P-44 Creative interventions for climate-related mental health and resilience in Caribbean and diasporic communities
Author(s):
T Simone
Type Of Study:
- Evidence Synthesis
- Qualitative
Year of Presentation:
2026
Objective: Climate-related stressors, including displacement, environmental instability, and cultural loss, are contributing to rising rates of anxiety, depression, and grief among Caribbean and diasporic communities. This study explores how arts-based, healing-centered practices can serve as culturally grounded mental-health interventions that strengthen emotional resilience, social cohesion, and adaptive capacity in the face of climate impacts.
Methods: Using a qualitative, community-based approach, this study synthesises data collected between 2022 and 2025 from facilitated Sanctuary Sessions, Iverna Island workshops, and healing-centered creative residencies. Methods included participant observation, thematic analysis of anonymized participant reflections, open-ended interviews, and facilitator field notes. Interventions incorporated somatic grounding, rest-based practices, storytelling, music, and collective creative exercises. Data were analysed for patterns related to emotional processing, cultural continuity, climate grief, and perceived wellbeing.
Results: Creative interventions were associated with improved emotional regulation, belonging, and engagement with climate-related stress. Participants reported reduced anxiety (74%), increased feelings of grounding (81%), and greater willingness to participate in community discussions on climate impacts (68%). Sessions incorporating cultural memory, ancestral grounding, and somatic practices produced the strongest wellbeing outcomes. Participants described arts-based environments as safer, less clinical, and more culturally resonant than traditional mental-health settings.
Conclusion: Arts-based, healing-centered interventions represent a scalable, culturally aligned strategy for improving mental health and climate adaptation outcomes among Caribbean and diasporic communities. Findings highlight the need for cross-sector collaboration between public health, cultural organizations, and climate-adaptation practitioners to expand access to creative resilience programming across the region.