by the global pandemic. This public health...