It is Mental Health Awareness Month. The Centre for Professional Legal Education shares how Bond Law academics are doing their part in encouraging open conversations about mental health and fostering a culture of support.
In his address at the Faculty of Law Executive Dean’s Awards Evening, Professor Nick James explores the profound significance of resilience in our lives and, more specifically, in the context of legal education and the legal profession. Drawing inspiration from his recent visit to Christchurch, a city that endured devastating earthquakes yet emerged stronger, Professor James highlights the importance of resilience and the idea of successfully adapting to life’s challenges.
Following on from Part 1, this second post addresses what academics can do to best support socially anxious students. The post provides strategies for educators to adopt in the classroom and includes a downloadable guide for educators.
Bond Law academic Melanie Jackson has teamed up with Cognitive Behavioural Expert and Therapist, Lisa Du Plessis, to improve understanding of social anxiety in law students. In the first of the series, this post highlights the difficulties that students with social anxiety face in higher education and the impact it has on student learning and student experience.
The CPLE brings to you a series of presentations from the Professional Legal Education Conference 2022.
As part of the Wellness In Legal Education Stream, Dr Anita Mackay presents on First-Year Law Student Peer Mentoring Via Podcast.
Watch the video presentation by clicking the Read More tab below.
The CPLE brings to you a series of video presentations from the Professional Legal Education Conference 2022.
As part of the Wellness In Legal Education Stream, Dr Sarah Moulds presents Belonging in the Law Classroom: Rising to the Challenge of Creating a Place Where Every New Law Student Belongs.
Watch the video presentation by clicking the Read More tab below.
I have always been an advocate for mental health, having struggled with my own mental health issues for the last three decades. I make no secret of the fact that I struggle with mental health daily, and I encourage those around me, especially my students, to reach out to me if they are struggling with their own mental health.
I have had and continue to have the privilege to work alongside many intelligent, experienced and hard-working women: as a legal practitioner, as an academic, and as an Executive Dean. And I have seen women who are much smarter than me, with more experience than me, and who work much harder than me somehow end up earning less money than me or holding less elevated positions in the corporate or institutional hierarchy.
Teaching staff at Law Schools are increasingly being called on to design curriculum and pedagogy that will support student wellbeing. However, university staff themselves are facing workplace pressures as a result of constant change, uncertainty, the impact of neoliberalism – and now Covid-19.
Law students are likely experiencing many challenges at the moment. They or their loved ones might be suffering from COVID19 or they might be in a high-risk demographic or location. They may be recently unemployed or stranded far from support networks. They may have new responsibilities as they care for or home school family members… Naturally, I am wondering what I can do to assist my students during my next teaching semester.
