1. Pro Bono Law Alberta Roundtable November 22, 2012 Marian V. De Souza, LL.B. - Executive Director Carolyn McCartney - Program Coordinator Alberta Lawyers’ Assistance Society (Assist)

2. OBJECTIVES TODAY 1.Assist—an overview. 2.Stress, burnout and compassion fatigue vs. Difficult clients. 3.Counter-productive approaches to successful relationships and resolutions. 4.Active Listening. 5.Peer Support and the importance of Debriefing.

3. Assist albertalawyersassist.ca Confidential, Free and Independent Mission Providing confidential help to lawyers, law students, articling students and their families with personal issues. Vision Preventing stress in life and law from becoming distress; preventing distress from turning into crisis; and preventing crisis from becoming terminal or long-term debilitation.

4. COUNSELLING SERVICES TYPE OF ISSUE

5. Signs of Stress STRESS is composed of three parts 1.STRESSOR (an event or situation that causes us to feel tense or energized. 2.MENTAL REACTION (or otherwise termed, self talk). 3.STRESS RESPONSE (this is what you may be familiar with as the fight or flight dichotomy).

6. How Stress Impacts Your Life Life Event or “Stressors”Perception Consequences: Emotional, physiological, behavioral Emotional/Physical Illness Stress/Illness Model

7. Compassion Fatigue Cumulative physical, emotional and psychological effects of being continually exposed to traumatic stories or events when working in a helping capacity.

8. Symptoms  Increased level of stress  Sleep disturbance  Anxiety  Intrusive thoughts  Sense of futility or pessimism about people  Lethargy  Isolation  Irritability  Losing your sense of self confidence  Avoiding caregiving  Submersing self in caregiving opportunities in search of a successful outcome that is not reasonably achievable

10. On-Line Resources

11. E.N.E.R.G.Y

12. Counter Productive Approaches Making anger, instead of resolution, your goal. Assuming you are all right and the other parties are all wrong. Assuming there is only one correct way to look at a situation. Assuming there is only one possible solution to a problem. Focusing on personalities instead of on behaviours. Attributing hostile intentions to others. Being defensive and unwilling to take some responsibility. Saying nothing, instead of what you want. Hinting. Expressing dislikes, the negative of what one wants: “I don’t want to...” Asking questions instead of stating feelings: “What do you want to do?”, “Don’t you think that...?” Launching statements with the pronoun “you” as the subject: “You shouldn’t...” Criticizing: “Why did you have to...?” Blaming: “If you hadn’t...” Complaining: “I don’t like you to...” Labelling: “That’s stupid...” Speaking with an irritated or accusatory tone of voice. Yelling. Forbes Psychological Services

13. Instead of receptive listening … Continuing with own train of thought, instead of incorporating what the other person just said. Focusing on what is wrong instead of what is right in what the other person is saying. Interpreting the other person’s words, including attributing your own feelings to the speaker: “You just want to...” Contradicting response: “Yes, but...” Not responding. Interrupting. Switching topics. Talking more than the other person. Not making summarizing statements. Making summarizing statements that exclude what the other person said. Forbes Psychological Services

14. Self-Destructive In rare circumstances the individual may threaten harm to self or others. Reassure and express concern about the mood or sentiment. Strongly recommend immediate professional help. Offer to call for assistance. Ensure safe transportation. If needed, call for professional crisis help through Assist or call 911.

15. ACTIVE LISTENING Four major characteristics of supportive listening: Empathy Genuineness Nonjudgmental Empowerment Forbes Psychological Services

16. ACTIVE LISTENING  Empathy - a process of grasping or understanding the other person’s point of view.  Genuineness - being authentic, real, being yourself.  Nonjudgmental - Acceptance of a person without criticism or judgment of his/her lifestyle, attitudes, beliefs and feelings assists in the development of a trusting relationship.  Empowerment - Help the person to help themselves.

17. PERCEPTION CHECKS  Identifying feelings you hear from the person.  This is a means of acknowledging the person's feelings and giving a name to an emotion when the person is unable to do so.  You are checking your perception of what you heard, not projecting your own feelings onto the person. Forbes Psychological Services

18. NORMALIZING & VALIDATING  When normalizing you are attempting to normalize the person's feelings not his/her behaviour.  Validating assists the person in helping them feel comfortable with expressing his/her feelings (strong feelings). Forbes Psychological Services

19. Resources Resources available to lawyers, law students & their families: Assist Marian De Souza, LL.B., Executive Director Carolyn McCartney, Program Coordinator 1 877 737 5508 or 403 537 5508 Forbes Psychological Services 24/7 Dr. Brian Forbes 1 877 498 6898 or after hours crisis 780 719 7440

20. Thank You WHAT QUESTIONS DO YOU HAVE?

21. Peer Support -Peer Support occurs when a lawyer shares their knowledge and experience, whether practical, emotional, or social, to help another lawyer. -Peer Support is a voluntary service, offered through Assist that can be used on its own or in conjunction with professional counselling. -Peer Support is confidential, within ethical and legal boundaries, in all situations. All interactions are discreet, confidential, and respectful.

22. Why Peer Support? In particularly stressful practices (such as family law) where lawyers are exposed to distressing situations and stressed clients, debriefing can be very helpful. Lawyers debrief to reduce any possibility of psychological harm by allowing themselves to talk about their experience. In some family law practices, lawyers debrief regularly to protect themselves from compassion fatigue. In other practices, however, lawyers do not have that opportunity. The legal profession is behind in the implementation of the “human factor”: filling the gap in the system with the human element, and promoting open door policies.

23. Why Peer Support? Brewin et al (2000) conducted a study on the risk factors of stress/mental health issue becoming worse over time. The largest contributing factor was the lack of social support after the incident (over psychiatric history, childhood abuse, trauma severity, and additional stressors). Talking with your colleagues and showing support for one another can prevent stress from becoming distress, and prevent distress from becoming crisis.

24. How to Get Involved Educate yourself: -Assist offers a two-part course (How to Identify a Distressed Individual and How to Make Referral to Help). This free course is offered through the LESA online platform and can be accessed using the Roll Number: LA2012 Volunteer: -Assist is always looking for Peer Support volunteers. If you are interested, ask Carolyn McCartney or go online (albertalawyersassist.ca)

25. Thank You