![handle is hein.journals/arklr78 and id is 1 raw text is:
LAWYERS, TRAUMA, AND PROFESSIONAL
WELL-BEING: HOW THE LEGAL
COMMUNITY TAKES BACK ITS MENTAL
HEALTH
Brenda D. Gibson*
INTRODUCTION
Accompanying a notable shift in the legal academy to being
more attentive to our students' mental health,1 there must be an
equal (or even greater) shift to focusing on trauma, mental health,
and well-being in the broader profession. Trauma is an
inevitable part of life,2 and members of the legal profession are
not exempt from it. In fact, data shows that trauma is prevalent
in the profession-in both the client and the legal professional.3
It is, therefore, critical to gain an understanding of trauma and its
inextricable ties to the legal profession. To do otherwise would
be irresponsible to ourselves, our students, our clients, and the
* Brenda D. Gibson is a Professor of Legal Analysis, Writing and Research at Wake
Forest University School of Law. Many thanks to those who helped with research for this
article: Wake Law Library Liaison, Lance Burke; Law Library research assistant, Sydney
Basden; and my research assistants, Jordin Carpenter ('23), Christine Pangborn, Mel
Mahabir, and Andy Harp. Special thanks to the Lutie Lytle Black Women Faculty Workshop
and Writing Retreat and Wake Law's Junior's Scholar Group for listening to my early ideas
and reading early drafts, respectively. A very special thanks to the Writing as Resistance,
aka W.A.R., Legal Writing Professors of Color Collective, for providing support as I wrote
this emotionally taxing article; and to my Wake Law scholarship mentor, Ron Wright, and
dear friend and colleague, Suzanne Rowe, for reading and providing constructive feedback
on my later drafts. Finally, effusive thanks to my friend and fellow W.A.R.rior, Nantiya
Ruan, who provided the title for this article.
1. See Brenda Karyee Yuen, Trauma-Informed Lawyering: Practicing Emotional
Acknowledgment 1 (Jan. 23, 2023) (LL.M. thesis, College of Law University of
Saskatchewan Saskatoon).
2. Why Nurse Practitioners (NP) are a great choice for psychiatric medications,
ASSOC. MENTAL HEALTH CONSULTANTS, [https://perma.cc/CV4J-73F5] (last visited Jan. 5,
2025).
3. Brandon Vogel, Vicarious Trauma is Real... and Really, Really Common with
Lawyers, N.Y. STATE BAR ASS'N (July 22, 2020), [https://penna.cc/7VFZ-TD7H]; Otto
Nicli, Trauma-Informed Lawyering: What It Is and Why It Matters, TEX. BAR PRAC. BLOG
(Apr. 1, 2024), [https://perma.cc/XR8D-AJBT].](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/arklr78&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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