In the last 10 years, we—along with our students, clients, and the rest of the world—have witnessed horrific tragedies. Through all this, our clinics advocate and litigate on behalf of and with the people most affected by these daily assaults. We have often included classes on vicarious trauma as part of our client-centered, trauma-informed pedagogy and representation. However, in the last few years, there is a growing conversation about the trauma—and all its effects on the brain and body—that our students experience before they even start advocating for marginalized communities. With this panel, we hope to bring forward a deeper discussion about stress—its causes, its relationship to our profession, and whether it is a good or bad thing—and, perhaps more importantly, resilience—how we learn to “bounce forward” from challenging experiences.
This session embodies the conference’s theme of maintaining resilience as we support our clients, community, and colleagues through these devastating times by (1) creating a common language and understanding about stress, trauma, and resilience; (2) discussing strategies for developing resilience in ourselves; and (3) discussing strategies for building resilience in our students. Understanding how stress manifests in ourselves, as well as our clients, teaches our students (and reminds ourselves) how to recognize the effects of stress and build the resilience needed to continue our zealous representation.