Trauma and Resilience Trauma is not necessarily what comes to mind when one thinks of lawyers and judges. Yet a surprising number of us come from traumatic backgrounds and childhoods. In fact, many folks who enter the legal profession do so precisely because of the historic trauma we have experienced. Maybe we want to work […]
Posts Tagged ‘trauma’
Self-Care vs. Car Wrecks: A Compassion Fatigue Story
Posted byBy Anonymous I am smart. I really enjoy using my smarts to solve problems: logic problems, crossword puzzles, strangers needing directions, my clients’ problems, my friends’ problems, and my family’s problems. But, fixing problems has a sinister side, just like any addiction, and one can develop compassion fatigue. The best way to explain “compassion […]
A Defense Attorney’s Perspective: Then and Now
Posted byBy Anonymous Little David, with his pitiful slingshot, vs. the mighty Goliath. In a nutshell, that’s how it felt to me for much of my career as a public defender. Now, with years of recovery in Al-Anon, I realize that so much of my perception of my role as a defender was tied up in […]
Compassion Fatigue: The Price We Pay as Professional Problem Solvers
Posted byMost of us decided to go to law school because we had a passion for justice and helping people. While we may not think of the legal profession as a traditional helping profession like we typically think of social work, the reality is that we serve in a primary helping capacity. Clients are in distress, […]