Professional Well-Being (PWB) CLE
LAP strives to create relevant and informative programs that are engaging and entertaining. While some of these topics are very serious, we don’t have to take ourselves so seriously in presenting them. We incorporate humor, cartoons and video clips to illustrate a point wherever we can. Presentations can be tailored to meet the needs of your audience (i.e. in-house counsel or trial lawyers, etc.). There is no charge for LAP staff or volunteers to speak at your event.
Calm In the Midst of Chaos – Resilience Training
Practicing law is stressful, often chaotic. Many more factors are out of our control than we care to admit. The more energy we exert trying to control the uncontrollable, the more chaotic and unmanageable our internal thoughts and feelings can become. There is hope! The good news is that resilience is a learned skill, not an innate quality. There are dozens of resilience tools, backed by scientific research, that we can practice and use to return to ourselves and a calmer state of mind and body. The resilience tools spotlighted are those the speaker(s) have actively used in life and law practice.
Getting By With A Little Help From Our Friends
The ABA and Hazelden Foundation recently conducted a nationwide study confirming that lawyers struggle with depression, anxiety and alcoholism at rates that far exceed rates found in the general population and other professions. We all know the risks. We often see colleagues in trouble but are unsure exactly what to do about it. This presentation will highlight real-world strategies that lawyers and law firms can use to 1) identify colleagues at risk, 2) create a culture of safety that will reduce barriers for those in need to asking for and receiving help, and 3) intervene when it is clear a colleague needs assistance.
If you like, you can choose an option to have this presented in conjunction with Lawyers Mutual Insurance Company.
Suicide Prevention
Suicide is alarmingly prevalent in the profession. In this training we discuss some of the reasons why and identify clinical indicators of suicidal ideation. We provide guidance on various clues that demonstrate a lawyer may be contemplating suicide. We explain how to have a difficult but necessary conversation with a friend or colleague that can provide hope in a time of despair and crisis. Watch Video.
The Price We Pay as Professional Problem Solvers
60, 90 or 120 minute versions available.
Compassion fatigue has been widely studied in social workers and first responders to crisis situations. New ground-breaking research has revealed the impact of this condition on those working in the legal profession. Given that compassion fatigue is akin to burn out, this program resonates deeply for lawyers from all practice areas. This program focuses on the condition itself, the brain science behind it, why and how lawyers may find themselves vulnerable to it, and how to mitigate it.
Getting Lost in Our Own Lives
Lawyers suffer increasingly from depression and anxiety, impairments of their own accord, but also major contributing factors to substance abuse. This program examines some of the root causes of lawyer distress and factors that the legal profession itself and lawyers’ personalities contribute to these conditions. Based on the premise that “Work-Life Balance” is a modern day fiction, the program focuses on areas of life that lawyers can control in order to increase their happiness and emotional resilience.
There are two versions of this program with slightly different content. One version is the Professionalism for New Admittees (or PNA version) and the other is a standard version.
The Psychology of Transitions
Transition appears in myriad forms throughout our lives and careers: marriage, divorce, having children, children leaving for college, moving to a new town, leaving a law firm, changing practice areas, retirement…the list goes on. Add to that, many of us spend our days counseling and advising clients who face major change arising from divorce, criminal charges, bankruptcy, starting a new business, selling a business, business breakups, personal injuries, and the like. This program examines the unspoken “elephants in the living room” that directly impact and influence our ability (or seeming inability) to welcome or embrace transition and change. Transition is never easy, but with increased awareness of the invisible forces within us that fight transition, it need not be so difficult.
A Lawyer’s Guide to Understanding Addiction
It has been scientifically established that addiction results from adaptations in the brain, not from a moral failing or lack of will power. This presentation combines a basic overview of the neuroscience (tailored to non-physicians) for the first half of the presentation and then follows up with a personal story told from the perspective of a LAP volunteer. The personal story highlights the behavioral side of addiction, representing real-life evidence of the adaptation in the brain.
Stories of Renewal and Recovery
Personal stories of hope and redemption often make for the most compelling presentations. For those in the audience who are struggling silently with issues, this presentation often offers the gateway to getting help. For those in the audience who do not suffer from any of the conditions being discussed by the speakers, they learn about the signs and symptoms to look for in a colleague or a friend and that making an early referral could possibly save a colleague’s life. We strive to schedule two diverse LAP volunteer speakers – preferably of different genders and one from the mental health perspective with the other from the alcoholism/addiction perspective.
Here is a description for use in a brochure or for a CLE application:
A recent national landmark ABA study confirmed that lawyers are at the highest risk of any profession for issues like depression and alcoholism. Anywhere from a quarter to a third of the profession is encountering these issues at a given time. Lawyers are high functioning individuals with tremendous capacity to “never let them see you sweat.” This skill is often the downfall for many who may be dealing with these hidden issues. Typically colleagues are too busy with their own lives and law practices to notice when one of our own may be struggling. In this CLE, volunteers from the NC Lawyer Assistance Program share their experience and personal insight into the specific mental health issues they encountered, the consequences that resulted from those issues, how they began recovery, and what life is like today “on the other side.” The speakers will also share helpful resources and explain how the Lawyer Assistance Program works. These personal stories illuminate hidden symptoms and more obvious behavior patterns that any lawyer can use to identify issues in colleagues or in oneself. As each person’s journey is unique, the stories all differ. Spoken from the heart, these stories are often funny, sometimes heartbreaking, and always inspirational.