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... and better support our criminal and family law colleagues. By Camilla Wells
When practising as a family law barrister, I used to wonder why I could not manage to reduce my stress levels for any length of time. I would take short breaks, longer breaks and reduce my workload. Still the stress would build.
LawCare statistics tell us that burn-out rates are high and that the numbers of lawyers choosing to leave the profession are growing. There will be many reasons for this, but I strongly believe that our exposure to trauma, particularly in family and criminal law, lies at the heart.
It is now a widely held view among mental health practitioners that many mental health problems are secondary symptoms of an underlying and unprocessed trauma. If trauma is unprocessed, it accumulates. Trauma requires a specific form of recovery. It won’t resolve with a short holiday or a lighter workload.
Over the years, I have become increasingly aware of how unconscious we have been, as a profession, to the impact of trauma exposure. It was only when I left the Bar, and lost a dear friend very suddenly, that I began to enquire into what I was ‘holding’. Retraining as a coach, I worked with clinical psychologists specialising in the field of trauma to develop ways to help lawyers recognise and release trauma. The purpose of this article is to share some insight from what we have learned and observed.
Trauma is an experience that is overwhelming, very difficult to process fully and can impact our core beliefs. Examples include accidents, serious illness, sudden death of a loved one, abuse and disasters.
Core beliefs develop throughout our lives but mostly during childhood. As the lens we look through, they govern our day-to-day vision of the world, the way we see and respond to relationships and our environment, and are bound up with our sense of self. Trauma can impact our core beliefs and therefore alter the way we experience almost everything in our lives. We may start to view the world as less safe/bleaker etc.
As an adult, if we process trauma successfully, we can return to our core beliefs – or a slightly adapted version which integrates the traumatic experience. For example, if a barrister is exposed to disturbing images of sexual abuse on a regular basis, the images and sensations can impact core beliefs. If the trauma exposure is repressed or pushed away, this can lead to a disconnect with the self and develop into depression, anxiety, exhaustion, insomnia etc. By processing the trauma, a return to the core beliefs can be facilitated – with an adaptation to allow the lens to accommodate the trauma exposure in a way that is healthy. This might be along the lines of: ‘This disturbing, sexual abuse can happen, but it is not common and doesn’t fundamentally alter the way I see the world.’
Trauma exposure through work is referred to as vicarious or secondary trauma. There aren’t many of us who manage to live a trauma-free life. However, for barristers practising in particular areas, the level of exposure can be extreme and relentless. Those who regularly work long hours with few breaks can find it difficult to ‘come up for air’ to notice whether they have a more jaded world view after years of exposure.
When clients discuss traumatic experiences or share traumatic material in a conference or in evidence, they are likely to re-live the trauma. If the trauma is unprocessed, it continues to be present in their nervous system and will cause a physiological response – increased heart rate, tension in the muscles, rage etc.
Lawyers, sitting with their clients, can also experience a reaction because mirror neurons in the brain are activated. This may result in a similar physiological response – from a quickening of the breath to a reaction in the gut, tension etc. This can negatively impact on health. However, it is possible and important to learn how to lessen the impact.
Trauma is held in the limbic system and evokes a visceral reaction such as restlessness, overreaction, intense anger, disgust, shame, sleep disturbance, recurring thoughts and intrusive images.
If a traumatic event triggers a traumatic memory of an earlier life experience, the response can be complex. An example of this would be a person who has recently experienced a disproportionate reaction to a minor car crash. They feel extremely anxious, can’t sleep or relax. This person also had a very serious car accident 10 years earlier. They never really thought much about it and simply ‘moved on’. The trauma of the earlier accident is stuck in their limbic system and driving the response to the recent crash. In order to process the trauma, there needs to be a processing and release in relation to both crashes.
Barristers may find that certain cases have similarities to their own life experiences. These cases can trigger emotional reactions and the impact may be complex. Becoming conscious of individual triggers will enable barristers to take extra care in relation to that case/client and to factor that into the processing of the trauma.
Without release, trauma builds, accumulates, can impair a barrister’s capacity to perform, and to cope, and is further exacerbated by the following factors and particular characteristics of the Bar:
We need to create a trauma-informed legal community. Lawyers often describe themselves as living 100% in their heads. Learning how to release trauma not only creates greater capacity to cope with stress but also enables a new healthier way of being, which involves connecting mind and body, and becoming more present in your life.
Camilla Wells is a coach and non-practising family law barrister who offers coaching and training on trauma recognition and release. She has created bespoke exercises to enable clients, particularly those who are exposed to trauma and vicarious trauma in their work, to build their own resources: www.camillawells.com
When practising as a family law barrister, I used to wonder why I could not manage to reduce my stress levels for any length of time. I would take short breaks, longer breaks and reduce my workload. Still the stress would build.
LawCare statistics tell us that burn-out rates are high and that the numbers of lawyers choosing to leave the profession are growing. There will be many reasons for this, but I strongly believe that our exposure to trauma, particularly in family and criminal law, lies at the heart.
It is now a widely held view among mental health practitioners that many mental health problems are secondary symptoms of an underlying and unprocessed trauma. If trauma is unprocessed, it accumulates. Trauma requires a specific form of recovery. It won’t resolve with a short holiday or a lighter workload.
Over the years, I have become increasingly aware of how unconscious we have been, as a profession, to the impact of trauma exposure. It was only when I left the Bar, and lost a dear friend very suddenly, that I began to enquire into what I was ‘holding’. Retraining as a coach, I worked with clinical psychologists specialising in the field of trauma to develop ways to help lawyers recognise and release trauma. The purpose of this article is to share some insight from what we have learned and observed.
Trauma is an experience that is overwhelming, very difficult to process fully and can impact our core beliefs. Examples include accidents, serious illness, sudden death of a loved one, abuse and disasters.
Core beliefs develop throughout our lives but mostly during childhood. As the lens we look through, they govern our day-to-day vision of the world, the way we see and respond to relationships and our environment, and are bound up with our sense of self. Trauma can impact our core beliefs and therefore alter the way we experience almost everything in our lives. We may start to view the world as less safe/bleaker etc.
As an adult, if we process trauma successfully, we can return to our core beliefs – or a slightly adapted version which integrates the traumatic experience. For example, if a barrister is exposed to disturbing images of sexual abuse on a regular basis, the images and sensations can impact core beliefs. If the trauma exposure is repressed or pushed away, this can lead to a disconnect with the self and develop into depression, anxiety, exhaustion, insomnia etc. By processing the trauma, a return to the core beliefs can be facilitated – with an adaptation to allow the lens to accommodate the trauma exposure in a way that is healthy. This might be along the lines of: ‘This disturbing, sexual abuse can happen, but it is not common and doesn’t fundamentally alter the way I see the world.’
Trauma exposure through work is referred to as vicarious or secondary trauma. There aren’t many of us who manage to live a trauma-free life. However, for barristers practising in particular areas, the level of exposure can be extreme and relentless. Those who regularly work long hours with few breaks can find it difficult to ‘come up for air’ to notice whether they have a more jaded world view after years of exposure.
When clients discuss traumatic experiences or share traumatic material in a conference or in evidence, they are likely to re-live the trauma. If the trauma is unprocessed, it continues to be present in their nervous system and will cause a physiological response – increased heart rate, tension in the muscles, rage etc.
Lawyers, sitting with their clients, can also experience a reaction because mirror neurons in the brain are activated. This may result in a similar physiological response – from a quickening of the breath to a reaction in the gut, tension etc. This can negatively impact on health. However, it is possible and important to learn how to lessen the impact.
Trauma is held in the limbic system and evokes a visceral reaction such as restlessness, overreaction, intense anger, disgust, shame, sleep disturbance, recurring thoughts and intrusive images.
If a traumatic event triggers a traumatic memory of an earlier life experience, the response can be complex. An example of this would be a person who has recently experienced a disproportionate reaction to a minor car crash. They feel extremely anxious, can’t sleep or relax. This person also had a very serious car accident 10 years earlier. They never really thought much about it and simply ‘moved on’. The trauma of the earlier accident is stuck in their limbic system and driving the response to the recent crash. In order to process the trauma, there needs to be a processing and release in relation to both crashes.
Barristers may find that certain cases have similarities to their own life experiences. These cases can trigger emotional reactions and the impact may be complex. Becoming conscious of individual triggers will enable barristers to take extra care in relation to that case/client and to factor that into the processing of the trauma.
Without release, trauma builds, accumulates, can impair a barrister’s capacity to perform, and to cope, and is further exacerbated by the following factors and particular characteristics of the Bar:
We need to create a trauma-informed legal community. Lawyers often describe themselves as living 100% in their heads. Learning how to release trauma not only creates greater capacity to cope with stress but also enables a new healthier way of being, which involves connecting mind and body, and becoming more present in your life.
... and better support our criminal and family law colleagues. By Camilla Wells
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