Y-CARE (Youth Co-Designing Adaptations for Resilience and Empowerment)

Program & Host Organization

Y-CARE is developed by CIRCLE at Stanford Psychiatry within the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford School of Medicine. The initiative aims to create a youth-led peer support program that helps young people process climate anxiety, build resilience, and strengthen agency in the face of climate change.

Location & Scope

The program operates across research and service sites in British Columbia, the United States, and Australia. Activities occur online through Zoom workshops, with optional in-person community-building components offered through local Integrated Youth Services (IYS) centres such as Foundry, allcove, headspace, and Orygen.

Who It Serves

Y-CARE serves young people aged 16 to 25, with a focus on marginalized youth living in or near frontline climate-affected communities. Co-design efforts intentionally center Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour youth.

Climate & Mental Health Focus

The initiative addresses climate anxiety, hopelessness, and moral injury connected to climate inaction. It responds to the compounded effects of climate impacts such as wildfires, extreme heat, and flooding, alongside social inequities faced by youth in partner regions.

Activities & Format

The program consists of weekly 90-minute peer support sessions offered over 7 to 10 weeks within fixed cohorts. Activities include facilitated dialogue, emotional processing, journaling, breakout discussions, educational content, peer support training, and expert panels. Optional in-person activities include nature walks, art therapy, community gardening, and informal gatherings. A digital social hour further enhances accessibility.

Inclusion & Accessibility

The program prioritizes disproportionately impacted communities through inclusive recruitment and culturally grounded co-design. Online delivery removes geographic barriers, and optional virtual community spaces support youth who cannot attend in person.

Outcomes & Evidence

Short-term goals include completing program design, training youth facilitators, and strengthening climate knowledge and camaraderie among co-designers. Medium-term goals involve piloting the intervention and observing reductions in climate anxiety and increases in belonging and coping skills. Long-term aims include integrating the program into IYS networks internationally. Evaluation will occur through a controlled pilot study with repeated follow-up measures. The approach is informed by climate-mental health research and emerging evidence on group-based, climate-aware psychosocial interventions.

Guiding Principles

Y-CARE aligns with principles of climate literacy, emotional processing, optimism, social connection, nature bonding, emotional resilience, climate justice, trauma-informed practice, community-led adaptation, and collective responsibility. These principles guide both program design and facilitation.

Resources & Sustainability

The total project budget is USD 514,086, supporting youth co-designers, facilitators, research staff, advisory board members, and IYS partners. Current funding includes contributions from the Ho Foundation and Stanford University, with additional funding required for sustainability.

Team & Partners

The initiative is led by a multidisciplinary team at Stanford, in collaboration with partners at Orygen, the University of Melbourne, Foundry, allcove, and youth climate justice leaders. An international Scientific Advisory Board supports program development.

Challenges & Context

Key challenges include revoked and reduced funding due to shifting U.S. policy priorities, as well as the need for continued investment and community partnership to support pilot implementation and scale-up.