Each year, as hurricane season approaches, we hear the same message: be prepared. The jingles start, the posters go up, and the reminders begin. Yet many of us still wait, hoping for the best and delaying the work of getting ready. Hope matters, but hope alone cannot save us. What protects us is preparation, action, adaptability, and togetherness.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines has had many teachers on the impact of climate change over the years. We have been tested by Tomas, Elsa, Beryl, and other events that have strained our families, livelihoods, systems, mental health, and emotional strength. These experiences should not remain only as memories of hardship and survival. They should also help us prepare earlier, think more clearly, and act more intentionally.
Too often, we approach the season in a survival mindset. We wait until warnings are issued, supplies begin to run low, and anxiety rises. Then we react. But by that stage, many people are responding from fear, stress, and sometimes trauma. For those who have already lived through loss, displacement, or deep uncertainty, even thinking about the season can feel overwhelming.
We need a different approach. We need to move from a survival mindset to a growth and adaptable mindset.
A growth mindset reminds us that preparedness is something we can improve year by year and that the effort is not in vain. An adaptable mindset reminds us that climate change is reshaping the risks we face. Storms are becoming more intense, rainfall patterns are shifting, sea levels are rising, and the pressure on families, livelihoods, food systems, and infrastructure is growing. A growth mindset also helps us to view preparedness more holistically. Disasters affect not only homes and roads, but also mental health and emotional wellbeing. This means our support systems must include not only physical safety, but also emotional care and recovery, and this must be reflected in our personal, national, and regional plans.
We cannot meet these challenges with delay, denial, or last-minute panic.
We also cannot continue to come together only after a disaster strikes. As communities, we often show our greatest strength after an event. We check on one another, share food and water, clear roads, and support those in need. That spirit is one of our greatest strengths as Vincentians. But we must learn to bring that same spirit into the period before the storm. Preparedness should not begin with panic. It should begin with planning. It should be a proactive act of care, responsibility, and national maturity.
The cost of waiting is high. It is economic: damaged homes, lost crops, destroyed fishing gear, interrupted businesses, and long recovery periods. But the emotional and psychological costs are also enormous. Disasters bring grief, stress, uncertainty, exhaustion, and fear. The less prepared we are, the heavier those burdens become.
So what should we do?
Start small but start now. Let us begin with changes in our attitudes and behaviours, not anxious and hopeless, but focused and alert. Check supplies. Secure important documents. Ask about home insurance. Cut overhanging trees. Clear drains. Inspect roofs. Identify what still needs to be done around your home and in your community. Make a household plan. Know where you will go if evacuation becomes necessary, how you will communicate, and what you will need for children, older relatives, and anyone with medical needs.
Use trusted information. Pay attention to official forecasts and warnings, not rumours and misinformation. Prepare as a community. Check on elderly neighbours, vulnerable households, and those living alone. Talk through plans and encourage one another to act early.
Our institutions must also do their part. Schools, churches, clinics, community groups, and private and public agencies should not wait until the last minute. Disaster and humanitarian agencies must ensure that shelters are repaired, equipped, and ready ahead of the season. NGOs and humanitarian groups must also play a more active role, not only responding after events, but also planning ahead, conducting social and safeguarding assessments, and ensuring that persons with disabilities and other vulnerable citizens are protected and have access to resources. The private sector can also help by making essential preparedness items more accessible, including water storage supplies and agricultural outputs for farmers.
This requires a bolder, more proactive approach.
Climate change is not waiting for us. We are already living with its effects. What we can control is how we prepare, how we support one another, and how seriously we take the lessons we have already learned.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines has paid the price of hard lessons before. Let us honour those lessons by acting now.
Because hope matters, faith matters, but hope and faith without preparation are not enough. What will protect us is action. What will sustain us is adaptability. What will carry us through is togetherness.
Before the hurricane, let’s prepare together.
Andrea Gaymes-Mohess, Counselling Psychologist, MHPSS Consultant, Climate and Mental Health Practitioner.