I’m a therapist. In helping people deal with their climate anxiety, I’m learning to manage my own [Video]

This First Person column is the experience of Amy Green, a registered psychologist who lives in Salmon Arm, B.C. All specific client stories and quotes have been used with their consent. For more information about CBC’s First Person stories, please see the FAQ.

“I’m doing a lot better this year,” Julie said when I asked how she’s coping this summer. “All the rain in June was a huge blessing.”

I’m a psychologist and Julie is a client in my private practice in Salmon Arm, a rural community in the southern Interior of B.C. Our August meeting was the latest in several sessions since she’d reached out to me a couple of years ago for help with her climate anxiety.

That anxiety ramps up each year during fire season. 

“I’m just grateful I can attend my cousin’s wedding next weekend,” she added, her voice cracking. 

“If there was a local fire right now and we were on evacuation alert, I wouldn’t be able …