From February to May 2024, Break The Divide launched the first national cohort of the Climate Emotions Connection Program, engaging high school students from across Canada in a transformative journey that centered emotional literacy and identity within climate conversations.
Developed in response to the growing mental health impacts of the climate crisis on youth—particularly racialized, newcomer, and Indigenous students—the program created space for participants to connect, reflect, and build resilience through facilitated dialogue circles, creative activities, and peer connection.
Program Impact at a Glance:
- 200+ youth participants from schools across 3 provinces
- 12 high schools actively participated in the pilot cohort
- 15 trained youth facilitators led connection sessions in their own communities
- 20+ connection circles hosted over the span of 4 months
- 1 national video + digital report created to capture learnings and stories
- 90% of students reported finding the program helpful in understanding and navigating climate emotions.
- 100% of teachers found Break The Divide resources valuable for supporting students’ learning about the climate crisis and related emotional themes.
This video and accompanying report capture the essence of what made the Climate Emotions Program so special: its raw honesty, its nurturing spaces, and its celebration of youth voices.
As we reflect on the success of this initiative, we are more committed than ever to integrating emotional literacy into climate work and expanding this model across more schools and communities in 2025 and beyond.
We invite you to watch the video, read the report, and join us in reimagining what it means to care—for the planet, and for each other.
Climate Emotions: An Overview
The BTD Climate Emotions campaign aims to contribute to the growing awareness of climate mental health and to support youth in understanding and working with their climate emotions, instead of against them. Recent studies (Hickman et. al., 2021) have shown that a significant number of youth are experiencing feelings of worry, sadness, anxiety, anger, powerlessness, and guilt due to climate change. These feelings can have a negative impact on daily life and functioning, as well as inhibit people’s ability to take climate action.
“Climate Emotions aims to contribute to the growing awareness of climate mental health and to support youth in understanding and working with their climate emotions to facilitate climate action.”
Why Talk About Climate Emotions?
We’ve noticed that it can be hard to talk about climate emotions. Through the Climate Emotions campaign, we aim to break down stereotypes around climate mental health in youth communities. We’re creating much-needed spaces of dialogue, where youth can share their stories and experiences.
What is the Climate Emotions Program?
- A free and virtual 4-month program (from February to May 2024) connecting high-school students from two different communities across Canada together in a discussion of climate change, mental health, and community action (e.g., Saskatoon with Halifax, Iqaluit with Toronto, Montreal with Tsawwassen First Nation).
- Includes 7 hybrid sessions with age-appropriate educational resources covering different climate-related themes (e.g., environmental identity, climate emotions) lasting 45-60 minutes each.
- Each session will be guided and facilitated by a Break The Divide team member requiring low commitment from the school staff.
- Builds knowledge, empathy, and action on climate change and mental health by providing resources to build emotional resilience and a deeper understanding of the issues.
- Provides students with access to resources and sessions by a certified mental health professional to support the education and healing process.
- Provides program completion certificates at the end of the program.
- Allows students to connect with people their age from completely different communities, fostering meaningful conversations and providing them with diverse perspectives on the world.
Please Note: We are currently working towards providing French content and programming by late 2024. For this Climate Emotions Program, we will attempt to twin FL1 schools with one another. If you are a FL1 school, please note this in your signup form submission.
Contact Us
You can learn more about the program by contacting the Climate Emotions program manager at info@breakthedivide.net.