Why Mental Health Needs a Place in Resilience Conversation: Reflections from EP:LIVE
3 minute read.
Tony Li, Partnership Lead at the Inner Climate Response Alliance, reflects on EP:LIVE and why mental and emotional resilience are essential to building resilient communities.
Looking back on EP:LIVE, my first thought is “What a day!”
It was fantastic to see so many people attend from different corners of the country and I was very proud to represent the work we’re doing at the Inner Climate Response Alliance.
I did, however, leave with a few nagging questions.
Firstly, no-one was really talking about mental and emotional resilience. If we’re to face the threats outlined in the National Emergency Briefing, such as more intense flooding, heatwaves, food insecurity and economic shocks, people need to have the emotional and psychological bandwidth to deal with them. No matter what national and local government do - even working closely with the voluntary and community sector (VCS) and emergency services - will ever be enough to help people prepare, manage and recover from emergencies if they’re too cognitively exhausted to engage.
This leads me to my second nagging question.
If individuals and communities are the key to emergency resilience then we need to be talking more about how we help people build mutual support networks ahead of crises, rather than focus on individual actions like stockpiling.
We all know there are members of our society who don’t have the time, money or space to build up the bank of resources needed to see them through an emergency. Even for those of us fortunate enough to be able to adequately prepare, life - as we know - is so great and tearing up best-laid plans.
You can have all the resources you need, but what happens if your car breaks down and you or a loved one needs medical care? What happens if you are heavily pregnant during a heatwave and unable to make it down flights of stairs to seek a cooler space as outlined in this recent Heatwaves and Women report.
As the Ghostbusters so wisely enquired, “Who are you gonna call?”
We are truly resilient together, not separately. And it’s this relational resilience that will truly help us weather the metaphorical and literal storms ahead.
Don’t know where to start? Start small. Ask yourself simple questions like:
What skills can I volunteer?
What resources can I share?
Who on my street might not be able to quickly evacuate their homes?
Am I truly prepared? What help might I need? We’re all vulnerable if the right circumstances arise.
Talk to a neighbour and see what they think. If they agree, talk to another…then another. Very soon you could have a small group set up.
So my question back to us as VCS organisations, as well as our colleagues in the statutory sector, is what can we do to help bring about this shift?
What work are we already doing that can support and facilitate communities to build this relational resilience?
What can be tailored or adapted?
And, very importantly, what should be happening, but isn’t?
One of my take home quotes from EP:LIVE is “We need to make friends before we need each other.”
I would say, “We already need each other - let’s make friends.”