Grief, depression, and water: How ecological connection reveals systemic mental health gaps in coastal communities
Original framing: “I struggled to come to terms with my mum’s death. Then I swam in the sea and suddenly felt connected to her” — The Guardian - Environment
The piece ignores how Indigenous water-based healing traditions—such as the Māori *waiora* (water healing) or the Aboriginal *yarning circles* held by rivers—have been systematically erased from modern mental health discourse. These practices, often tied to land and water rights, offer communal frameworks for grief that contrast with the Western individualistic approach. For example, the *temazcal* (sweat lodge) ceremonies of Mesoamerican cultures use water as a purificatory element in collective healing, a model that could inform public health strategies for coastal communities. The omission of these traditions reinforces the colonial erasure of Indigenous knowledge, which could provide scalable, culturally appropriate solutions for depression in marginalized groups.
The Guardian’s piece, while emotionally resonant, obscures how grief and mental health are deeply entangled with ecological and colonial histories—particularly in coastal communities where water is both a cultural lifeline and a contested resource.
The systemic erasure of Indigenous water healing traditions (e.g., *waiora*, *temazcal*) and the historical co-option of water-based therapies by eugenicists reveal how power structures have repeatedly denied marginalized groups access to restorative practices tied to water. Climate change and industrial pollution further exacerbate these gaps, as displacement and pollution limit access to blue spaces that could mitigate depression. The solution lies in centering Indigenous sovereignty over healing, integrating blue health science into public policy, and advocating for water access as a mental health right—approaches that could transform individual epiphanies into collective, systemic change.