More Resources

(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.

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.

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.

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.

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 this collection of 7 brief profiles of law firms recognized for progress on their well-being programs asked to identify factors supporting their success.

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.

All of the Well-Being Week in Law Activity Guides are compiled here in one place.

The way you breathe (yep, breathe!) may be making you anxious. Learn stress-calming techniques in the 4-7-8 Breathing Exercise Activity Guide.

The exercises in this activity will enable physical and psychological recharging and can easily fit into your daily routine.

Identify ways to improve and cultivate your self-care, guided by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

Offers ideas for moving more while working and in our personal lives and recommends new activities to try to boost fun and motivation.

Boost the meaningfulness of your everyday stroll by following the instructions in the Awe Walk 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.

Understanding one’s strengths can help to handle stress and challenges, become happier and master goals.

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.

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.

Understanding one’s strengths can help to handle stress and challenges, become happier and master goals.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Provides practical guidance for supervisors on delivering strengths-based feedback.

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.

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.

Effective leadership is a key contributor to workplace well-being. This Guide provides multiple activities for starting down the path of leader development.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Guidance for organizing a panel of top leaders addressing issues related to trust, fairness, and transparency.