Andrea Gaymes, also known as Andrea Gaymes–Mohess, a Vincentian psychologist and counsellor based at the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Community College, is set to present on January 16th, 2026, as part of the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA) Professional Development Series, through the Climate-Informed Counsellors Chapter’s “Caribbean Voice” series. She will appear alongside Bahamian mental health professionals Tezel Lightbourne and Marjah Finlayson, and is the first Vincentian professional to present on a global platform on Climate Change and Mental Health.
The series creates space for counsellors and psychotherapists to discuss and respond to environmental challenges, and to support practical initiatives that address the climate crisis. This webinar will highlight the Caribbean experience, focusing on the mental health impacts of climate change, effective science and disaster communication for planning and public health, and how communities can reduce stigma around both mental health and climate-related stress.
Gaymes recently completed the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship (QES) research internship at McGill University’s School, department of Global Health, Climate Change and Mental Health in Montreal, Canada, under the Climate Adaptation and Resilient Communities: Policy, Research, and Practice programme, as part of her postgraduate training with the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, CERMES. Over the past decade, she has gained more than 5,000 clinical hours, supporting individuals and communities across the Caribbean affected by disasters and emergencies, including the major national experiences of 2021 and 2024 in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Together, this combination of academic training and frontline practice has shaped her perspective and strengthened her ability to speak with care and credibility on the mental health dimensions of a rapidly changing climate.
For Gaymes, this presentation is less about recognition and more about representation and global responsibility. It offers an opportunity to share lessons from St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the Caribbean region to contribute a clinician’s perspective on what helps communities recover, rebuild trust, and strengthen preparedness before the next event, as well as address the traumas that communities encounter as a result, and these insights can be used or adjusted to a larger society. With continued work in mental health and ongoing studies in environmental and natural resource management, she aims to contribute to advancing a more integrated approach in the region, one that connects mental health, climate resilience, and disaster response in culturally grounded and community-led ways.
Her participation also reflects a wider regional push toward collaboration and partnership, turning global commitments, including the Sustainable Development Goals, into practical, people-centred action across the Caribbean.