Leslie Davenport

Psychotherapist

Leslie Davenport is a licensed psychotherapist who brings innovative climate solutions to the halls of academia and to the streets. She is the author of four books, including Emotional Resiliency in the Era of Climate Change and All the Feelings Under the Sun. She was a reviewer for APA’s “Mental Health and our Changing Climate.” Davenport is a founding member of the Institute for Health & Healing at California Pacific Medical Center, and her 25 years of developing an integrative, collaborative healing model has informed her approach to climate justice. She has served on Red Cross Disaster Mental Health teams, and the 350.org Marin Clean Energy Campaign. Davenport teaches a climate psychology module on faculty at the California Institute of Integral Studies and offers CE workshops that train therapists how to have a climate-aware practice.

Resilience
psychology
Mindfulness
climate denial

Live Event Appearances

Past event

Mind Over Chatter: Exploring Climate Psychology

We all know about the environmental and physical effects of climate change. But what about its impact on our mental health? According to some psychologists, their patients who report trouble sleeping, changes in appetite, feelings of dread or hopelessness, could be suffering from climate anxiety.

Leslie Davenport is a clinical psychotherapist who practices in San Francisco. “I’m starting to notice in my practice that sometimes people come in with ambient anxiety,” she reports. “They’re just more distressed, even if they haven't always connected the dots about why.”

Podcast Guest Appearances

Mind Over Chatter: Exploring Climate Psychology

Nov 29 2018 - 6:30pm

We all know about the environmental and physical effects of climate change. But what about its impact on our mental health? Therapists report that their patients are exhibiting symptoms of what they call “climate anxiety” – loss of sleep, changes in appetite, feelings of grief, anger and hopelessness. How do we maintain our optimism in the face of a global existential crisis? And how do we talk with others about our fears without turning them off – or freaking them out? Three climate psychologists discuss how to cope with mounting anxiety brought on by climate change.

REWIND: Exploring Climate Psychology / Getting Outside in the Digital Age

We all know about the environmental and physical effects of climate change. But what about its impact on our mental health?  According to some psychologists, their patients who report trouble sleeping, changes in appetite, feelings of dread or hopelessness, could be suffering from climate anxiety. 

“I’m starting to notice in my practice that sometimes people come in with ambient anxiety,” reports clinical psychotherapist Leslie Davenport. “They’re just more distressed, even if they haven't always connected the dots about why.”

Zen and Coping with Climate

More and more of us are seriously worrying about what we’ve done to the earth’s climate. But while climate predictions can be scary, Sister True Dedication says we don’t have to live in a place of fear or denial.