WARM – Promoting wellness and resilience in mental health through climate-aware professional development
- Programme: Erasmus+
- Key Focus: Mental health, eco-anxiety, and professional capacity-building
- Target Groups: Mental health professionals, adult education experts, project partners, learners, policymakers, and the wider professional community
- Platform Type: Online CPD & collaborative learning environment
- Coordinator: Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens, Greece
- Partner Countries: Grecee, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy
Project overview
WARM is an Erasmus+ funded initiative aimed at strengthening the professional capacities of those working in mental health, adult education, and community-based support systems. The project was developed in response to the increasing psychological impact of climate change, particularly the rise of eco-anxiety, climate distress, and related emotional responses across different populations.
The project brings together experts, educators, partners, and stakeholders to co-create a reliable and long-term digital learning space. The WARM CPD platform serves as a central hub for training, knowledge exchange, and cross-country collaboration, ensuring that professionals have access to high-quality materials, interactive learning modules, research insights, and practical tools for everyday work.
The learning environment supports both structured course progression and self-paced exploration, allowing participants to engage with thematic content, develop relevant competencies, and reflect on their professional roles in the context of emerging climate-related challenges. Through this approach, WARM encourages a deeper understanding of environmental emotions, strengthens evidence-based practice, and promotes the integration of climate-aware mental health strategies in diverse settings.
By providing long-term online access, WARM ensures that its resources remain available beyond the project’s lifetime—supporting continuous development, promoting resilience, and contributing to a more informed, connected, and climate-conscious mental health community across Europe.
Main Objectives
• Strengthen professional competencies in climate-related mental health
Equip mental health practitioners and educators with evidence-based knowledge of eco-anxiety, climate distress, and environmental emotions, enabling them to recognise symptoms and respond effectively.
• Promote trauma-informed, resilience-based approaches
Introduce practical strategies and therapeutic frameworks for supporting individuals and communities affected by climate-related stressors, both in short-term and long-term contexts.
• Improve the quality and accessibility of CPD opportunities
Provide a flexible online learning environment that includes modules, resources, tools, and community spaces—available during and long after the project lifetime.
• Support vulnerable and remote communities
Highlight the unique environmental, social, and psychological challenges faced by rural and isolated populations, offering tailored approaches for culturally sensitive and resource-limited settings.
• Encourage climate-conscious mental health practice
Raise awareness among professionals and institutions about the importance of integrating sustainability, prevention, and climate adaptation into mental health care.
• Facilitate cross-country collaboration and knowledge exchange
Connect experts, partners, and stakeholders across Europe to strengthen cooperation, share insights, and collectively address the mental health impacts of climate change.
Key activities
The WARM project is grounded in current research on the psychological effects of climate change and the need for accessible professional development in mental health. By integrating clinical knowledge, adult education practices, and environmental psychology, WARM provides an innovative CPD model for strengthening resilience, emotional wellbeing, and climate-aware mental health support.
Through collaboration between partners across Europe, the project delivers high-quality online learning, practical tools, and thematic training modules focused on eco-anxiety, environmental emotions, and community resilience. The platform also enables continuous knowledge exchange, peer dialogue, and capacity-building among mental health professionals, educators, and policy stakeholders.
Expected Impact
• Reach over 500 professionals across mental health, education, and community sectors through structured CPD learning and online modules.
• Engage at least 5,000 individuals through dissemination activities, events, and awareness-raising on eco-anxiety and climate-related mental health challenges.
• Minimum 80% of participants will report improved competencies, including better recognition of eco-anxiety, enhanced communication skills, and increased confidence in applying resilience-based and trauma-informed approaches.
WARM strengthens cross-country cooperation by connecting experts and institutions from various European regions, fostering shared learning and collaborative problem-solving. All training materials, tools, and online resources developed through the project will remain publicly accessible and transferable to wider mental health, educational, and community-based contexts throughout Europe.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them. Find out more about the project!
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