Together In Change: Youth Grief, Loss, and Eco-Anxiety

Before you teach, we strongly recommend you review our supporting resources:

Educator Workbook

‍Mental Health 101

Safer Language

Classroom Discussion Guide

Trauma Informed Teaching

This lesson is best used alongside additional learning about mental health, including warning signs, coping strategies, and help-seeking supports.

This lesson begins by helping students notice how grief, loss, and eco-anxiety can influence feelings, thoughts, and behaviors in daily life. Students explore common emotional responses, such as sadness, worry, or withdrawal, and reflect on how these experiences affect relationships, routines, and engagement with their communities. Video speakers normalize these responses and provide a safe space for students to consider their own emotional well-being.

The lesson emphasizes trauma-informed principles by giving students choice, normalizing diverse reactions, and fostering reflection without requiring personal disclosure. Students leave the lesson with practical strategies to manage grief and eco-anxiety, maintain hope and optimism, and support themselves and peers through collective care and classroom or program-based practices.

By the end of this lesson, students will:

1. Understand that grief, loss, and eco-anxiety are common and understandable responses to emergencies and climate change.
2. Recognize how these experiences can show up in thoughts, emotions, and daily life.
3. Identify coping and grounding strategies that can support emotional regulation.
4. Explore ways young people can care for themselves and support others without taking on too much.
5. Build a sense of hope, agency, and collective care, even in uncertain times.

Note: Students are not expected to share personal experiences to meet these goals.

Grief, Loss, and Eco - Anxiety Slide Deck

Video

‍Note: This video makes reference to mental health struggle. We encourage educators to consider the needs of their students before delivering this content in their classroom.

Handouts

Video Guide

Answer key

Reflection and Discussion

Additional Materials

• Teacher computer, projector, and speakers
• Paper, white board markers/chalk, sticky notes
• List of school/community support resources (e.g., counsellor, trusted adult, youth helplines)

1. Minds On (5 –10 minutes)
2. Action Tasks (55 – 65 minutes)
3. Consolidation (5 – 8 minutes)

Note: All parts of the lesson procedure can be found in the slide deck provided.

Land Acknowledgement (Slide 2)

In the slide deck, we have included Jack.org’s land acknowledgement. We encourage you to write your own, acknowledging the Nations, communities, territories and treaties upon which you live and work, and your calls to action for reconciliation / Self Pledge.

‍Here are some resources to support you:

• Why Acknowledge?
• Territory Acknowledgement - Native-Land.ca.  

Part 1: Minds On (5-10 min) 

Slides 3-5: Opening & Emotional Safety Setup (2-3 minutes)

Review Objectives and Ensuring a Positive Experience. 

Teacher Prompt: “Today we’ll be learning about how eco-anxiety and related feelings about climate change can affect our well-being. Everyone responds differently, and it’s okay to step back, take a break, or ask for support at any time.”

A. Optional: Quick Grounded Check-In (1 min)

This is a suggested activity if you notice your students are activated or dysregulated. It can be used at any point in the lesson.  

Prompt:

“Right now, scan your body. Are you feeling more alert, calm, tired, or restless? How do you know? What sensations do you notice are telling you this?” (No sharing required.)

Students respond by:

• Circling a word
• Holding up fingers
• Writing privately

After your students respond, invite them to take a few deep breaths. You can use the Kids Help Phone Breathing Balloon (slide 7) to help guide breathing, if needed. ‍

B. Pre-Viewing Reflection (2 minutes)

Students choose one prompt:

• What sensations in your body, feelings or thoughts come up when you think about climate change, environmental issues, or other changes in the world?
• How have you noticed friends, family, or your community reacting to environmental issues? 
• When you feel stressed or worried about the environment, what helps you feel calmer or more balanced?
• How might news or social media about environmental issues affect your routines, energy, or focus?

Suggested wrap-up:

“Thank you for reflecting on how environmental issues can affect feelings. Everyone experiences this differently, and there’s no right or wrong response. Some people may feel more affected, others less, and all reactions are valid. Paying attention to these signs of stress and our own reactions can help us make choices to take care of ourselves and support others. Let’s carry this awareness forward as we move through today’s lesson.Please ensure to check in with yourself and know it's okay to step back, take a break, or ask for support at any time.”

Slide 6: Pre-Viewing Framing & Protective Factors (2-3 minutes)

Teacher Prompt:

“Today’s video features two people talking about eco-anxiety and how concerns about the environment and the future of our planet can affect our well-being.

Even when environmental issues feel far away, they can still feel personal. Some people may have direct experiences with environmental changes or disasters, while others may learn about them through news, social media, or conversations, but many people can still be affected. Our brains are wired to notice threat, uncertainty, or loss, which can show up as worry, stress, sadness, or concern about the future.

It’s also important to know that constant exposure to environmental news and images can increase stress. Taking in updates all day can overwhelm our nervous system and make things feel more intense or heavy. This is a common and understandable response.

As you watch today’s video, try to notice any ideas about coping, support, balance, and hope.”

Part 2: Action Tasks (55 – 60 minutes)

Slide 6: Video (46:04)

Together in Change Video: Grief, Loss, and Eco-Anxiety

Share the Video Guide with your students, and briefly review the instructions. Emphasize that the questions are meant to help them notice key ideas, and it’s okay if they don’t catch every answer. Students can use the space on the side for additional notes or thoughts, if they choose.

Supportive Options During Viewing:

• Students may look down, doodle, or take notes.
• Provide a quiet signal students can use if they need a short break.

Activity: Post-Viewing Regulation Pause (3-5 minutes)

Slides 7-8

In the video, the speaker mentions some strategies for helping with regulation. Share the videos on the slides, and invite your students to try the activities, if they are comfortable doing so.

• Breathing Balloon (Kids Help Phone)
• Coping Skill: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Grounding Technique (1:51)

Activity: Post-Viewing Reflection & Discussion (5-10 minutes)

Slide 9

1. Teacher Prompt: “We’ve spent some time learning how … can affect emotions and stress, and explored ways to take care of ourselves and support others. Now we’ll do a short check-in. You can either share with a partner or reflect quietly on your own. It’s completely your choice.”
2. Options:

• From your perspective, what message from the video felt the most important for young people to remember?
• What did the video say that helped you understand eco-anxiety better?
• Which coping idea seemed realistic or helpful to you?
• What from the video made the topic of eco-anxiety feel less overwhelming to you?
  

3. Whole-Class Wrap:Invite volunteers to share (emphasize no pressure).
   

Part 3: Consolidation (5 minutes)

Teacher script: “Grief, loss, and eco-anxiety are signs that people care deeply. Learning how to respond with care, for ourselves and each other, helps us get through difficult times together.”

Exit Option (choose one):

• One word that describes how you’re feeling now
• One tool you want to remember
• One supportive action you noticed today

Students may submit anonymously.

Next Steps / Extension:

To build on today’s learning, consider following up in a subsequent class. The activities below provide opportunities for students to reflect, discuss, and apply the ideas introduced in the video.

Extension Activities

Further Reflection and Discussion:

Reflection and Discussion: Grief, Loss, Eco Anxiety

Personal & Collective Care Toolkit 

Step 1: Personal Care (Individual)

Students select 2 tools/strategies from the video:

• What the tool is
• When it might help
• How it supports emotional regulation

Examples:

• Grounding activities
• Spending time in nature
• Talking with a trusted person
• Limiting intake of graphic climate change videos

Step 2: Collective Care (Group)

Groups create a short list: “Ways our class or school could support well-being during stressful times.”

Focus on:

• Kindness
• Connection
• Predictability
• Shared responsibility

*No pressure to take action immediately.

Alberta

Health and Life Skills  (9)

Specific Outcomes

• R-9.3  Analyze, evaluate and refine personal strategies for managing stress/crises 
• W-9.11  Use personal resiliency skills 
• R-9.1  Identify appropriate strategies to foster positive feelings/attitudes 

CALM

Specific Outcomes

• explain how feelings affect moods and behaviours
• discuss possible consequences of not constructively dealing with emotions
• develop strategies for managing stress; and investigate the benefits and limitations of stress and the negative, stressful and harmful responses to stress

British Columbia 

Physical and Health Education 9

Curricular Competency

• Analyze strategies for promoting mental well-being, for self and others 
• Propose strategies for developing and maintaining healthy relationships (understanding personal boundaries and respecting the boundaries of others e.g., body boundaries, emotional boundaries; other strategies for maintaining healthy relationships could include: open communication, listening, trust, maintaining mutual respect)

Physical and Health Education 10

Curricular Competency

• Evaluate and explain strategies for promoting mental well-being
• Analyze the potential effects of social influences on health

Manitoba

Physical Education and Health 20F

Specific Student Learning Outcome

• K4S2C2. Describe situations that cause personal stress.
• K4S2C3 Examine the physiological and psychological effects of stress related to health and well-being.
• K4S2C4a. Examine the strategies and defence mechanisms that can be healthy or unhealthy ways of managing stress.
• K4S2B2a. Evaluate the benefits of effective communication skills for getting along with family, friends, and peers in school, community, and/or the workplace.
• K4S2C1a. Describe the behaviours necessary for providing others with support and promoting emotional health and well-being.
• S4S2A3. Apply communication skills and strategies in case scenarios for getting along with others in a variety of contexts.
• S.4.S2.A.5 Apply stress-management strategies (e.g., mental imagery, relaxation skills, rest habits, focusing...) and communication skills (e.g., listen, comfort, seek help...) for stress reduction for self and/or others in case scenarios related to stressful situations (e.g., family breakdown, violence...).

Active Healthy Lifestyles 30F 

Specific Student Learning Outcome

• 11.MH.1 Identify and apply positive health strategies to deal with issues such as stress, anxiety, depression, and eating disorders.
• 11.MH.2 Examine media influence(s) on self-image and behaviour.

New Brunswick

Personal Wellness 9

Big Idea: Positive Mental Health

Achievement Indicators

• Discuss the role of hope in positive mental health
• Assess how listening and empathy support the positive mental health of peers
• Discuss the value of emotional regulation in different contexts
• Demonstrate understanding of how stopping negative thought cycles and/or catastrophizing, overcoming fear of failure, and developing a positive mindset can build resilience

Big Idea: Helpful and Harmful Choices

• Analyze how food, screen time, and substances may affect an individual’s health (e.g., mental, social, emotional, and physical including brain development)
• Discuss how the use or misuse of food, screen time, and substances is personal and looks different for every individual

Newfoundland and Labrador

Grade 9 Health 

Specific Curriculum Outcome

• Demonstrate positive communication strategies in a variety of social situations.
• Assess personal communication skills and their impact on relationships with others.
• Assess the role that respect for sensitive issues plays in relationships.
• Identify healthy ways of coping with stress.
• Reflect upon the effect decisions, choices, actions, and words may have on themselves and others.

Healthy Living 1200 

Specific Curriculum Outcome

• Demonstrate an understanding of stress and its impacts on individuals, relationships and society. (H-GCO4, KSCO1; FS:HD-GCO2, KSCO2)
• Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of communication, negotiation and conflict resolution skills in personal relationships. (H-GCO4, KSCO1; FS:HD-GCO1, KSCO5; PE-GCO2, KSCO5)
• Demonstrate an awareness of the role of emotions on decision making. (H-GCO4, KSCO4; FS:HD-GCO2, KSCO2; PE-GCO6, KSCO3)
• Identify and participate in activities that reduce stress, are financially viable, and enhance relationships. (H-GCO4, KSCO2; PE-GCO6, KSCO7)
• Identify and use strategies to balance work, study and leisure time. (H-GCO4, KSCO2; FS:HD-GCO2, KSCO3)

Northwest Territories

Health Education 9

Curricular Competency

• Analyze strategies for promoting mental well-being, for self and others
• Explore and describe factors that shape personal identities, including social and cultural factors
• Assess and evaluate strategies for managing problems related to mental well-being and substance use, for others
• Propose strategies for developing and maintaining healthy relationships
• Create strategies for promoting the health and well-being of the home, school and community
• Propose healthy choices that support lifelong health and well-being

*Based upon NWT Adapted curriculum Implementation Draft, July 2024

Nova Scotia

Healthy Living 9

Specific Curriculum Outcome

• 9.1 analyze their health needs in times of change and apply strategies that enhance their capacity to manage change in their lives
• 9.2 recognize the warning signs of depressive disorders and the importance of seeking help for these disorders

Ontario

Healthy Active Living, PPL1O

Specific Expectations

• C3.2 Identify warning signs and symptoms that could be related to mental health concerns (e.g., inability to cope with stress; feelings of sadness, anxiety, hopelessness, or worthlessness; negative thoughts about oneself, others, and the future; thoughts of suicide), and describe a variety of strategies for coping with or responding to mental health concerns affecting oneself or others (e.g., stress and mood management techniques, identifying ways to seek help for oneself or a friend/ classmate, supporting others who are struggling with their emotional well-being) 
  

Healthy Active Living, PPL2O

Specific Expectations

• C1.1 demonstrate an understanding of factors that enhance mental health and emotional and spiritual well-being 

Career Studies, GLC2O

Specific Expectations

• A1.1 demonstrate an understanding of the importance of resilience and perseverance in school, life, and work – why it is helpful to acquire skills for adapting to change, persevering in the face of adversity, learning from mistakes, and thinking positively about setbacks – and analyse how developing resilience and perseverance can help them in all areas of their lives
• A1.2 identify a range of strategies to help manage stress as they navigate a healthy school/life/work balance; explain how they have used such strategies in their lives so far and how they might apply them in the future; and recognize signs that could indicate stress is becoming problematic
• A1.3 identify people, resources, and services in the school and the community that can provide support when a person is experiencing mental health concerns, and describe how to access these supports

Healthy Active Living, PPL3O

Specific Expectations

• C3.4 describe how to use personal and interpersonal skills to deal with personally stressful situations or to help others deal with stressful situations (e.g., mental and physical illness, death of a family member, abusive relationships, understanding and accepting sexual orientation, separation/divorce, suicide, unemployment/underemployment, substance abuse) 

Health for Life, PPZ3C

Specific Expectations

• A1.2 demonstrate an understanding of resilience and its impact on personal health, and explain how personal factors (e.g., ability to self-monitor, self-awareness, assertiveness, ability to solve problems, coping skills, empathy and compassion, sense of humour, good physical and mental health, having goals and aspirations) contribute to the development of resilience
• A1.3 explain how personal health practices, health knowledge, and healthy behaviours and attitudes contribute to the protection and improvement of an individual’s health
• A2.1 explain how a strong social support network (e.g., family, friends, trusted adults, connections to school and community supports) contributes to better personal health (e.g., provides help to solve problems and deal with adversity; increases feelings of self-worth by reinforcing a sense of belonging and connection; helps to prevent depression and anxiety), and describe ways of enhancing their personal social networks
  

Healthy Active Living, PPL4O

Specific Expectations

• C2.3 describe how coping and interpersonal skills and their knowledge of personal protective and risk factors can be used to develop resilience and enhance their ability to make healthy choices, including the avoidance of substance use and addictive behaviours
• C2.5 identify the skills and resources that they will need to maintain their personal health and well-being as they become more independent (e.g., budgeting and time-management skills, interpersonal skills, cooking and meal-planning skills, recreational and leisure opportunities, access to health care and other supports) 

Recreation and Healthy Active Living Leadership (PLF4M)

Specific Expectations

• C2.1 Describe how healthier choices related to physical activity, healthy eating, and other aspects of everyday living (e.g., limiting screen time and increasing participation in a variety of physical activities that provide cardiovascular and muscular endurance, muscular strength, or flexibility benefits; eating balanced meals; choosing nutritious snacks; managing stress; getting enough sleep; making choices with personal safety in mind) contribute to better physical, mental, and social health and greater personal well-being 

Physical and Health Education 9

Specific Curriculum Outcome

• identify personal strengths and challenges related to mental health, including resilience, coping strategies, and risk factors
• practice active listening and empathy to understand and respect the boundaries and preferences of others, while acknowledging and asserting personal boundaries as well 
• describe the importance of ongoing self-assessment and adjustment to maintain positive mental health and prevent relapse

Wellness PED401A

Indicators

• Investigate the multitude of factors that exert influences on life balance (e.g., relationships, gender, culture, stress, sense of belonging, leisure, traditions, socio-economic factors, physical and mental fitness, technology use).
• Assess one’s motivations, (e.g., appearance, health, ability), and limitations (e.g., time management) that improve and/or impede one’s personal wellness.
• Analyse individual and civic responsibility in nurturing well-being and examine the social factors (including expectations of self and others) that influence personal wellness.
• Examine available supports (both formal and informal) for attaining and maintaining optimal wellness and establish strategies to effectively access these supports.
• Describe, with information from a variety of mental health experts, the factors that contribute to positive mental health (e.g., involvement in extracurricular activities, belonging to a team/group).
• Discuss prior understandings of how thoughts, actions, and behaviours are all connected to brain function.
• Investigate various personal, environmental, biological, and social influences (e.g., sports competitions, use of cannabis, support networks) on mental health and determine one’s relationship to these influences.
• Investigate the relationships between personal mental health and personal wellness (e.g., feeling well, functioning well and being resilient, making positive changes, being physically fit).
• Examine the relationships among defense mechanisms, feelings, behaviours, and mental health (i.e., ways we protect ourselves from things we do not want to think about or deal with).
• Examine the interconnectedness and interdependence of mental health and a variety of activities (e.g., leisure activities, competitive sports, physical activities, helping someone or some cause).
• Analyse mental fitness factors (e.g., placing things in perspective, using stress management strategies, cultivating and maintaining a strong sense of humour) as they relate to personal well-being.
• Examine the benefits (e.g., staying connected to a friend who has moved, enhanced opportunity to engage in social justice or political issues) and the harm (e.g., online bullying, inadequate sleep, scams) that may result from the use of technology, such as social networking, online shopping, and internet gambling.

Quebec

Physical Education and Health / PED 302, 402

Knowledge and Skills

• Uses techniques to relax after a physical effort or to manage his/her stress
• Names stressful situations that have an effect on his/her daily life (e.g. winning a competition, writing an exam)
• Names the effects of an excessive use of multimedia technology on his/her psychological or physical state
• Indicates strategies for managing the use of multimedia technology on a daily basis
• Names the repercussions of poor stress management for his/her health and well-being (e.g. anxiety, fatigue, sleep disturbances, depression)
• Indicates strategies for relaxing (e.g. taking a warm bath, reading, exercising, using a relaxation technique)

Saskatchewan 

Wellness 10

Indicator

• Investigate the multitude of factors that exert influences on life balance (e.g., relationships, gender, culture, stress, sense of belonging, leisure, traditions, socio-economic factors, physical and mental fitness, technology use).
• Assess one’s motivations (e.g., appearance) and limitations (e.g., time management) that improve and/or impede one’s personal wellness.
• Analyze individual and civic responsibility in nurturing well-being and examine the social factors (including expectations of self and others) that influence personal wellness.
• Discuss prior understandings of how thoughts, actions, and behaviours are all connected to brain function.
• Investigate various personal, environmental, biological, and social influences (e.g., sports competitions, use of cannabis, support networks) on mental health and determine one’s relationship to these influences.
• Examine the interconnectedness and interdependence of mental health and a variety of activities (e.g., leisure activities, competitive sports, physical activities, helping someone or some cause).
• Analyze mental fitness factors (e.g., placing things in perspective, using stress management strategies, cultivating and maintaining a strong sense of humour) as they relate to personal well-being.
• Reflect on one’s ability to recognize and manage emotions in self and in personal relationships.
• Examine emotional and behavioural patterns of self and others and determine related impact on optimal wellness.
• Practise and reflect on variety of self-awareness strategies (e.g., treat feelings as good or bad, identify triggers, seek feedback, keep a journal of emotions, observe others’ reactions to your emotions).
• Examine the benefits (e.g., staying connected to a friend who has moved, enhanced opportunity to engage in social justice or political issues) and the harm (e.g., online bullying, inadequate sleep, scams) that may result from the use of social networking, online shopping, internet gambling, etc.
• Investigate the value of silence, stillness, solitude, and an inward focus on one’s overall wellness
• Examine the role individual activities (e.g., cooking, travelling, dancing, running) may have in one’s spirituality and wellness.
• Determine how one is influenced by norms, trends, images, and values in various cultures, communities, and groups.

Yukon

*Yukon schools follow the British Columbia (B.C.) curriculum, with adaptations to include Yukon content and Yukon First Nations’ ways of knowing and doing. (https://yukon.ca/en/school-curriculum)

Physical and Health Education 9

Curricular Competency

• Analyze strategies for promoting mental well-being, for self and others 
• Propose strategies for developing and maintaining healthy relationships (understanding personal boundaries and respecting the boundaries of others e.g., body boundaries, emotional boundaries; other strategies for maintaining healthy relationships could include: open communication, listening, trust, maintaining mutual respect)

Physical and Health Education 10

Curricular Competency

• Evaluate and explain strategies for promoting mental well-being
• Analyze the potential effects of social influences on health