About Us
The Mental Health and Climate Change Alliance is a community of interdisciplinary researchers, healthcare providers, and community organizers committed to identifying and addressing the adverse impacts of the climate crisis on mental health.
As a Canadian Not-for-Profit organization incorporated under the Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, the MHCCA’s purposes are to (1) conduct equity-based climate distress monitoring, (2) incubate novel interventions and policy ideas to address the mental health impacts of climate change, and (3) facilitate knowledge exchange and mobilization to support Canadian's experiencing climate-related ecological distress.
Vision
Healthy people and communities engaged and empowered to protect the planet.
Mission
To support individuals and communities in protecting their mental health and building resilience in the face of climate change.
Values
Justice, Equity, Inclusion, Community, Wellness, Sustainability
Annual Reports
Board of Directors
Kiffer G. Card, PhD
Dr. Card is the President, Chair of the Board, and Scientific Directorof the MHCCA, an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University and a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar. His academic training focuses on social and behavioural epidemiology, with an emphasis on health equity and community-based mixed methods research.
Maya Gislason, PhD
Dr. Gislason is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University. As an eco-social health equity scholar, Dr. Gislason works to improve health equity at the interface between social and ecological systems, with a particular focus on how public health is impacted by intensive resource extraction and climate change.
Gina Martin, PhD
Dr. Martin is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Health Disciplines at Athabasca University. Her research focuses on understanding the relationships between the environments where children and young people live, play, and learn and their wellbeing.
Arden Henley, MA (Psych.), Ed.D., Dr. TCM (Hon.)
Arden Henley is a former Vice President of City University in Canada and one of the founders of its Masters of Counselling program. Arden has a BA from McMaster, an MA from Duquesne in Pittsburgh, and a Doctorate in Education Leadership from SFU.
Matt Trebel
Matt Treble is a graduate student at Athabasca University completing his Masters of Counselling degree. He currently works as a Youth Mental Health Counsellor at two non-profit organizations in Victoria, British Columbia. His presentation will explore youth mental health in the context of climate change while also exploring potential overlaps with existential anxiety.
Judy Wu
Judy is a first-year PhD student in the Faculty of Health Sciences at SFU. Under the supervision of Dr. Hasina Samji, Judy uses data from the Youth Development Instrument (YDI) survey to better understand the effect of the climate and ecological crises on youth within British Columbia. By identifying predictive and associated factors with youth eco-anxiety, she eventually hopes to use her findings to develop support resources to help young people cope.
Youth Advisory Board
-
Regina, Saskatchewan
Abhay Singh Sachal is a 22-year old Canadian whose research and work resides at the intersection of climate change, ecoanxiety, mental health, and spirituality. He is the founder of Break The Divide, a non-profit organization based on principles of environmentalism, sustainability, and reconciliation that focuses on fostering empathy and understanding to inspire local action projects in communities. Abhay is one of 10 advisors in the inaugural Environment and Climate Change Canada Youth Council, and one of 20 advisors in the United Nations Environmental Programme Faith For Earth Youth Council. Outside of his activism, Abhay is currently a student at the University of Regina, completing a Masters of Education in Educational Psychology; a public speaker on environmental and climate issues; and, an avid ice hockey player and pianist. Abhay is the Chair of the Youth Advisory Board at the MHCCA.
-
Vancouver, BC
Emilie Wang (she/her) is currently pursuing her medical degree at the University of British Columbia (UBC). She did her undergraduate degree at UBC, specializing in environmental health, with a strong foundation for interdisciplinary research, systems thinking, community engagement, and knowledge translation. She is dedicated to contributing to the field of planetary health through various avenues, and is passionate about equitable healthcare access, especially for newcomer populations.
-
Edmonton, AB
Gina Malaba is a recent postgraduate from the University of Alberta who majored in English Honours and double minored in Philosophy and Political Science. She has always been dedicated to leading community initiatives that promote ideals of social justice, anti-racism and mental health awareness. In order to help counteract the negative effects that the pandemic had on the mental health of students, Gina volunteered to be a One-to-One Host for UNITEA, a student wellness organization dedicated to creating safe spaces for students to gain a sense of belonging. As the President of her university’s Black Students Association (UABSA) she also helped curate student-centred initiatives that educated target audiences on racial discrimination, dynamic allyship and cultural diversity. She is currently a Fellow in the 1834 Foundation’s Global program, where she will be convening with public policymakers and advocacy practitioners from around the world to maximize her future capacity in civic leadership roles.
-
Montréal, Québec
Leonard is a co-founder of CEVES, (the Student Coalition for an Environmental and Social Shift) which aims to bring together and mobilize Quebec’s student population on climate justice issues. He has participated in the organization of many events and major climate strikes called Fridays For Future, including the historic one on September 27, 2019, which gathered half a million people in Tiohtia:ke (Montreal). In the last 2 years, he has been working as a trainer for the Climate Justice Hub, helping activist’s groups on their strategy, structure, and conflict resolution. With a certificate in ecology and currently pursuing a certificate in psychosocial intervention, he aims to address the emotional work of the climate crisis and help individuals, groups, and communities to gain more resilience and adaptation.
-
Orillia, Ontario
Sidney Howlett Francis is a graduate student at Lakehead University completing her Master of Education for Change in Environmental and Sustainability Education. Under the supervision of Dr. Ellen Field, her research explores the strategies teachers use to address students’ complex emotions about climate change in the classroom. With a background as a formal elementary teacher and years of experience in non-profit environmental educational settings, Sidney is dedicated to advancing climate change education and action across Canada’s education sector. Combining academic depth with practical experience, she is passionate about creating a more just, beautiful world through the transformative power of education.
-
Surrey, B.C.
Zoha Faisal is a teenage climate justice and community organizer ancestrally from Punjab, Pakistan. She is a co-founder of Climate Recentered, a movement of BIPOC based on the unceded lands of the Katzie, Semiahmoo, and Kwantlen First Nations, working to build long-term mutual aid projects and communities of care in order to grow climate resilience. She was also previously a core organizer with Sustainabiliteens, a grassroots organization bringing teenagers together from across the Lower Mainland to organize mass mobilizations and campaigns targeting those responsible for climate injustice. Her work in climate justice is inspired by the resilience of her home village in Pakistan that has borne the brunt of the climate crisis for decades, and she is an advocate for centering cultural and ancestral practices in justice-based organizing.
MHCCA Staff
Alexis Palmer-Fluevog
Dr. Fluevog is the Executive Director of The MHCCA. She completed her PhD in Public Health in 2015 at Simon Fraser University and a graduate certificate in Climate Change and Health from Yale University.
Affiliated Researchers
Andreea Bratu, MSc
Andreea is the Associate Director of the MHCCA and a Ph.D. student at the UBC School of Population and Public Health. Her research explores the mental health impacts of climate change, with a specific interest in resilience & meaning-focused coping strategies and climate justice.
Susan Clayton, PhD
Susan Clayton is Whitmore-Williams Professor of Psychology and chair of Environmental Studies at the College of Wooster. Her PhD, in social psychology, is from Yale University. She co-authored the American Psychological Association (APA) reports on “Psychology and Global Climate Change” and “Psychological Impacts of Climate Change.”
Kalysha Closson, PhD
Kalysha is a postdoctoral fellow researcher. Her research uses mixed methods to focuses on youth engagement, mental health, measurement gaps in health research, and barriers to treatment and prevention strategies for individuals marginalized by socio-structural inequities in Canada, South Africa and other global settings.
Alexi T. Hu
Alexi is a research analyst of the MHCCA. He holds a B.A. (hons) in Sociology and Cultural Anthropology and an M.A. in Sociology. His research focuses on quantitative methods, social determinants of health, and the impacts of climate change on health. Besides academia, he is a passionate social and climate justice activist
Carmen Logie, PhD
Dr. Martin is a Canada Research Chair in Global Health Equity and Social Justice with Marginalized Populations at the University of Toronto. Dr. Logie’s research program advances understanding of, and develops interventions to address, stigma and other social ecological factors associated with prevention and care.
Julia Lukacs, MSc
Julia is a graduate student in clinical psychology at Simon Fraser University. She holds a B.A. from the University of North Carolina and an M.Sc. from the VU Amsterdam. Julia's current research focuses on youth mental health.
Tim Takaro, MD PhD
Professor Takaro is a physician-scientist trained in occupational and environmental medicine, public health and toxicology, at Yale, the University of North Carolina and University of Washington. His research is primarily directed toward the links between human exposures and disease, and determining public health based preventive solutions to such risks.
Britt Wray
Britt Wray, PhD is an author and the Director of CIRCLE at Stanford Psychiatry, a research and action initiative focused on Community-minded Interventions for Resilience, Climate Leadership and Emotional wellbeing in the Stanford School of Medicine. Britt’s latest book Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Anxiety, is an impassioned generational perspective on how to stay sane amid climate disruption.