Activist mental health and managing burnout
This page was created following a question received by a person from the HUB community: "How can we take care of ourselves as activists, when the resources and support available reinforce the systems we want to dismantle?" '''The following are covered: capitalist approaches to mental health, eco-anxiety, eco-whitewashing, individual empowerment, burnout, community care and individual practices within communities. This page will be continuously added to.
Mental Health
In capitalist society
In our capitalist society, mental health is presented as an individual matter and for us to work on or it is treated as a matter to be medicated. We live in interdependence with the people and situations around us. Individual mental health and the window of tolerance one has to manage stress is affected by, for example:
- the oppression the individual experiences; includes things like environmental factors in our upbringing or present (e.g. living conditions, access to opportunities, microaggressions etc).
- the difficulties faced by people around them
- the variety of ways our brains function
- our parents upbringing and the influence this had on the parenting we received
Mental health is a collective issue.
Facing the climate crisis
Why seek psychological services if the person I see does not understand what I am going through and is not also trying to dismantle the system in place?
Will going to see a therapist will just make me even more angry? I don't want to educate him on the systems of oppression and the seriousness of the crisis..."
The multiple crises that surround us, exacerbated by the climate crisis, awaken emotions that are also influenced by:
Dominant discourses on the climate crisis |
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Dominant discourses on eco-anxiety |
Saviourism draws autonomy away from these groups, and describes them as powerless. Focus on the people, groups and systems who are perpetrating the climate crisis and that need to be held accountable. |
Individual responsibility for care |
“People talk a lot about taking care of yourself, but that means doing what you individually can outside of your job while the big structures that reproduce inequality remain firmly in place."- Janey Starling & Seyi Falodun-Liburd [1] |
Countering the dominant discourse
Faced with this reality and these discourses that feed distress, it is important to nurture a counter-discourse that centers the real causes of the climate crisis and the collective action necessary for climate justice. These counter-discourses speak of social movements, popular organization and collective power.
- To learn more about the different components of social movements, see movement ecology .
- To better understand how what you feel is related to the climate crisis, see @environmentalist.affirmations who popularized the content of the book, A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety by Sarah Jaquette Ray
- See also our page on eco-anxiety.
In an activist context
Burnout
Burnout is physical or emotional exhaustion caused by overwork or stress according to the Chambers Dictionary. This is a lived reality in almost all militant circles. It can be the result of an imbalance between aspects of our activism, of our life. See the table on this page for examples.
Here are some causes of activist burnout mentioned by Sophy Banks of Transition Network
The stakes are high, urgent and very important |
“…in a society where a portion of the population is causing the problems, the people who feel responsible for solving them may be a small minority with few resources. » |
Doing is more good than feeling |
If we don't realize how we feel, it's possible that our feelings...
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Giving more value to actions than to the state of people |
Only give value to what is “productive”. It's both ableist and damaging to people's mental health. |
Act according to “militant heroism” |
Overdoing and not letting other people do important tasks, not sharing leadership (see group leadership ). |
Succumb to time pressure |
“What do we lose when we go too fast and 'do 'too much ? »
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See section below for courses of action! 💓
Collective support
Systems of oppression create great hardships for each person to go through. If we collectivize care, we include the most precarious people and we learn to use “our greatest tool in building a world without violence” [2]
"Prioritising care is a refusal to abandon oneself and the others around us." [3]
In the face of the climate crisis and the many social crises we face, we can support each other collectively through community care and a regenerative culture.
Community care
Community care is the shared responsibility to offer and receive the emotional, physical and structural support we need in order to live more lovingly and liberatedly. It's also the way we improve our group so that it meets our aspirations.
Communal care within a group includes...
- Space to arrive as a human person with personal challenges.
- The culture of spaces and relationships rooted in great trust and mutual compassion
Community care is not opposed to discipline or rigor : we use our energy in a better way so as not to waste time in a perspective of social change. “Our battles are too important for any one of us to burn out." [4]
Thus, this is why we have defined above that community care is also a work on its internal functioning in order to be able to carry out our fights with more ease . If it's less complicated to get involved and create projects, we can do things healthier and get closer to our goals. Militant groups sometimes tend to omit this aspect of care (the practices of groups having the direct aim of facilitating the achievement of its objectives).
In a perspective according to which care is largely assumed by women in our societies, if we wish to develop community care in our spaces, this work must be done and organized in an explicit way so that the mental load of it does not not be assumed by just a few people. The following are examples of community care practices related to inner workings.
Putting community care into action
Bringing the ingredients of a culture of care to life
These ingredients are taken from the article "We need a climate movement that addresses the trauma of fighting for a burning planet."
Go there according to the reality of our group. The action of the different ingredients can be very different from one group to another.
Ingredient |
Examples |
Ease *ingredient added by the HUB |
Facilitating our involvement means giving ourselves the means to do more. This ingredient allows people to be put into action in a more accessible setting: it's less complicated, less energy-consuming, less “reserved for people who know how things work. In a context where many activists tell us that their mental health improves in action, facilitating it has its place as an ingredient of community care in the context of activism.
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Space |
To rest, reflect, recover and heal.
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Love |
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Diversity |
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Limit |
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Awareness |
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Compassion |
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Vulnerability |
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Joy |
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Fluidity |
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Imagination |
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Establish a feedback mechanism [6]
A work team can be mandated to conduct this type of process on an ongoing basis. Roles related to supporting the process should be clear. Thus the implementation of actions that meet the needs will be done by distributing the task. Centering the needs of activists in order to include them in activist practice allows us to continue to act on the outside world with an energy that lasts.
1. Space for receiving feedback and needs |
Have spaces to take and receive feedback from members on group activities and on people's needs related to group activities. |
2. Evaluation of feedback received |
Ask yourself what feedback means. Where are the group imbalances? |
3. Taking action |
Create an appropriate response to care for people in the group or community. Examples: meeting every two weeks rather than every week, creating moments for congratulations, hosting activities, organizing recurring social activities, creating a support and sharing group, ... |
4. Counter resistance |
Faced with new practices, resistance often manifests itself. At this stage, we try to go beyond the old comfort zone of the group to create a new one. We can establish the principle according to which a collective effort must be made in order to support the actions put in place to respond to the needs and feedback of the group. People who encourage this can be appointed so that the load does not fall by default to the same people who take on the most mental load in society. |
5. Assess |
Ask yourself whether the action(s) were able to respond to the feedback or the needs expressed. |
What sustains activists around the world
An article by Helen Cox summarizes what activists have said they do to support their activism. They shared their individual care practices (useful for people wondering what they can do here and now alongside creating community care mechanisms.
Their answers could guide reflections related to...
- commitment capacity
- exercise
- the sleep
- the food
- nature
- time management and breaks
- group dynamics
- meditation practices
- non-militant relations
- mentoring
- social networks
- long-term vision and thinking
- creativity
- Spirituality
What sustains activists in the HUB community
Here are some responses from activists in the HUB community to the question "What makes you feel good about activism?"
" community " | "the interconnection" |
“feel the influence we can have” | “more people are starting to get involved in activism” |
“Perhaps it allows you to free yourself from certain frustrations or anxieties? » |
Would you like to submit your response? You can write to kenzie@lehub.ca!
Other resources and external support
Zine: Sustainable Activism & Avoiding Burnout
Analysis: We need a climate movement that addresses the trauma of fighting for a burning planet
How collective care can change society | Janey Starling & Seyi Falodun-Liburd | TEDxLondonWomen
Section Well-being - Commons Change Library
Notes from the book A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety by Sarah Jaquette Ray
State Violence & Mental Health - Disruption Network Lab
Fighting for Justice in Mental Health - Disruption Network Lab
Book: Healing Justice by Jarem Sawatsky
Book: Care work - Dreaming disability justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
Eco-motion resources (see bottom of page for free resources)
Sustaining ourselves as Activists - Helen Cox (The Commons)
Crisis Toolkit - Fireweed Collective
Testimonials from young people about their feelings about the climate crisis (Le temps de militer)
“10 Great Resources on Activist Wellbeing - Commons Librarian”
Tiohtià:ke (colonially known as Montreal)
Mental health support for people from BIPOC communities - Génération Lavande
Emergency and relief resources for people in BIPOC communities - Génération Lavande