Grief, frustration, guilt: the bushfires show the far-reaching mental health impacts of climate change.

The bushfires that have ravaged large parts of Australia since September 2019 have resulted in a scale of destruction that will take years, if not decades, of recovery.

An evacuation meeting of NSW south coast residents. Loss of
 homes and associated identity as well as poor air quality are
major risk factors for mental illness.

The mammoth task that will be Australia’s national bushfire recovery has garnered financial support from numerous private donors and a $2bn commitment from the federal government, including a $76m package allocated to mental health services for affected persons. So what exactly are the expected mental health impacts of the bushfires?

To try and anticipate the direct mental health impacts from the current bushfires, one can look to research conducted after the Black Saturday bushfires of 2009.

Read the story from The Guardian by Fiona Charlson - “Grief, frustration, guilt: the bushfires show the far-reaching mental health impacts of climate change.”