Strategic Care in Activism: Mental Health Across Scales of Social Change

How can activists balance change and well-being?

Activism can be both healing and draining. Defending the planet, justice, or peace gives life purpose and connection, but it can also drain mental health. With this in mind, the ERC-funded Care2Act project aims to shed light on this balance between caring for the world and caring for the self. By integrating psychology and sociology, it explores how individuals and communities balance well-being with demanding civic action. Using participatory research methods, the project will also examine activists’ coping, adaptation, as well as maintenance of energy in various causes and contexts. The overall goal is to formulate a vision of strategic care to better understand how activism can empower individuals rather than leaving them burnt out.

Today, many people are dealing with several major challenges at once, this may include political division, climate change, and concerns about safety and security. These issues can affect mental health and overall well-being. One way that people respond is by getting involved in activism (e.g., community action, volunteering, campaigning). While this can help people feel they are making a difference, it can also be stressful and emotionally draining, especially because it keeps them closely connected to (sometimes extremely) difficult problems and injustices. At the same time, taking action together can create a sense of hope, empowerment and connection with others.

Care2Act explores how people balance two important goals: looking after their own well-being while also trying to improve the cause they are engaged in. We describe this dual task as strategic care.

The project will focus on four key questions:

• What situations, people, and processes influence the mental health of those who take part in civic action?
• What strategies do individuals and communities use to stay emotionally healthy while doing this (often demanding) work?
• How do these strategies change as people move through different stages of engagement?
• Does the scale of a social problem, and how difficult it is to solve, affect people’s mental health and well-being? (For example, does working on a challenge like climate change have different effects than working on a more local and tangible goal, such as preserving a community garden?)

Using participatory and engaged research methods, Care2Act will develop new ways of understanding the relationship between civic engagement and mental health. The findings can contribute to researchers studying public health, political participation, and social inclusion. At the same time, we aim to provide practical tools for activists and community groups to better support mental health and well-being as part of their work.

This project is supported by a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). Cordis webpage