The Story Behind “Anxiety into Action”

What brought Sandy Hietala and Sue Vatnick, two special educators, together to create a workshop called “Anxiety into Action: Helping Young People Cope with the Climate Crisis”?

Sue:

Sandy and I are part of the volunteer team at THIS! Is What We Did – a nonprofit working towards educating people about climate change and moving them to action.  Our organization offers a variety of classes including “How to Have Effective Climate Conversations” and “How to Move Your Money from Climate Bad Banks”. Sandy and I felt our organization needed to do something to support children in this climate crisis. 

So, this story is born from love.   Our workshop on helping young people cope with the climate crisis came about because of our deep love for and concern about children and the anxiety they are experiencing today. In our roles as special education teachers, mothers, and grandmothers, Sandy and I wanted to create a resource for parents, grandparents, and caregivers – something to help build resilience in children in the face of our changing climate and the challenges it is bringing to humanity. 

Given our similar professional backgrounds, Sandy and I both observed high levels of anxiety among youth. Our personal experiences were confirmed by the largest study to date on climate anxiety in children and young people, published in The Lancet in 2021. The study surveyed over 10,000 children and young people across 10 countries, including the U.S., collecting data on their thoughts and feelings about climate change and governmental responses. Respondents across all countries expressed significant worry about climate change.

Drawing on our personal experiences as teachers and mothers, we wanted to provide simple ways for young people to maintain their wellbeing and to channel their emotions into actions – empowering them to be part of the solution in addressing climate change.

Sandy, what do we hope to provide parents, grandparents and caregivers with when they participate in our workshop?

Sandy:

When we developed “Anxiety into Action” we wanted to make it practical and effective.  Parents are busy people, juggling many priorities and we wanted the suggestions and ideas to be doable.  After an extensive dive into what was available we presented what we felt was most effective. We talk about the problem, based on research and personal experience as Sue shared with us.

Then we look at how to effectively help.  We start with looking at the brain and what happens under stress.  We provide practical fun activities and resources to deal with anxiety from our “breathing buddies” for toddlers and young children to sharing mindfulness apps for older students.  We share the importance of building resilience by developing an “identity” story for families: “We’re the kind of family who is willing to face the challenges of climate change, educate ourselves and take action to make the world a better place for everyone.” 

We look at actions parents can take in sharing the love of nature as well as information about climate change as appropriate for each age level, actions families can take together and actions they can take in community with others.  Rather than only providing a list of resources, we take participants to the websites we have found most helpful by age group to explore book lists, videos, and fun educational programs.  Best yet, we packed this into an hour and a half to make it accessible for busy parents, grandparents, and caregivers.  We offer the workshop quarterly through THIS! Is What We Did but are happy to arrange other presentations for an audience of 10 or more.

Next event:

Sign up for our Winter 2026 workshop: Sunday, January 25th at 4:00-5:15pm Pacific Time

Thank you for putting a spotlight on our program!