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Self-Care Is Key to Client Care in Family Law

By Rachael M. Sedlacek posted 01-25-2016 10:59

  

Family law practitioners help clients through some of the most emotionally distressing times in their lives. When accepting the Blaine Johnson award at the Family Law Institute this year, Monika Holzer Sacks told a touching story of a client who reached out five years post-divorce to let her know he was “okay now.” Clearly, her counsel meant a lot to him.

But making a difference in your clients’ lives often takes a personal toll. Family law practitioners are at risk for “secondary trauma,” also known “compassion fatigue.” Dr. Andrew Levin, a psychiatrist who conducted one of the first empirical studies on lawyers and secondary trauma, uses this definition: “‘the stress resulting from helping or wanting to help a traumatized or suffering person.’” Secondary trauma symptoms can be similar to PTSD and can include re-experiencing images of the client’s trauma, avoiding things that remind you of the trauma, numbness, and hypervigilance. It can also cause practitioners to internalize the survivor’s negative emotions and can lead to burnout. Studies show that attorneys experiencing burnout are more prone to headaches, hypertension, depression, insomnia, irritability, fatigue, hopelessness, aggression, cynicism, and substance abuse.

For many of us, the undesirable symptoms associated with secondary trauma and burnout are reason enough to combat these conditions. Another important consideration: your clients. At least one commentator suggests that lawyers are much less effective when suffering from secondary trauma. Identifying too closely with clients or being emotionally anesthetized are similarly dangerous. The lawyer might ignore evidence she wants to avoid or be unable to provide his client with an objective view of the case. It also easy to see how burnout responses like insomnia or substance abuse can interfere with representation.

So what is the solution? Most articles on this topic emphasize self-care, e.g. relaxation techniques; adequate sleep, exercise, and nutrition; and maintaining a balanced lifestyle. Other suggestions include regularly debriefing with colleagues, especially other family law lawyers, and diversifying your practice to include cases with less conflict and trauma. Including collaborative law as part of your practice can be one way to lower your high-conflict divorce cases.

If you have found a particular technique to be helpful or have a story to share on this topic, please write me at rmtay@icle.org. I’d like to write a second post sharing the aggregate of your practical advice.

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