Well-Being Guides & Resources
Building Workplace Well-Being
Law Firm Well-Being Program Benchmarking Report 2021
(Excerpt from the Workplace Well-Being Handbook)
In this Report, Anne Brafford has collected information about current trends in law firm well-being programs including, for example, committee structure, programming trends, behavioral health services, and examples of events and offerings. The Report can help firms compare their own programs and get innovative ideas.
Alcohol Use Policy Template for Legal Employers
(Excerpt from the Workplace Well-Being Handbook)
Workplace culture strongly influences drinking patterns. Get started shaping responsible drinking norms by tailoring the free Alcohol Use Policy Template to your organization.
Workplace Well-Being Infographic
Download the infographic of key psychosocial workplace factors, which are elements within legal employers’ influence that can powerfully impact employees’ well-being and optimal functioning.
Download NowWell-Being Toolkit For Lawyers and Legal Employers
Anne Brafford created this freely-available Toolkit as part of an ABA initiative in 2018. It provides guidance to legal employers on establishing and developing well-being programs and includes a series of well-being-boosting worksheets for individual lawyers.
Download NowABA Employee Impairment Policy Template
This template created by an ABA working group suggests guidelines to legal employers for responding to employees who are experiencing an impairment due to a substance use or mental health disorder or cognitive impairment.
Download NowTristan Jepson Healthy Workplace Guidelines for the Legal Profession
An Australian non-profit proposed Guidelines to assist legal employers to foster psychological health in the workplace by focusing on 13 science-based psychosocial workplace factors.
Download NowWhat’s Working Well in Law Firm Well-Being Programs?
Download this collection of 7 brief profiles of law firms recognized for progress on their well-being programs asked to identify factors supporting their success.
Download NowFamily Activity Guide
Well-being is a team sport, and our families play an important role. Check out the Family Activity Guide for ideas for families with children to boost their well-being during Well-Being Week in Law and all year round.
Download NowWell-Being Week Activity Guide Collection
All of the Well-Being Week in Law Activity Guides are compiled here in one place.
Download NowInstitute for Well-Being in Law YouTube Channel
Check out the IWIL YouTube Channel where we’ll be posting more great videos like this one:
Older videos can be found on the Lawyer Well-Being YouTube Channel.
Stay Strong
PHYSICAL WELL-BEING
Striving for regular activity, good diet and nutrition, enough sleep and recovery. Limit addictive substances and seek help for physical health when needed.
4-7-8 Breathing Exercise Activity Guide
The way you breathe (yep, breathe!) may be making you anxious. Learn stress-calming techniques in the 4-7-8 Breathing Exercise Activity Guide.
Download NowDesk Yoga Activity Guide
The exercises in this activity will enable physical and psychological recharging and can easily fit into your daily routine.
Download NowSelf-Care Plan Activity Guide
Identify ways to improve and cultivate your self-care, guided by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
Download NowGet Moving Activity Guide
Offers ideas for moving more while working and in our personal lives and recommends new activities to try to boost fun and motivation.
Download NowAlign
SPIRITUAL WELL-BEING
Fostering a sense of meaningfulness and purpose in work and life, and aligning your work and life with your values, goals, and interests.
Take an Awe Walk
Boost the meaningfulness of your everyday stroll by following the instructions in the Awe Walk Activity Guide.
Download NowAligning With Your Values Activity Guide
Chronic misalignment between our values and behaviors can contribute to disengagement, burnout, anxiety, and depression. Use this Activity Guide to identify your core values and ways to align those values with your work and personal life.
Download NowUse Your Strengths For Growth Activity Guide
Understanding one’s strengths can help to handle stress and challenges, become happier and master goals.
Download NowEngage & Grow
CAREER & INTELLECTUAL WELL-BEING
Seeking personal satisfaction, continuous learning and growth in our professional and personal lives, and financial stability. Engaging in creative or intellectually challenging activities that foster ongoing development and monitoring cognitive wellness.
Job Crafting Activity Guide
Job crafting is a continual activity in which we seek to create a better fit between our strengths, values, and preferences and our work. To try it out, follow the instructions in the Job Crafting Activity Guide.
Download NowGet Into Flow With Creativity Activity Guide
Left-brained-logic-loving lawyers and other legal professionals may overlook the rejuvenating force of creativity. Much research shows that everyday creativity can boost health and happiness. The Activity Guide recommends choosing creative activities that align with who you are, are absorbing and challenging, and enables you to disconnect from stressful thoughts.
Download NowUse Your Strengths For Growth Activity Guide
Understanding one’s strengths can help to handle stress and challenges, become happier and master goals.
Download NowConnect
SOCIAL WELL-BEING
Building connection, belonging, and a reliable support network. Contributing to our groups and communities.
Loving-Kindness Meditation Activity Guide
Loving-kindness meditation is a practice in which we mentally send goodwill, kindness, and warmth towards others, which builds a foundation for pro-social behaviors. It is also linked to many psychological benefits, including greater positive emotions and reduced depression, anxiety, stress, and loneliness.
Download NowConnecting Over Things In Common Activity Guide
We often share more in common with others than what meets the eye. Getting beyond the surface attributes and gaining a better understanding of the experiences, identities, and other aspects of our lives that we share with our colleagues can help us bridge differences and work together more effectively. Try it out by doing the exercise in this Activity Guide.
Download NowMeaningful Connections Through Movies Activity Guide
Movies have many layers that shape people’s experience in ways that can influence well-being—including fostering social connection. This Activity Guide provides ideas for creating a Movie Club that facilitates meaningful connections.
Download NowGrow Your Gratitude Activity Guide
Gratitude is defined as a sense of thankfulness and joy in response to receiving a gift. Multiple studies have found the positive power of gratitude for fostering social connection, pro-social behaviors, and mental well-being. Try out different ways of practicing gratitude to bolster social connection and well-being.
Download NowLessen Loneliness Activity Guide
Inside and outside the legal profession, loneliness is a growing threat to mental health. Many science-backed, practical strategies may prevent and alleviate symptoms of loneliness, and, in this Activity Guide, we offer a few for you to try.
Download NowFeel Well
EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING
Valuing emotions, developing an ability to identify and manage emotions for health, to achieve goals, and to inform decisions. Seeking help for mental health when needed.
Retraining Unhelpful Thoughts Activity Guide
Learning to push back on automatic unhelpful thoughts that often flood our minds will help us feel better, enable us to intentionally choose that align with our goals and values, and protect our mental health. Try out two activities to help curb the negative effects of unhelpful thoughts in the Retraining Unhelpful Thoughts Activity Guide.
Download NowSavoring Positive Experiences Activity Guide
Intentionally engaging in thoughts and behaviors that heighten our good feelings about positive events is strongly related to mental health. It includes anything that generates, intensifies, or prolongs our enjoyment. This Activity Guide will help you assess your own savoring habits and make a plan for more savoring.
Download NowManaging Mental Health in the Workplace: Conversation Guide
Open communication about mental health can reduce stigma, break down barriers, and build trust—which, in turn, promotes long-term, positive behavioral change. The Conversation Guide provides basic tips to give supervisors and colleagues confidence to initiate such conversations.
Download NowVanquish Languishing Activity Guide
Offers guidance on how to use evidence-based behavioral activation strategies to incorporate more enjoyable and valued activities into your life to foster greater engagement and vitality and curb depressive symptoms.
Download NowSelf Compassion Activity Guide
Recognition & Rewards
Perceived efforts/contributions are fairly balanced with perceived rewards provided by the employer (e.g., compensation, esteem and social rewards, job security, career opportunities).
Strengths-Based Feedback Activity Guide
Provides practical guidance for supervisors on delivering strengths-based feedback.
Download NowBalance
Our culture supports members ability to maintain good health and functioning while feeling fully engaged in and satisfied with their contributions to their work and families and themselves without perceiving too much conflict among those roles.
Aligning With Your Values Activity Guide
This Guide explains individual and team activities to identify one’s core values and ways to align those values with one’s work and personal life.
Download NowGetting Serious About Balance & Self-Care For Solo Lawyers (Video)
Perspectives and Strategies From Professional Women of Color
Professional coach Pamela DeNeuve interviews Melanie Fenwick Thompson and Phillis Williams about strategies for creating balance and valuing self-care as solo practitioners and unique challenges for people of color.
Watch NowEffective Leadership
Our leaders positively impact organizational members’ well-being through their leadership style, creation of a psychologically healthy work culture, management of mental health matters in the workplace, and support for workplace well-being programs.
Positive Leadership Development Activity Guide
Effective leadership is a key contributor to workplace well-being. This Guide provides multiple activities for starting down the path of leader development.
Download NowEffective Leaders: The Lynchpins of Workplace Well-Being
Leaders in their people supervisory roles make or break workplace cultures of well-being. A large body of research has found that supervisors with the most direct and frequent contact with employees have the biggest impact on their work experience—good or bad. In this white paper, Anne Brafford provides do-able, science-based activities and behaviors for supervisory lawyers to cultivate thriving teams. This “Cheat Sheet” provides specific examples of recommended behaviors.
Download NowInclusion
Our organizational members feel supported and valued for their unique, individual traits and talents; feel a sense of belonging; and have access to and feel fairly treated by the organization’s structures and processes.
Connecting Over Things In Common Activity Guide
We often share more in common with others than what meets the eye. Getting beyond the surface attributes and gaining a better understanding of the experiences, identities, and other aspects of our lives that we share with our colleagues can help us bridge differences and work together more effectively.
Download NowThe Cost of Assimilation in the Legal Profession: Voices of Our Diverse Colleagues (Video)
Sarah Van Steenburg moderates a panel of former practicing lawyers Ru Bhat, Katharine Manning, and Debbie Tang sharing their experiences balancing authenticity and fitting in. YouTube, 28:28 mins.
Watch NowOvercoming Imposter Syndrome As a Black Woman In Law (Video)
An Interview of Erin Young, Esq. by Cherie O’Reilly, Esq. about the symptoms of imposter syndrome and how to overcome them. YouTube, 17:04 mins.
Watch NowCulture of Trust, Fairness & Transparency
Our work environment is characterized by the shared values of trust, honesty, transparency, and fairness.
Positive Leadership Panel Activity Guide
Guidance for organizing a panel of top leaders addressing issues related to trust, fairness, and transparency.
Download Now