From Climate Distress to Collective Action: Participatory Approaches for Mental Health and Well-Being

Talk Title: Building Climate Resilient Futures With Youth by Adapting an Active Hope Intervention

Bio: Swelen Andari is the Director Strategy, Climate Resilience & Youth Mental Health at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). They are implementing a demonstration initiative aimed at advancing research on climate distress, climate action, and hope for youth. Swelen is also supporting the development of plans to integrate climate adaptation and mitigation solutions within CAMH to advance mental health in the face of climate change. Trained as a Creative Arts Therapist, Swelen has a decade of experience leading the implementation of system-level initiatives aimed at improving access, service design, prevention, and building leadership for youth with lived experience in the child and youth mental health system in Ontario. Some of these initiatives include managing the provincial implementation of YWHO, Peer Positive, and Early Steps to Success in Etobicoke. Swelen’s career has focused on moving research into viable action by facilitating processes grounded in implementation science, systems thinking, innovation, decolonial practices, and equitable community engagement. For the last five years, she has also been part of multiple local and national climate justice organizing efforts through Climate Justice Toronto, 350’s Our Time Campaign, and co-designing a social movement organization aimed at winning real climate solutions by securing good work and dignified lives for all.

Talk Title: Lived Experience With Climate Change Among Women With Mental Illness: Understanding Service Needs and Potential Interventions

Bio: Dr. Siqi Xue is an academic psychiatrist at the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health (CAMH). She completed her medical and psychiatry residency training at the University of Toronto and Master of Science degree in Global Mental Health at The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and King’s College London as a Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Detweiler Fellow. She has a special interest in transcultural psychiatry, global health equity, and psychosocial responses and interventions in the context of climate change. She has served as a Global Research and Action Agenda Expert Working Group Member of Connecting Climate Minds and contributed to the collection of work “Climate Change Across the Lifecourse” commissioned by the World Health Organization.

Talk Title: Scaling Climate Mental Health: Evaluating the Impact of University-Based Climate Cafes

Bio: Sophia Bryan-Carbonell is a fourth-year Specialized Honours Psychology student at York University, specializing in Neuropsychology and Applied Methods and Analysis. She is actively involved in multiple research labs, where she contributes to projects in neuropsychology, addiction, and mental health. In addition to her academic research, Sophia serves as Lab Coordinator at the Wellness Impact Lab and co-leads The Nest, a student-led climate wellness initiative through York’s Agents of Change program. She aspires to pursue graduate training in clinical neuropsychology and is passionate about advancing innovative approaches to mental health and well-being.

Talk Title: Scaling Climate Mental Health: Evaluating the Impact of University-Based Climate Cafes

Bio: Sarah Merghani is a third-year Bachelor of Science Specialized Honours student in Global Health at York University, specializing in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. She contributes to research at the Wellness Impact Lab as Lab Coordinator, where she supports projects on climate change and mental health, and at the Global and Environmental Health Lab as Research Assistant, focusing on climate and health equity. She is also Co-Founder of The Nest Initiative, a student-led climate wellness project supported through York’s Agents of Change program. Sarah is passionate about humanitarianism and health equity and aspires to pursue medical training as a physician.

Bio: Dr. Samantha Wells, PhD, is a Senior Scientist at the Institute for Mental Health Policy Research (IMHPR) at the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health (CAMH). She is a Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. She also holds positions as Adjunct Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Western University and Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Psychology at Deakin University in Australia. Dr. Wells is involved in community-driven research to support wellness planning in First Nations communities.