In order to stop the climate crisis, we will need to do many things that do not feel “normal.” We will need to break out of our passivity, stop over-consuming, and feel difficult feelings about the destruction of the environment and our own climate activism. We will also need to build close relationships with each other to support each other in our climate work and do so in a culture that systematically divides and separates us.
Sustaining All Life calls this movement against a “normal” culture of conformity, passivity, over-consumption, isolation, and numbness “Mental Health Liberation.”
In this workshop you will learn:
· How normality is defined by the behaviors most desirable by profiteering interests;
· How our societies and institutions enforce conformity and make people less likely to act against authority or resist oppression;
· A Mental Health Liberation framework for understanding human upset beyond the medical (mental illness/mental health) and consumer models;
· Practical tools for dealing with the emotions that come up when we face the climate emergency and challenge societal norms; and
· A format for exchanging care with each other that creates the safety we need to show ourselves and build closer relationships.
Understanding how our societies and institutions define and enforce normality is key to making the big changes we need to make. Please join us as we take this on together.