AbstractEnvironmental losses are increasingly evoking ‘‘ecological grief’’ among environmental and conservation professionals. Ecological grief is a natural but difficult psychological experience, and a risk to well‐being. Despite this, there are currently few resources available to support environmental professionals and their organizations to reduce the risks to well‐being and cope effectively with ecological grief. As a result, environmental professionals who experience this risk in the workplace are unlikely to be equipped with the knowledge, skills, or context to support themselves, colleagues, or peers, in experiences of ecological grief. In this paper, we provide information, guidance, and examples of workplace support for ecological grief. Drawing on insights from the field of grief and bereavement, we identify peer support and organizational responses as key supportive factors for those experiencing ecological grief. We also present a new concept, ‘‘ecological grief literacy,’’ to guide effective peer and organizational support. While peers have the potential to provide interpersonal support and connection for ecological grieving, it is essential that the organizations that employ environmental professionals enact policies and practices that provide structures, resources, and contexts to enable environmental professionals to effectively support ourselves and each other.

To identify pathways to lower environmental impacts, this research examined the motivation and antecedents of motivation (autonomy, relatedness, competence), of environmentally active people. Previous research suggests that people with more self-determined motivation for pro-environmental behavior (PEB) should carry out more PEBs, and have lower environmental impacts, than people whose motivation is more externally regulated. Path analysis in Sample 1 (N = 261) confirmed that self-determined motivation was positively related to both easy and difficult PEB. The more participants judged that their needs for autonomy and relatedness were met in relation to performing PEB, the more self-determined their motivation. Higher perceived relatedness was also directly related to reporting more engagement in difficult PEB. Perceived competence was not related to self-determined motivation or PEB. The pattern of results was largely supported when re-tested with a sample (N = 320) who completed a ‘carbon footprint’ measure of environmental impact as well as the questionnaire completed by Sample 1. In this sample, autonomy, relatedness, and competence were related to self-determined motivation. The research is the first to our knowledge to examine and find a relationship between higher self-determined motivation and lower self-reported environmental impact. These findings point to new approaches to increasing PEB.

PurposeThis paper seeks to outline a theoretical argument for movement towards a positive, holistic approach to environmentalism, one aspect of which is to make environmental action more satisfying, interesting, and fun. The paper aims to identify new approaches and techniques for individual behaviour change that can explain and promote the broad lifestyle change needed.Design/methodology/approachSelf‐determination theory was applied to the problem of unsustainable resource consumption by Australian households. To achieve sustainable levels of Australian household carbon emissions, individuals will have to adopt and maintain high impact pro‐environmental behaviours across a number of behavioural domains.FindingsIt is hypothesised that motivation type will be a critical factor in bringing about personally sustainable changes. In particular, self‐determined (autonomous) motivation will be essential for generalisation of pro‐environmental behaviour. It is also proposed that supporting other psychological needs of relatedness and competence for environmental action will further enhance self‐determination for pro‐environmental behaviour. If these hypotheses are supported, the next challenge is to identify optimal ways of promoting autonomous behaviour change, drawing on, and expanding from self‐determination theory. Initial proposals for autonomy, competence, and relatedness supporting interventions are presented.Practical implicationsChanges achieved through the motivational approach have the potential to significantly impact household carbon footprints.Originality/valueThe paper moves away from incentive/punishment based approaches to changing pro‐environmental behaviour and provides a rationale for a new approach that focuses on supporting optimal motivation types for maintained and generalised pro‐environmental behaviour.

Purpose - This paper seeks to outline a theoretical argument for movement towards a positive, holistic approach to environmentalism, one aspect of which is to make environmental action more satisfying, interesting, and fun. The paper aims to identify new approaches and techniques for individual behaviour change that can explain and promote the broad lifestyle change needed.Design/methodology/approach - Self-determination theory was applied to the problem of unsustainable resource consumption by Australian households. To achieve sustainable levels of Australian household carbon emissions, individuals will have to adopt and maintain high impact pro-environmental behaviours across a number of behavioural domains.Findings - It is hypothesised that motivation type will be a critical factor in bringing about personally sustainable changes. In particular, self-determined (autonomous) motivation will be essential for generalisation of pro-environmental behaviour. It is also proposed that supporting other psychological needs of relatedness and competence for environmental action will further enhance self-determination for pro-environmental behaviour. If these hypotheses are supported, the next challenge is to identify optimal ways of promoting autonomous behaviour change, drawing on, and expanding from self-determination theory. Initial proposals for autonomy, competence, and relatedness supporting interventions are presented.Practical implications - Changes achieved through the motivational approach have the potential to significantly impact household carbon footprints.Originality/value - The paper moves away from incentive/punishment based approaches to changing pro-environmental behaviour and provides a rationale for a new approach that focuses on supporting optimal motivation types for maintained and generalised pro-environmental behaviour.

Case management systems have been seen as a means of responding to the complex interaction of health and social care needs which may lead to offending. This study examines the potential of an approach such as case management. Offending, clinical and social outcomes are reported for eight subjects who all had histories of severe and persistent mental illness and serious offending. The processes of offending, treatment by the courts and the delivery of case management are described. Through the development of a long-term relationship, focusing on health and social care, case managers were able to help with the offending behaviour of five of the clients. This small scale study demonstrates the potential of case management approaches for mentally disordered offenders and also shows the need for larger scale research.

Despite the shift in recent policy toward people with severe and long-term mental health problems, there is considerable evidence that mental health nurses tend to prioritize clients with acute, neurotic or short-term problems and become demoralized when working with people with persistent needs and disabilities. Mental health nurses need to find ways of developing effective relationships with these people in order to offer a service which the client is not only willing to engage in, but takes an active part in, and which allows care providers to derive satisfaction from their work. Through 46 in-depth interviews with case managers (working specifically with people with long-term mental health problems) and their clients, this qualitative study provides some guidelines for mental health nurses working in this field. Analysis of the interviews revealed that both clients and case managers focused on the problems and strategies associated with developing and maintaining relationships with one another. Furthermore, the interviews suggested that case managers adopted a philosophy for working that enabled both clients and case managers to feel positive about the work. The principles of this value base, and the way it was used in the process of case management, are explored in this account.

Mental health policies and the focus of psychiatric services have shifted over the last three decades from hospital to community care. Greater care in the community and reduced psychiatric bed numbers have contributed to the discharge or non-admission of many patients with severe and persistent disorders who formerly would have been cared for in hospital. Increasing numbers of the chronically ill in the community will necessitate the development of systems to provide continuous and integrated services for such people.