The legal world is demanding, competitive, and often unpredictable. The pressure to meet deadlines, make quick decisions, and handle the complexity of cases can lead to high levels of stress and have a significant impact on professionals' well-being. Between the rationality required by the profession and the emotions inherent to being human, a dilemma arises: how to balance a demanding career with the need to take care of mental health?
For too long, law has been seen as a profession where emotional resilience was a prerequisite for success. However, the psychological challenges of legal practice cannot be ignored. Compassion fatigue, burnout, and professional isolation are some of the consequences of a highly demanding environment, and when unrecognized, they can compromise both work quality and personal life. In this course, we will explore the relationship between law and mental health, identifying the risks associated with the profession, the warning signs, and strategies to promote a healthy balance between professional performance and well-being. Through a practical and reflective approach, we aim to demystify the importance of mental health in the legal field and present solutions for a more sustainable and humane practice of law. Reason and emotion can coexist. The first step is to understand how.
What we’ll talk about
Session 1: Introduction to Law and Mental Health
1. Mental Health and Well-being in Law Practice
a. Prevalence of mental health issues
b. Sterotypes and stigma
c. Emotional Intelligence vs. Emotional Neutrality
2. Risks and Challenges: Psychological Demands of the Profession
a. Labor demands
b. Social and leadership relations
c. Emotional demands
d. Compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma
3. Consequences associated with poor mental health in the profession
Session 2: From Warning Signs to Prioritizing Mental Health
1. Allostatic Load
a. The meaning, indicators, and consequences of high allostatic load
2. Warning Signs
a. Sleep
b. Humor
c. Food Standards
d. Cognitive Difficulties
e. Social Contact
3. Strategies to Promote Well-being and Mental Health
a. Social Strategies
b. Emotional Strategies
c. Intelectual Strategies
d. Physical Strategies
e. Spiritual Strategies
f. Occupational strategies
Session 3: Stress Management and Burnout Prevention
1. From chronic stress to burnout
a. The psychological perspective of stress
b. Eustress vs. Distress
c. Occupational stress
2. Understanding Burnout
a. Prevalence in Portugal
b. Dimensions of Burnout
c. Phases of Burnout
3. Burnout in the Legal World
a. Prevalences and impact on mental health
b. Predisposing factors
1. Individual factors
2. Work-related factors
3. Organizational factors
c. The role of organizations in promoting mental health
d. Organizational strategies for promoting mental health and well-being
Details & Pricing
Book with us!
6h
3 weekly sessions