The Power of Emergence

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your feedback on my first post. It’s really helpful to know when my thoughts connect with you and if I’m missing important perspectives.

Today’s newsletter has:

1) Current opportunities for groups
2) An empowering idea - today the focus is on Emergence

1) Current Opportunities:

Wednesday afternoons at St James Park

Beginning in September, I will be holding a group for young adults, ages 18-35 on Wednesdays from 12:00-1:45pm outdoors at St James Park (120 King St E). To sign up, you can click here and go to the St James Park location. If there are no available slots that work for you, please let me know by replying to [email protected].

Virtual Group

Some people expressed interest in a virtual group. If you want to try out this format, sign up with an email to [email protected].

Start your own Group

If you have 3 or more people who would be interested in organizing a group together, please email me. We will find a time and location that works.

I am in discussions with several other places, so more opportunities will be coming soon.

2) An Empowering Idea:

If climate change is the result of a collective mental health problem, how do we heal?

This question has a two-part answer. Today I’m sharing the concept of emergence and next time I will outline my perspective on the process for healing.

Emergence

Emergence refers to the existence or formation of collective behaviours — what parts of a system do together that they would not do alone.¹  

As an example, our brains have the emergent property of producing thoughts and emotions. No neuron can produce a thought on its own but thoughts can emerge when multiple neurons act together. This network effect cannot be predicted by examining an individual neuron in isolation.

Collective action is an emergent property of many individuals acting in coordination with one another. Our current methods of interaction result in the emergent pattern of planetary destruction. However, if we shift our individual interactions with each other we have the possibility of collective mental health and the emergence of planetary healing² .

To achieve this, individuals need to heal in order to shift our interactions to support systemic cultural change. No single individual will see the entire trajectory yet the overall emergence of collective mental health becomes a significant possibility. This is different than our traditional mental health models which encourage individuals to adapt to life within our problematic systemic structures.

My next post will outline the process needed for us to heal as individuals.

To receive future psychiatree posts on healing our mental health and the climate crisis together, please subscribe to: https://psychiatree.beehiiv.com/subscribe

I’d love to hear your reactions to this post. Please email me at [email protected].

Thanks for the care that you give,

Nate

References:

1) https://necsi.edu/emergence

2) brown, adrienne maree. Emergent Strategy. 2017. Edinburgh: AK Press.Pl