Sustainability and planetary health resources

Below is a collection of resources developed or chosen by members of the Planetary Health and Sustainability Committee.

Podcasts

To coincide with the launch of our position statement on sustainability, we produced a miniseries of podcast episodes about climate change.

  • Episode 1 – We talk to Michelle who lived with anxiety and depression for over two decades and recently got involved with a Wildlife Trust in Lancashire called MyPlace.
  • Episode 2 – Dr Katherine Kennet, joins us to discuss the importance of integrating the natural world with more traditional therapy and how she would encourage other mental health professionals to use ecotherapy.
  • Episode 3 – We interview psychotherapist Roger Duncan. Roger speaks on his fascinating research into attachment styles, the wilderness and his vital work connecting teenagers to their natural environment.
  • Bonus episode: Eco distress – In an earlier podcast, Dr Catriona Mellor, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and member of our Sustainability Committee, joined two young people for a conversation about eco distress and the impact of the climate crisis on our mental wellbeing.

Heatwaves and mental health

Extreme heat is a growing mental and physical health risk. People with mental illness are especially vulnerable during heatwaves due to a number of intersecting factors, including medication effects, comorbidities and challenges with self-care.

The Planetary Health and Sustainability Committee has published guidance for psychiatrists on this topic:
Heatwaves and mental health: What every psychiatrist needs to know.

Net Zero Mental Healthcare Webinar Series

The National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health (NCCMH) and the College Centre for Quality Improvement (CCQI) at the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) have developed a report and educational resources on delivering greener, more sustainable and net zero mental health care.

Their free webinar series is now available to watch on the KnowledgeHub.  The webinars are also available on YouTube:

  1. Delivering greener, more sustainable and net zero mental health care
  2. Developing nature-based and preventative interventions to build sustainable services
  3. Innovations in developing low carbon treatments and care settings
  4. Integrating sustainable practice into leadership and the care pathway

Climate Cares

Climate Cares is a collaboration between Imperial College's Institute of Global Health Innovation and the Grantham Institute. The College collaborated with them on 'We need to talk about mental health in a changing climate'.

Nature and health resources

These documents provide a comprehensive list of resources focusing on nature based interventions for mental health care. They include publications from sources such as the Natural England Commissioned Report, MIND, University studies, Defra, and experts from around the world. View more resources in specific areas:

For further resources on child and adolescent mental health, see also the following pages:

Report by the Climate Coalition and UKHACC

The UK Health Alliance on Climate Change (UKHACC) – in collaboration with Climate Coalition – have produced a report which the College's sustainability leads, Jacob Krzanowski and Lisa Page, contributed to.

This Report Comes With a Health Warning: The Impacts of Climate Change on Public Health highlights that more than 12 million people in the UK are vulnerable to climate change through heatwaves and major flood events.