Britt Wray
“Life in times of climate, ecological and social crises is stressful, and individuals who thrive in the face of those things know how to manage difficult emotions, think flexibly, cultivate joy and find meaning in their actions. These are fantastic skills to learn and relatively easy to support individuals with. But when it comes to entire populations stressed by dwindling resources, warming temperatures, climate injustices, economic uncertainty, and more, it’s much harder to secure these skills of mental and emotional resiliency across wide groups. This is where attention is urgently needed so that entire communities don’t end up caught in a spiral of emotional, mental, and spiritual crises that make getting through the day the primary task, thwarting people’s ability to protect the climate and regenerate the earth, given the massive transition at hand. ”
Britt Wray, PhD is the Director of the Chair’s Special Initiative on Climate Change and Mental Health in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences of Stanford Medicine. She is the author of 2 books, the most recent being Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis, an impassioned generational perspective on how to stay sane amid the climate emergency, which was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award.
Britt has spoken at TED and the World Economic Forum, and her work has been featured in The New Yorker, New York Times, Washington Post, among other publications. She holds a Climate Psychology Certificate from the California Institute of Integral Studies and is a Fellow in the Climate Health Organizing Fellowship offered by Harvard C-Change. She is the Founder of the weekly Gen Dread newsletter (gendread.substack.com), which shares insights and expert advice for coping with climate distress and taking climate action.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/britt-wray-phd-21439a51/
Website: https://www.brittwray.com/