Professor Margaret Barry and Trevor Hancock in conversation

The Atlantic Summer Institute is noteworthy because it has made a point of tackling big societal and community issues that influence the health and mental wellbeing of the community, and especially young people. Over the first decade the focus was on those big societal issues – diversity, inter-generational connection, gender, literacy, leadership and democracy – as they relate to creating healthy and safe communities.
Then in 2015, the focus shifted more specifically to child and youth mental health, with a significant focus on upstream community and societal approaches, including the need for a ‘whole-of-society’ approach, supportive environments and upstream investment. That remained the focus until 2021, when the focus broadened out again, with themes such as community connection, hope and collaboration.

So that was the first 20 years. What of the next 20 years?

Well, much of that same set of issues and approaches applies – the challenges to health and mental wellbeing have not gone away. We still don’t pay enough attention to improving mental and social wellbeing, the field is still not being properly funded and resourced, so not well implemented. The focus – as with physical wellbeing – is still too much on the individual and not enough on the broader community and societal factors that we know can protect and promote mental and social wellbeing.

The intersecting crises of addictions, mental health, brain trauma and homelessness reveal a massive failure of public policy and societal compassion. But new challenges have emerged, particularly to child and youth mental wellbeing, not the least being the revolution in the use of social media (and who knows what the implications of AI may be?), and the growing challenge of isolation and loneliness, affecting people of all ages. Then there are the impacts on mental wellbeing of our awareness of climate change and broader ecological changes. And of course, in many parts of the world, war and conflict exact a horrendous toll, while our own communities are not immune to community and domestic violence. Finally, economic uncertainty is a factor, especially in a neo-liberal gig economy and in light of the challenges of both the ecological crisis and the potential for AI to displace jobs.

But the planetary health challenges we face – we have crossed six of nine planetary boundaries and are approaching two others – have broader health and wellbeing impacts. Indeed, they challenge the continuity of our current way of life and the stability of our entire society, if we continue on as we are. The response the World Health Organization proposes is the creation of “sustainable ‘well-being societies’ committed to achieving equitable health now and for future generations without breaching ecological limits”. That means changing our relationship with nature, putting human wellbeing and planetary health at the very heart of governance and societal and community decision-making, and shifting to a wellbeing economy that puts people and planet ahead of profit and power. These issues, and what this all means for the business of creating healthy, safe, just and sustainable communities, is the subject matter we expect to cover in our opening keynote conversation.