Lucy McLean (they/she) brings a unique combination of expertise and deep commitment to their role at Healthy Futures. As a clinical psychologist, Lucy’s work focuses on the intersection of mental health and climate justice, shaped by her personal and professional journey. In this interview, Lucy reflects on how their experiences, from navigating climate-related distress to diving systemic change, are shaping a healthier, more resilient future for all.
Lucy McLean (they/she) smiles at the camera, wearing a red knitted vest over a black shirt. The backdrop is a natural setting with greenery.
Can you share a bit about your background and how your personal and professional experiences have shaped your passion for the work you do at Healthy Futures?
Stepping into this new role feels like a meeting of many different waters of my life, both personal and professional. I grew up in Darwin, Larrakia country, in the mid-90s, but I spent most of my childhood in Wellington, on the lands of Te Ātiawa, Taranaki Whānui and Ngāti Toa. As a pākehā (white) New Zealander, I am privileged—by virtue of Te Tiriti o Waitangi—to know and love land and landscapes that sing to me, that care for me and for whom we must fight. I’m now living on sacred and unceded Wurundjeri land in Naarm (Melbourne) where I work as a clinical psychologist in a public youth mental health service.
In addition to being a health professional, I have experience in advocacy and campaigning, and a research background in the psychologies of climate change. I wrote a thesis on climate-related distress, partly in response to my own existential dread about entering adulthood in times of climate catastrophe. My parents, both public health professionals, influenced my journey into campaigning by teaching me that health systems need to address their problems upstream. I was drawn to psychology partly because I wanted to understand how big feelings (like existential dread!) are shaped by these systems that need that upstream addressing. I’m excited to now work at the intersection of these three areas of interest and experience.
When did you first become concerned about climate change and why?
I sometimes describe myself as part of the first generation to ‘come of age’ during the climate crisis. Irrefutable evidence that climate change marked my teenage years, and in early adulthood, knowledge and signs of this crisis swept into my dreams like waves onto roads. I don’t know a world without the knowledge of this global threat, and I also don’t want to know a world where we aren’t trying our hardest to mitigate it.
Why are you passionate about the work you do at Healthy Futures?
As healthcare professionals, we are experts in keeping people alive and well. The climate crisis gets in the way of keeping people alive and well. Organisations like Healthy Futures tap into this expertise and add yet another compelling and irrefutable reason we must act to mitigate the climate crisis. As healthcare professionals, our message carries weight in places where other messages may not.
More personally, I am especially passionate about mitigating the mental health impacts of climate change. The climate crisis was an important factor in my lived experiences with poor mental health, and I owe much to non-western and Indigenous psychological models that have helped me understand the many ways human well-being and environmental health cannot be disentangled. We are intimately linked to the non-human world, which shapes our minds and our vision of the future. The climate crisis causes crises in minds, and this must be addressed in a political landscape. I’ve done some public-facing work on why climate change is a mental health policy issue—for example, I co-authored an opinion article and was part of a documentary— this is a very light touch on what I want to be doing. I’m very excited to hop into an organisation already doing this work.
Who or what has inspired you?
I’m inspired by friends and acquaintances who are advocates and campaigners. In particular, I’ve learnt a lot from organisers and campaigners I’ve previously worked alongside. Their creativity, tenacity and willingness to go against the grain to create a better world is amazing, and I want to be part of that buzz of energy.
Why do you think individuals and local groups taking climate action is so important?
The climate crisis is often described as a ‘wicked’ problem, meaning it’s inherently tied to other forms of injustice, and there’s not one set of solutions that will be universally appropriate. The climate crisis needs creative, responsive, and thoughtful solutions, using everything we’ve got at our fingertips. Local actions and solutions are generally better suited to consider local contexts, which increases the likelihood of just outcomes. Plus, we need as many hands on deck as possible!
What’s your vision for the future?
I have many hopes for the future, but at the moment, the simplest ones feel most important. I envision a future where we’re all working a bit less and hanging out with friends a bit more. We'll tend to our gardens and cook vegetables together, with less time spent rushing around in cars.
Something about you we might not know?
One of the ways I unwind from clinical work and worrying about climate change is by writing songs. I’m doing some courses in music at TAFE because I want to be able to express myself better through music (and I still secretly hope I will be a popstar one day).
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