It is no longer tenable to separate the study and practice of law from issues of mental health and wellness. Drawing from scholarship, clinical insight, and reflective experience, this course is premised on the conviction that mental
wellness, professional fulfillment, and academic insight can align, with productive and even transformative effects. The skills and capacities essential to thrive in law school and the legal profession—including personal reflection, healthy
relationships, values clarification, and boundary setting—are the very capacities that are strengthened by focusing on emotional and personal wellness. Using a model that marries the study of psychotherapeutic theory with experiential learning, the course equips students with skills and tools for life in the legal profession while cultivating critical and
personal insight to help students understand, navigate, and even constructively intervene to disrupt the mental health challenges endemic in legal education and the legal profession.
Combining practical skills-development and psychoeducation, the course will help students conceptualize their mental wellness from differing theoretical perspectives while deepening their awareness of self and others and fostering healthy relationships. The course will introduce students to topics such as: theories of psychological change; fostering awareness of self; the mind-body connection and the importance of good nutrition, physical exercise, and sleep;
deepening relationships to self, others, and at work; values clarification; effective communication of needs; coping mechanisms for stress & burnout; anxiety management skills; treatment options for depressive symptoms; resilience and meaning-making through adversity and trauma. With the support of assigned readings and other forms of class preparation, lectures, experiential exercises/practice, and small group discussions, the course will aim to create an
environment of trust and curiosity, and to foster a willingness amongst the students to bring their ideas, experiences, and emotions to the exploration of these issues, of the study and practice of law, and of themselves.
Method of Evaluation: Pass/Fail. Evaluation will be based on meeting attendance expectations; completion of assigned writing exercises; and adequate participation in classroom discussions and exercises.