Climate Café

Wednesday, February 19
10:30 AM – 12 PM (CT)
OR
6:30 – 8:30 PM (CT)

As the present and ongoing threat of the climate and environmental emergency becomes increasingly evident, we will need to find ways to process and bear the many complex and dysregulating emotional responses that emerge. Working with difficult emotions, rather than turning away, can facilitate learning new ways of being and foster capacities for engagement. Sharing thoughts, feelings, and experiences with others can additionally help build an essential sense of community, as well as greater emotional resilience.

A Climate Café creates a simple, reflective, empathetic space where fears and uncertainties about the climate crisis can be safely expressed and held. Climate cafes have been utilized, increasingly, to help a variety of individuals and communities find ways to face and hold the unsettling realities of the planetary crisis.

Expect an informal, open, respectful, and confidential space to safely share emotional responses and reactions related to the climate and environmental emergency. It is a quiet, reflective experience to explore feelings and experiences rather than what we are DOING about the climate crisis. Climate Cafes are not designed to lead participants to any conclusion or toward action. There are no guest speakers or lectures; the emphasis is on personal sharing and reflection.

Climate Cafés are co-facilitated by trained facilitators from the Climate Psychology Alliance of North America, ensuring a supportive and empathetic environment. Join us to connect with others, share your thoughts and feelings, and build emotional resilience in the face of the climate crisis.

Format: In-Person | The facilitators will be in person.

Karina Conrad, CDP, LCPC, is a member of the Congregation of Divine Providence. She is currently working as a therapist at Positively Psyched in La Grange, IL, experienced in working with adolescents, young adults and adults around trauma, anxiety, life transitions, faith/spirituality, grief, and eco-distress. Karina is a climate-aware therapist, who addresses the urgent psychological dimensions of the climate and ecological crisis. She is passionate about providing a safe space for those experiencing distress and grief related to climate change. Karina has a master’s degree in professional counseling & student Affairs from Carlow University, Pittsburgh, PA. Karina has a Climate Psychology certificate from the California Institute of Integral Studies and is a trained Climate Café facilitator with the Climate Psychology Alliance of North America.

Kerri DiMonte is a longtime LaGrange resident and Lead Coordinator for the St. John of the Cross Creation Care Team, CARES: Catholics Are Responsible Environmental Stewards. For the past three years this group has tirelessly promoted Catholic Care for Creation within the parish and throughout the community. With education, activities and events, CARES seeks to inspires others to recognize “how everything is connected” and that protecting all of God’s Creation is part of our Catholic faith and a responsibility we have towards future generations.
Kerri has a special interest in the human narratives underlying the current ecological crisis. Along with a Master of Liberal Arts from University of Chicago and a Certificate in Environmental Sustainability Assessment and Reporting from Loyola University; she is a trained Climate Café facilitator with the Climate Psychology Alliance.