Sustaining and Supporting Well-Being in Public Defense
Course designed by Jenny Andrews.
Course faculty: Jenny Andrews, Kathleen Casey-Gamez, Meryl Carver Allmond, Marilena David, Teresa DeAmicis, Justin Heim, Ray Ibarra, Heather Pugh, Gina Pruski, Stephanne Thornton.
This ten week course is intended for anyone working in indigent defense, in any job category, who would like to increase their tools and strategies to sustain their own well-being and support the well-being of other defenders. Working in public defense has very real impacts on our well-being. Though we must maintain our physical and mental health in order to provide high quality and client-centered advocacy to the people we represent, we face constant obstacles of working within under-resourced agencies, being exposed to trauma, and handling casework demands that challenge our boundaries and rest. These resources are intended to support development of individualized strategies to sustain well-being while working in public defense, community care strategies to create public defense culture supportive of well-being, and strategies to advocate for systemic change to support indigent defense and increase access to justice.
This course includes one hour of material to review each week within the online learning management system (such as short videos to view, and articles and research to read), in preparation for a one hour weekly group meeting. The course will begin Monday 2/6/23, and will meet Mondays at 1-2 pm Pacific/3-4 Central/4-5 Eastern. Everyone will meet in one zoom, and will split into small group breakouts for discussion portions.
The weekly topics and dates of the small group meetings are:
2/6/23: Section 1: Why is sustaining well-being important to you? Introduction to the three spheres framework: self-care, community care, advocacy for system transformation. Well-being as foundational for competence and access to justice.
2/13/23: Section 2: Sphere one-Self-care: The unique challenges of public defense work. Studies of the impacts of this work. Self-assessment and goal setting.
2/20/23: Section 3: Sphere one-Self-care continued: Motivation, identity, and boundaries.
2/27/23: Section 4: Spheres one and two-Self-care and community care: Traumatic impacts. Trauma informed public defense practice.
3/6/23: Section 5: Sphere two-community care, continued: Building community care. Building supportive culture. Reducing moral injury.
3/13/23: Section 6: Sphere two-community care, continued.: Agency assessment and strategic planning for well-being. NAPD Principles. Diversity, equity and inclusion as foundational to organization wellness.
3/20/23: Section 7: Sphere two-community care, continued: Building systems that support well-being through leadership, training and mentorship.
3/27/23: Section 8: Sphere three-System transformation: External communication. Media. Budget advocacy.
4/3/23: Section 9: Sphere three-System transformation, continued: System obstacles and strategies.
4/10/23: Section 10: Conclusion. Future plans and goals. Celebration. |
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