Sustaining and Supporting Well-Being in Public Defense
Course designed by Jenny Andrews.
Course faculty: TBA
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 10/2/23, and will meet Mondays at 1:00-2:15 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 length of the weekly meeting has expanded from 60 to 75 minutes, based on faculty and participant feedback requesting more time in the weekly discussions.
The weekly topics and dates of the small group meetings are:
10/2/23: Section 1: Introduction. Well being as Competence and access to justice. Three spheres model.
10/16/23: Section 2: Sphere one: The unique challenges of public defense work. Studies of impacts of this work. Self-assessment and goal setting.
10/23/23: Section 3: Sphere one cont.: Motivation, identity, and boundaries.
10/30/23: Section 4: Spheres one and two: Traumatic impacts. Trauma informed public defense practice.
11/6/23: Section 5: Sphere two cont.: Building community care. Building supportive culture. Reducing moral injury.
11/13/23: Section 6: Sphere two cont.: Agency Assessment and Strategic Planning for Well-Being. NAPD Principles. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion as foundational to organization wellness.
11/20/23: Section 7: Sphere two cont: Building systems that support well-being through leadership, training and mentorship.
11/27/23: Section 8: Sphere three: External communication. Media. Budget advocacy.
12/4/23: Section 9: Sphere three cont.: System obstacles and strategies.
12/11/23: Section 10: conclusion. Future plans and goals.
All registration cancellations must be submitted in writing to accounting@publicdefenders.us at least 7 days prior to the first day of the event. Refunds will be processed via the original payment method, minus a $25 administrative fee, after the event. In lieu of a refund, an organization may transfer the registration to another attendee at no additional cost. No refunds will be issued for cancellations received less than 7 days in advance. Should NAPD find it necessary to cancel the event for any reason, a refund will be issued in full.
***NAPD doesn't apply for CLE or track attendance to provide certifications for our live webinars, conferences and online courses. This helps us keep the price as low as possible and avoids the disruption of the flow of the training required by many states to verify attendance.
By registering for this training, I am affirming that today I am neither a prosecutor, nor attending this training with the purpose of aiding the prosecution of any criminally accused. I further affirm that I am dedicated to the ideals of the criminal defense practitioner, and am committed to the causes of effective and zealous defense of those charged with crimes, the protection and assertion of constitutional rights afforded the criminally accused, and the recognition and preservation of human dignity of those charged with crimes. I further affirm that my use of the information provided by this training will not be used by me in any manner which would impugn the above set out ideals.
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