Made by many hands, for first-time hosts

This manual is designed to empower individuals and organizations in effectively organizing and facilitating Climate Resilience Groups. These resilience groups serve as platforms for open, community-based discussions on climate change that support mental health in the context of the climate crisis. These groups may also empower participants to explore, learn, and contribute to climate action in a collaborative setting.

Who this guide is for

This guide was written for people hosting a climate resilience group for the first time: neighbours, librarians, students, faith leaders, health workers, and anyone else who wants to bring people together. You do not need facilitation experience, a mental health background, or deep climate expertise, and every module is written so a newcomer can start from zero.

If you have facilitated before, there is still plenty here: ready-to-adapt agendas, icebreakers, group agreements, outreach templates, and a community of fellow facilitators sharing what works on each module page.

Why mental health belongs in climate work

Climate change reaches mental health along two paths. Extreme events such as wildfires, floods, and heat bring trauma, displacement, and loss. The slower awareness of a changing planet brings feelings that researchers and clinicians now describe with terms like eco-anxiety, climate grief, and solastalgia. These are common, understandable responses to real events, and they touch people of every age and background, though they weigh unevenly on communities already facing injustice.

Most people carry these feelings quietly, because everyday life offers few places to speak about them. Left unspoken, they pull toward isolation and overwhelm. Named and shared, they become easier to bear, and they often turn into connection, care, and a steadier footing for action.

Where climate resilience groups come in

Climate resilience groups, including climate cafés, listening circles, and similar gatherings, exist for exactly that conversation. They are peer and community supports rather than therapy: welcoming, judgment-free spaces where feelings are the agenda, no expertise is required, and no one has to arrive with solutions. By normalizing conversations about climate emotions, these groups reduce isolation, strengthen community ties, and help people find their own footing for whatever comes next.

A group can be as simple as a circle of chairs and a pot of tea. This guide covers everything else: understanding these groups, planning and promoting your own, facilitating with care, and learning from what happens. Start wherever you are.