When Jennifer Austin woke up on Tuesday morning, her Ottawa home smelled like smoke, even though all the windows were closed.
"I felt like a little bit under siege," she said. "It was a bit of a battle every time the front door was opening, so I put one of the air filters there."Worried about her own asthma and the health risks that her three teenage kids might face, Austin ran multiple air purifiers inside and tried to keep the amount of time spent outside to a minimum.
"It's like this double-edged sword of anxiety where you're anxious about what's going on now and you feel hopeless about it changing. So then you're anxious about the future because you can't imagine that sufficient change will happen to make it better." Kids Help Phone has seen a 30 per cent increase in text conversations with counsellors this month compared to last month, said Alisa Simon, the organization's executive vice-president of e-mental health transformation and chief youth officer.
The organization also created a web page dedicated to letting young people know how to get mental health support, which also included tips on how to cope with feelings of distress, hopelessness, guilt and anger they may be feeling around climate change. The Kids Help Phone website suggests actions ranging from conserving energy to planting a community garden to volunteering with a climate advocacy group.
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