Climate change is increasingly recognized as a significant driver of mental health challenges, particularly among vulnerable populations in low- and middle-income countries. Bangladesh, one of the most climate-vulnerable nations in the world, experiences recurrent climate-related disasters including floods, cyclones, and riverbank erosion that displace large numbers of people every year. Women bear a disproportionate burden of climate displacement, facing compounded social, economic, and psychological adversities as a result.

Despite the growing evidence linking climate displacement to mental health distress, trauma, and neurological impacts, there remains a critical lack of contextually appropriate, evidence-based mental health resources designed specifically for and with climate-displaced women in Bangladesh.

The Telepsychiatry Research and Innovation Network (TRIN) has initiated an ongoing research project to address this gap through a participatory co-design process. By engaging climate-displaced women directly — listening to their journeys, understanding their lived experiences, and collaboratively identifying feasible solutions — this research aims to develop a neuroscience-informed training program that is grounded in the realities of the women it is designed to serve.

Objective

The primary objective of this research is to co-design a contextually appropriate, neuroscience-informed training program for climate-displaced women in Bangladesh, developed through meaningful participation of the women themselves.

• To engage climate-displaced women through in-depth conversations and participatory methods to understand their lived experiences of displacement, trauma, and mental health challenges.
• To document the psychological and neurological impacts of climate displacement as experienced and described by the women participants.
• To identify feasible, acceptable, and culturally appropriate strategies for a neuroscience-informed mental health training program through collaborative co-design sessions.
• To ensure the training program reflects the voices, priorities, and practical realities of climate-displaced women in Bangladesh.
• To develop a replicable co-design methodology that can inform future mental health program development for climate-affected populations.