Caucus and New Committee Work Together on Climate Change

The APA Caucus on Climate Change and Mental Health works synergistically with the new APA Committee on Climate Change and Mental Health. I am chair of the caucus, and Jamie Lee Sorenson, M.D., is vice chair. The caucus has identified the following five areas in which to promote awareness of and effective responses to the climate crisis:

• Increase membership: The caucus has been reaching out to APA members, communicating our values and the benefits of expanding the influence of the caucus. The membership has grown rapidly, but we still want to increase our numbers. We have an active listserv and expanded our social media presence to make the caucus more visible and diverse, including the creation of the “Climate Concerned Psychiatrists” Facebook page. You can join here.

• Build alliances with other APA caucuses: We have engaged in collaborative efforts in areas of overlapping interest between our caucus and other APA caucuses. Because of the intersectionality of issues associated with climate and mental health, especially social and structural determinants of health, our goals are facilitated by partnering with caucuses whose goals and agendas address inequities, environmental hazards, targeted research, policy development, and public advocacy. We are constantly reaching out to educate and enlist the support of our colleagues from other caucuses to reduce carbon emissions across the health sector, identify harms our patients are experiencing, educate the public, and shape relevant APA policies and initiatives. This concerted effort is helping to influence the broader health sector and to address its disproportionate overall carbon footprint and contribution to the climate health crisis for our patients and communities.

• Cultivate new leadership within APA: We are recruiting early career psychiatrists and fellows in the Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) to develop and advance knowledge of mental health impacts and responses to the climate crisis through training and mentorship. We anticipate a joint meeting of the caucus and members of the MFP in April.

• Develop global strategic networks: We are aligning with other global organizations with similar interests. The Caucus on Global Mental Health is one of the largest APA caucuses with more than 800 members, including many members from outside the United States. We are partnering with the Global Mental Health Caucus Senior Advisory Board to create social media posts on climate change based on the report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The Global Mental Health Caucus has established connections with the World Psychiatric Association, allowing us to develop effective global networks within it.

• Advocate and engage policymakers: We work to influence policies within APA through action papers, and we support APA in its efforts to impact federal policies. Ultimately there must be coordinated and collaborative initiatives to reduce carbon emissions and actualize relevant health and mental health policies.

The APA Committee on Climate Change and Mental Health is chaired by Elizabeth Haase, M.D. In addition to me, members include Kenneth Thompson, M.D., Jacob Lee, M.D., Joshua Wortzel, M.D., Tony Ng, M.D., Saundra Maass-Robinson, M.D., and James Fleming, M.D. The committee is charged with advancing mental health and climate change initiatives for APA. Its agenda includes the following:

• Curriculum development: Medical students, residents, psychiatrists, health and mental health professionals, and the general public need to be educated about the mental health impacts of global warming and the essential roles for psychiatrists and organizational psychiatry in changing behavior and responding to patient and community needs. Working in alliance with the Climate Psychiatry Alliance, the Committee on Climate Mental Health of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, and Medical Societies Consortium on Climate and Health, the committee is developing core curriculum recommendations and materials.

• APA’s carbon reduction goals: The committee helped write and support a successful action paper to the reduce carbon footprint of APA meetings and is preparing further recommendations to help APA meet these targets. These include modification of APA conference processes to retain distance participation, advocacy for virtual residency applicant interviews, and broad sustainability practices to help clinical health systems meet meaningful carbon reduction goals.

• Innovative clinical resources for communities: The committee is developing toolkits and recommendations for mental health professionals that empower them to build resilience and social cohesion in their communities. These include change processes for community transitions that will be required and toolkits on heat and other climate risks. The toolkits consist of simplified documents that provide step-by-step guidance on how to create initiatives to help communities adapt to climate change. In addition, the committee supports APA’s efforts to promote diversity, environmental justice, structural and social equity, and reparative protection for the communities that are most vulnerable to the acute and longer-term changes of climate instability.

• Raising climate mental health awareness at all levels: The committee is working to strengthen existing links between relevant APA components to enhance the messaging regarding climate change and mental health. The committee is advocating for the creation of APA climate mental health fellowship opportunities for residents and early career psychiatrists to promote leadership in this area. The committee also liaises with the APA communications department to respond to media requests to ensure that mental health is adequately addressed in the work of national leaders and policymakers on climate change and give APA a foremost voice in climate health initiatives.

Stay tuned as these two component groups expand their work. Please join our efforts. Our patients and communities need our help. ■

Ferdnand Osuagwu, M.D., works with MidMichigan Health and is an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Central Michigan University. He is the chair of the APA Caucus on Climate Change and Mental Health. He was an APA Diversity Leadership Fellow in 2016 and served as a member of the APA Council on Children, Adolescents, and Their Families from 2016 to 2018.