Back in the late 2000s, six-year-old Pim Sullivan-Tailyour was in a car in southern Thailand, watching mountains pass by. Not majestic, Instagram-worthy mountains, but half-mountains, 'just quarried out,' leaving 'this huge orange face.' Even without knowing the word 'quarry,' she sensed something was off. Her mother had bathed in a nearby river, clear enough to see fish, but extraction had muddied it. Her thought: 'We're changing things. And it doesn't seem right.'
Fast forward to the UK, where Sullivan-Tailyour joined the Schools Sustainability Network but felt lonely - the only eco-warrior at her school. Then she found Force of Nature, a UK-based org that in 2021 launched 'Becoming a Force of Nature,' an informal online group therapy for climate-anxious youth. First Zoom session: dozens of faces from dozens of countries. 'I realized that I wasn't alone.'
She's not. Global surveys show most kids are anxious about the world - not just rising seas, but the whole 'polycrisis': pandemic threats, conflicts, nuclear weapons, unaffordable housing, luxury-priced groceries, skyrocketing healthcare, rising authoritarianism, partisan splits, tough job markets, AI job-stealing fears, and 24/7 doomscrolling. It's a lot. So networks like Force of Nature have popped up, treating climate as one facet of a generally troubled world.
But the science on their effectiveness is nascent. Psychologists and practitioners say it's time to measure whether these programs actually help. Liza Jachens, a psychologist at the University of Nottingham, compares eco-anxiety to grief: 'A real sense of loss - not just fear of what is coming but mourning for what has already gone.' Psychiatrist Lise Van Susteren calls it 'pre-traumatic' stress.
A 2021 Lancet Planetary Health study of 10,000 kids in 10 countries found 60% were very or extremely worried about climate, and 56% agreed 'Humanity is doomed.' A 2025 Polish study attempted to define 'polycrisis syndrome,' finding over 60% of young people reported emotional regulation difficulties, depression symptoms, and lower well-being from cumulative world stress.
Kids today aren't the first to fear doom. In the early 1980s, 35% of high school seniors agreed nuclear annihilation was likely in their lifetime (per a survey of 130 schools in 48 states), and a Gallup poll found 49% of teens said nuclear war influenced their future plans. But they were more optimistic: a majority said humanity had survived tough times before.
A 1986 National Academy of Sciences analysis advised: 'What is necessary for those providing the education is knowledge of the issue, sensitivity to the inner processes of working through the painful feelings engendered, and a willingness to try to come to grips with what the youngsters are voicing.' Four decades later, connection remains key. Caroline Hickman, who led the Lancet study, notes kids are upset that adults failed to protect their future. 'That social contract was being broken repeatedly.'
Sullivan-Tailyour found that message at Becoming a Force of Nature. Facilitators asked how they felt - not numbers, but internal experience. 'Our planet is sick, so it's normal to feel sick alongside it,' she says. Sessions help participants identify strengths and create action roadmaps. Founder Clover Hogan's catchphrase: 'We don't need 100 perfect activists but millions of imperfect ones.'
The group has expanded beyond climate, offering 'Hold This Space,' an interactive site, and a podcast with #climateconfessions like 'I've stopped going to protests' and 'I just can't be arsed to separate or put out the recycling.' Hooper says they shifted focus because some youth are in survival mode, and climate-only talk creates an echo chamber.
Force of Nature had 900 participants last year and 2,000 students from 50+ countries online. Meanwhile, Michigan's Good Grief Network (GGN), modeled on Alcoholics Anonymous' 12 steps, spun off GGN-Z for teens - cut to five steps, more experiential. Testing began in 2022 with kids in Northern California. It's still small, but growing.
So, support networks are sprouting like mushrooms after rain. Whether they actually help is still under study, but for kids like Sullivan-Tailyour, just knowing they're not alone is a start - even if the world is, indeed, a bit of a dumpster fire.