WFYI: Therapy aims to tackle climate distress, but there may not be enough in Indiana

Read the full story by Rebecca Thiele here.

In Veronica Needler’s office in Carmel, there’s the usual couch, chairs, and some pillows — but also big windows that let you see outside to trees and a pond nearby.

Though she’s been a licensed therapist for decades, she only stumbled upon training for climate-aware therapy last year while searching online.

“That sense of helplessness or hopelessness that people experience when they think about climate — and the ways that they get, I think, overwhelmed and then kind of paralyzed almost into inaction," Needler said.

Needler said most of her clients don’t come to her to talk about climate change specifically, but it certainly comes up.

“‘Never been this hot on an April day’ they might say and then they dismiss it. And I would — I might encourage them with this shift in climate awareness, to linger on that," she said.

Needler said she might ask clients what it means for them, what feelings it brings up, and let them know it’s OK to feel that way.