PhD defence Valesca Sophia Margaretha Venhof

Keywords: Climate change, Youth mental health, Environmental distress, Resilience

"Navigating the Storm: Towards Coexisting Ways of Knowing in Approaching Environmental Distress"

In her thesis, Valesca Venhof explores how people navigate feelings of stress, anxiety, sadness, or powerlessness caused by changes in their living environment. After all, the Earth is transforming at a rapid pace due to human activity. 

Climate change, the loss of nature, and pollution are disrupting ecosystems and visibly affecting daily life and mental well-being worldwide. Increasingly, people are experiencing environmental distress, which includes solastalgia, a sense of nostalgia for a place that still exists but no longer feels the same as it once did.

Venhof focused specifically on two vulnerable groups: the Indigenous Sámi in the Arctic and Dutch young adults (aged 16–35). Despite vast differences in context, she found that emotions surrounding environmental change are complex and layered in both groups. Concern, grief, denial, and anger can coexist with hope, resilience, and engagement. Indifference often reflects not a lack of care, but a way of coping with overwhelming uncertainty.

Central to her work is the principle of Two-Eyed Seeing, bridging Western and Indigenous knowledge to better understand complex challenges. By fostering dialogue between different ways of knowing, space opens up for greater connection and resilience.

Venhof’s research demonstrates that mental health in times of environmental change calls for renewed connections with nature, community, and meaningful, yet realistic, stories of the future. Only through collaboration, mutual respect, and openness to diverse perspectives can we build a resilient and hopeful future.

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