Notes about these resources: These are ongoing works in progress that will be continually updated and improved. Humbling as it is to put unfinished, unpolished work out into the world, it feels more important to get information to public defenders if it might help us stay well and stay in this work. Please send feedback, corrections, additions, wisecracks, links that have gone dead, and creative improvement ideas to besustained@gmail.com. This is a compilation of ideas and materials gathered and developed for presentations and workshops on various topics related to sustaining well-being in public defense. It has two parts: a chapter on Sustaining Well-Being in Public Defense and an A-Z Resource Guide for Sustaining Well-Being in Public Defense. Some topics are more fully developed than others, and this project is likely to progress completely irregularly, in fits and starts, between trials. Updates will be posted here. The A-Z categories are a bit idiosyncratic. There are questions and worksheets that invite introspection and reflection; be sensitive to your own triggers, mental health concerns and comfort in everything you choose to do and not to do. I’m not a doctor or mental health provider, and you should consult one with any questions you have about breathing exercises or yoga practice–or taking up trapeze, ax throwing, or parachuting as your third thing– or anything at all, and let your own judgement guide anything you do to support your well-being. I just want you to take care of yourself– and each other and our clients– and be a kick ass public defender.
You have my permission to share freely (but not to sell) any content I have created and share in these resources, with attribution, within the indigent defense community. Please credit original sources appropriately and seek permission as needed.
