On the surface, it may seem that there are not many similarities between law and medicine.
But if you look deeper, both fields are filled with intellectually curious and focused people who have a desire to help others, often at the most vulnerable point in their lives. I understand this. The job is hard work and can be mentally taxing.
A group of doctors from Mayo Clinic in Phoenix and students from Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law worked with legal experts to create a mental health training module for Arizona judges. From left to right: Patricia Starr, Zuzana Skalkova, Dr. Robert Bright, John Cliver, Nicole Kazan, and Dr. Shweta Kapoor.Photo by Tubbs Mosier/Arizona State University
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Knowing this, a group of ASU Law School alumni decided that a new training program they had developed would help prepare judges and lawyers to successfully deal with mental health issues in and around their jobs. I look forward to it. The program aims to teach compassion when dealing with people suffering from mental health issues and encourage judges to take care of themselves when faced with trauma in court.
“Judges have little to no training in mental illness and mental health,” said Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Patricia Starr, who inspired the show and helped edit and narrate it. . “…but in every department of our courtrooms, we have litigants who have been traumatized or who are living with mental illness. We also have litigants in every department of our courtroom who have been traumatized or who are living with mental illness. We also have litigants in every department of our courtroom who are traumatized or who are living with mental illness. We also deal with secondary trauma and even direct trauma on a regular basis.”
Where law and medicine collide
The idea for this training program was conceived by John Kleiber, a student in the J.D./Med. dual program offered through a partnership between Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law and the Mayo Clinic Alix School, in 2021. I came up with this idea in 2016. Phoenix medical professionals attended a talk by Starr on mental health and law.
Kleiber previously worked in public health in rural Haiti, where he saw law and policy frequently interact with the health sector.
“A lot of what I saw while working in Haiti was how difficult it was to get local health care workers on the same page,” he said. “Global health efforts have a highly interdisciplinary component and policy decisions are made with very limited resources. Medical decisions require medical knowledge, but effective care requires advocacy. and political realities are just as important. I saw this dual degree as a pathway to better advocate and support community-led health projects around the world.”
After Starr’s talk, Kleiber and then-L.D. student Nicole Kazan began talking about the challenges judges face when dealing with mental health issues in the court system. Kazan, who currently works at a suicide hotline in Solari, Arizona, has a master’s degree in social work and was a former social worker. She saw firsthand how medical professionals, lawyers, and judges often had to perform social work themselves in cases without proper training.
“Mental health is very important for everyone, but it’s especially important in a demanding and complex career, where you take on the problems of many people when working on cases,” she said. “I think it’s important to be able to see yourself and access support and things that people need.”
Aboard and behind the wheel with ASU student Zuzana Skvarkova animationThe animation was directed by Sukarkova and produced by a group of ASU undergraduate interns., Kleiber and Kazan formed a team and began working on a mental health education module for judges in Arizona. Eventually, the team grew to include Mr. Starr, Judge Bruce Cohen, and Dr. Robert Bright and Dr. Shweta Kapoor, then of the Mayo Clinic.
A new training program developed by ASU students, legal experts, and Mayo Clinic physicians will help prepare judges and lawyers to successfully deal with mental health issues in and around their jobs. The program’s training modules aim to teach compassion when dealing with people suffering from mental health problems and encourage judges to care for themselves when faced with trauma in court.Photo courtesy of Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.
After 18 months of work, the team has created five surveys, animations designed to help court members identify and understand the impact of their work on their own and others’ mental health. , and developed a narration module.
Module 1 introduces common terminology used in mental health diagnosis and research. Module 2 focuses on how diagnoses are presented in court. Module 3 covers social work, including de-escalation techniques and how to deal with someone having a mental health episode. Module 4 focuses on identifying the judge’s triggers and managing emotions. Her fifth and final module examines vicarious trauma, the emotions that arise from being exposed to the trauma of others, and how it can manifest itself among judges handling intense cases. To do.
This training module was originally targeted at Maricopa County Mental Health Court judges, but is now available to judges in Arizona and across the country.
the next deployment
In the future, the team hopes to expand the program to more professional groups, especially as the stigma around mental health fades.
Mr. Kapur, who currently works at the Carl T. Hayden Veterans Administration Medical Center and recently launched his own psychotherapy clinic, Callum Psychiatry, is working to help people in the medical field maintain their mental health. He talked about the tendency to abandon mental health. their patients.
“Many of us are so focused on the well-being of our patients that we forget that we, too, are individuals with emotional needs and finite emotional resources,” she says. “…by normalizing emotional responses, encouraging greater self-reflection, respecting our own humanity, and recognizing emotional pain, doctors, judges, and lawyers can significantly reduce burnout and distress.” and become much more capable.”
Mr. Kapur became involved in the development of Module 4 on Emotion Regulation, but was so enthusiastic about the project that he decided to stay until it was completed.
“It’s okay to be a doctor, a judge, a lawyer, and still be human. These are not mutually exclusive. In fact, our humanity makes us more compassionate and empathetic, which makes us more capable of doing our professional work.” ,” she said. “Our humanity is actually our greatest strength.”
