Science Writers Roundtable: Navigating Professional Grief and Moral Distress in the Polycrisis - Lessons from Climate Psychology

All interested professionals and students are invited to register for the upcoming, free #SciWriRoundtable webinar “Navigating Professional Grief and Moral Distress in the Polycrisis - Lessons from Climate Psychology” scheduled for Tuesday, August 18, at 1 p.m. Eastern.

The science writing field has experienced profound challenges over the past several years, including multiple waves of layoffs, publications shutting down, and attacks on freedom of speech (See NASW’s recent statement about some of these issues: https://www.nasw.org/July2026solidarity). Particularly in the wake of recent layoffs at Scientific American, there’s been a sense of shock, anxiety, and grief throughout our science writing community. But many of us, especially those who cover the environment, may already be familiar with similar feelings of climate grief, eco-anxiety, and existential dread. Dr. Adrienne Heinz will provide insights from the intersection of climate change and mental health on coping with these feelings, along with actionable ways to manage burnout and moral distress, and find hope in the dark.

Science Writers Roundtable: Navigating Professional Grief and Moral Distress in the Polycrisis - Lessons from Climate Psychology
Presented by the NASW Board of Directors
Date: Tuesday, August 18, 2026
Start time: 1 p.m. Eastern / 10 a.m. Pacific

Event registration link You will need to use an email associated with a Zoom account to register.

Registration is free and open to all. NASW membership is not required.

Dr. Adrienne Heinz’s talk will be recorded and the recording will be made available to NASW members. The ensuing Q&A session will not be recorded in order to allow for frank discussion while prioritizing psychological safety.

Moderator:
Sandeep Ravindran
National Association of Science Writers
Sandeep Ravindran is a freelance science journalist and the current President of the National Association of Science Writers. He has covered life sciences and technology for TIME magazine, the New York Times, Smithsonian, National Geographic, Science, Nature, WIRED, and other outlets. He is based in Bethesda, MD.

Invited speaker:
Adrienne Heinz, Ph.D.
Stanford University School of Medicine, The After Collective, 501(c)(3)

Dr. Adrienne Heinz is a clinical psychologist and a trauma and resilience researcher at the VA National Center for PTSD and Stanford University School of Medicine. She is also the co-founder of The After Collective, a tech-for-good non-profit that harnesses psychological science and responsible AI to empower disaster survivors with accessible disaster recovery coac ing.

Adrienne's family and community in Healdsburg, California have been repeatedly impacted by devastating megafire disasters (Tubbs 2017, Kincaid 2019, Wallbridge 2020). In an attempt to transform pain into possibility, she became an accidental disaster mental health specialist and co-founded the Sonoma Wildfire Mental Health Collaborative. This initiative democratized access to free mental health support for the entire county through mobile app technology, trauma-informed yoga programming, and training the workforce to deliver disaster care. She serves as a National Science Foundation GeoCafe Climate and Health Scholar and is an appointed member of the California Disaster Mental Health Coalition. She also regularly deploys for field work and delegations to support disaster-impacted communities through the messy-middle of long-term recovery. Adrienne's lived experience of disaster and ecological grief, combined with years of working alongside Veterans, first responders, families and communities impacted by crisis has shaped her conviction that we can innovate, adapt, and do better for survivors.

#SciWriRoundtable

Curated by the Board of the National Association of Science Writers, the Science Writers Roundtable series is the organization’s main virtual events series dissecting and responding to the evergreen and emerging forces that shape the business of science news. Each event is moderated by an NASW Board Member in conversation among colleagues with experience and expertise relevant to journalists, writers, PIOs, and other communicators. No matter your role and identity within the science writing enterprise, we hope you will take away invaluable insights and information from our #SciWriRoundtable to become a more prepared, better equipped professional, educator, trainee, leader, or ally.

Founded in 1934 with a mission to fight for the free flow of science news, NASW is an organization of ~2,400 professional journalists, authors, editors, producers, public information officers, students and people who write and produce material intended to inform the public about science, health, engineering, and technology. To learn more, visit www.nasw.org and follow NASW on LinkedIn and Bluesky.