Defender Wellness
The Colorado State Public Defender recognizes that working in the criminal legal system and defending indigent people accused of crimes often comes with stress, and that the dedicated professionals working on these teams sometimes need support. To ensure that all staff members have the support necessary to sustain in this work, the OSPD provides the following:
Resources
- The OSPD provides confidential therapy through on-contract and on-staff mental health professionals at no cost to our employees
- We reimburse employees for individual therapy and family therapy
- We distribute premium memberships to the app “Ten Percent Happier”
Teams and Committees
- The ODSP has an established Wellness Committee
- Our agency has created a volunteer Peer Support Team
- We organize cohorts on resilience, secondary trauma and trauma informed leadership that are led by outside experts in the field
- The OSPD participates in the Colorado Supreme Court Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being
- We serve as a member of Colorado Lawyer Well-Being Recognition Program for Legal Employers
Training and Guidance
- The OPSP has an annual wellbeing/sustainability track at our annual training conference, including courses that fulfill continuing legal education requirements
- We hold lunch-and-learn webinars on wellness related topics
- Our agency also created a resource library with recordings of wellness related trainings and resources
