The opening session is an opportunity to collectively set intentions for the day’s exploration of challenging topics. Drawing upon their lenses of Indigenous research and practice, Engaged mindfulness and neuroscience, Mikayla Redden and Elli Weisbaum will welcome us to arrive in the space and set intentions for how we explore, examine and celebrate the multiple truths of our polycrisis within the context of community.

Mikayla Redden (she/her) is an Instruction and Information Services Librarian at the New College Library at the University of Toronto. Mikayla is Anishinaabekwe and Anglo settler. Though she is a member of Curve Lake First Nation, she was raised in Nogojiwanong (Peterborough). Her great-grandparents, Jack Jacobs and Edith Marsden, and their minor children were enfranchised under section 214 of the Indian Act, meaning they relinquished their Indian identities and assimilated into white settler society. The family was legally enfranchised until Bill C-31 amended the Indian Act in 1985. Mikayla’s grandmother made community in Hiawatha First Nation, a place she would come to spend summers with her children and later, her grandchildren. Mikayla credits her raising on the Michi Saagiig homelands and the voices of Indigenous kin and other oppressed peoples for the perspectives she takes to her career, where questioning, rethinking, and transforming library systems and practices are central.

This panel will explore student and researcher perspectives on topics such as climate anxiety, ecoanxiety, critical hope and nature deficit. The panel structure will invite students to share their own research and lived experience with these topics within their learning environments and their everyday life. Senior researchers in this field will share their own perspectives on these topics and how their research/pedagogy aims to address these issues, particularly in relation to hope and resiliency.

Dr. Britt Wray is an author and researcher working at the forefront of climate change and mental health. She is the Director of CIRCLE at Stanford Psychiatry, a research and action initiative focused on Community-minded Interventions for Resilience, Climate Leadership and Emotional wellbeing at the Stanford School of Medicine. Britt is the author of two books, Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis, which was a finalist for the 2022 Governor General’s Award, and Rise of the Necrofauna: the Science, Ethics and Risks of De-Extinction (Greystone Books 2017). She is the recipient of the 2023 Canadian Eco-Hero Award and a top award winner of the National Academies Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communications, given by The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in partnership with Schmidt Futures.

Dr. Amy Mui is a University Teaching Fellow in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Dalhousie University (MSc University of Sydney, PhD University of Toronto). She combines a passion for wildlife conservation with nature-based education to both prepare and inspire future scientists and eco-advocates. She has been awarded the Dalhousie Early Career Faculty Award of Excellence for Teaching and the Academic Innovation award for her efforts and leadership in higher education. Her current work focusses on EcoHope, which is both an initiative and a concept that aims to shift the narrative away from static eco-anxiety and towards action-based opportunities and pedagogical interventions that support resilience and hope in university students.

Swelen Andari is the Director of Strategy, Climate Resilience & Youth Mental Health at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). She leads a research initiative with Youth Wellness Hubs Ontario (YWHO) to address climate distress, climate action, and active hope for youth. Swelen also supports integrating climate adaptation and mitigation within CAMH to enhance mental health in face of climate change. With a background in creative arts therapy, systems thinking, and implementation science, she has over a decade of experience in system-level initiatives focused on improving access, service design, prevention, and youth leadership in Ontario’s child and youth mental health system. For the past six years, Swelen has been actively involved in multiple local and national climate justice organizing efforts, including with Climate Justice Toronto, 350’s Our Time Campaign, and co-designing a social movement organization for equitable climate solutions that create good work and dignified lives for all.

Lizramona (she/her) is an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto, pursuing a double major in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Health & Disease, with a Certificate in Sustainability. Interested in the intersections of health and environmental studies, her work applies an equity-focused approach to addressing environmental health challenges. Lizramona is the President and founder of the Women’s Healthy Environments Network Student Club, a UofT affiliation with WHEN. Lizramona was inspired to deepen her impact through a Research Assistantship at the Trinity College Food Systems Lab, where in collaboration with the community partner EcoSpark, she developed a culturally aware health and wellness curricula that emphasizes the importance of physical and mental well-being.

Mallory Furlong holds an Honours Bachelor of Environmental Science and is currently working toward a Master of Science in Sustainability Management, both from the University of Toronto. She has a broad range of experience in education, social media, energy, and film and television, which gives her a unique perspective on her work. Since 2022, Mallory has been researching eco-anxiety amongst post-secondary students under the guidance of Professor Simon Appolloni, and they are soon to publish a paper on the topic. To support students dealing with eco-anxiety, Mallory co-founded Climate Crisis Cafe, a workshop that is designed to offer students a safe space to discuss and process their emotions. She’s currently expanding her research to explore how autistic youth experience eco-anxiety, with the goal of providing better support for this often-overlooked group. While she is passionate about the psychological impacts of climate change, Mallory also enjoys reading, spending time with her dog, and sipping tea in her free time.

Tariq is a 23-year-old Canadian activist and researcher, whose work focuses on the intersection of climate, divestment, language, and activism. As Director of Operations at Break The Divide since 2023, Tariq supports the organization’s mission of fostering resilience to climate change and inspiring youth-led community action across Canada. Tariq is currently pursuing a Master’s in Anthropology at the University of Toronto, equipping him with critical insights into activism and community dynamics. He pursues his passion for community and education as a Residence Advisor at Victoria College has honed his leadership and support skills, which he brings to his role at Break The Divide. At Break The Divide, he leads communications, social media, grant writing, and program development, serving as a pragmatic and adaptable team member. Tariq is co-authoring a book chapter on sustaining climate activism and continues to enjoy his lifelong passions for ice hockey and cooking.

What does a healthy, sustainable future look like? How will this support our individual and collective wellbeing? How do the ways we engage in developing this future shape mental wellness? Julius Lindsay will take us on a journey that deconstructs our assumptions of what our future can possibly look like. Along with trained facilitators, Julius will lead group discussions on new visions and pathways for ecological and emotional resiliency. We will then co-create a vision for the future and how we can work together to implement these dreams into actions.

Julius Lindsay is the Director of Sustainable Communities at the David Suzuki Foundation. He leads the Foundation’s work to accelerate and raise the ambition of climate action in cities across the place now known as Canada and to transform our economic system from one that is solely financially growth based, to one that centres the wellbeing of people and planet. He is also a co-founder of the Black Environmentalist Alliance, an organization that seeks to champion Black people in the environmental profession, provide a safe space for peer-to-peer engagement to have real conversations and share experiences, and to advocate for environmental justice for Black Canadians now and in the future. Julius is also the co-lead for the Prismatic Project, which seeks to centre Indigenous and Black perspectives through the lens of Indigenous futurist and Afrofuturist art, community engagement and futures games to shift the conversation about and composition of climate action in Canada. Prior to these roles, Julius was the catalyst for and led the development of climate change plans, programs, and policies at two of the biggest cities, Mississauga and Richmond Hill, in Ontario, Canada’s Largest Province.

Student groups will host fun, hands-on activities to connect and integrate the learnings from the day in creative ways. Sessions include yoga, mindful eating (snacks!), paper making, and candle making. Embodied practices for coping with climate change Hosted by students in Buddhism, Psychology and Mental Health program. Paper-making Hosted by the Trinity College Environmental Society. Beeswax wrap/candle making + honey tasting Led by UofTBees.

Dr. Nicole Spiegelaar is an Assistant Professor in the Teaching Stream with the School of the Environment, where she teaches undergraduate courses in environmental psychology (Environment & Mental Wellness and Ecology of the Mind), and a graduate course on Research in Environment and Sustainability. Nicole’s past research has explored the natural environment as a living systems model for mental wellness shaped by Indigenous Knowledge of the James Bay Cree, Environmental Psychology and Ecosystems Science. She has applied this curriculum design that supports environment students with greater psycho-social resilience, sense of agency and nature connectedness. Nicole is presently Academic Director of Trinity’s Integrated Sustainability Initiative, where she teaches Environmental Science and Pathways to Sustainability in the TrinityOne program, and leads the integration of sustainability into Trinity’s academic programs with a focus on experiential learning.

Elli Weisbaum has worked internationally facilitating mindfulness workshops and retreats within the sectors of education, healthcare and business. She is based at the University of Toronto as an Assistant Professor (teaching stream) in the Buddhism, Psychology and Mental Health Program (BPMH), with a joint appointment to the Department of Psychiatry, in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, and cross-appointment to the Dalla Lana School of Public Health in their Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME). Elli’s novel background in both academic research and traditional mindfulness practice support her work integrating mindfulness into programming for UofT’s Faculty of Law, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Faculty of Engineering, Rotman School of Management, Physical Therapy Department, the Ontario Hospital Association, The Hospital for Sick Children, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Simon is Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, at the School of the Environment, University of Toronto. He is the author of Convergent Knowing: Christianity and Science in Conversation with a Suffering Creation (McGill-Queens) and chief editor of Generation Laudato Si’; Catholic Youth on Living out an Ecological Spirituality (Novalis). His current research interest lies in understanding and utilizing pedagogies of hope that build resilience within students as they navigate paths toward sustainability.

Honour Stahl, Kate Beshiri, Trinity College Wellness Team