Climate and Mental Health

HACE kicks off its Climate and Health series with Climate and Mental Health, co-sponsored by Harvard Alumni for Mental Health (HAMH). This hybrid event will be followed by networking both online as well as in-person. Panelists will present on climate change, impacts on mental health, and how to manage eco-anxiety and protect mental health from climate threats. Panelists include:

• Christy Denckla, Assistant Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences at HSPH, who studies how adversity affects people’s mental health and well-being throughout their lives. Her recently published paper in Nature Mental Health, reviews the evidence for the mental health consequences of chronic, slow-onset climate change.

• Criselle Penamante, Master’s candidate in Global Health Delivery at Harvard Medical School, who investigates how climate change affects the mental health of workers and young people across various regions, and how social media can be leveraged to deliver mental health interventions in underserved communities in the Philippines.

• Jacob Simon, a climate-focused writer, reporter and content creator, focuses on telling good stories about the environment to TikTok & Instagram. Jacob has collaborated with the UN, NRDC, EPA, DOT, and Clean Creatives, and was named one of the Climate Creators to Watch in 2024 by C-CHANGE at HSPH