Public Defenseless Talks with Jenny Andrews about Public Defender Wellness

Today on the Public Defenseless Podcast, Hunter's is joined by one of the nation's leaders in Public Defender wellness training, Jenny Andrews. By day, Jenny is a Training Director for California's Office of the State Public Defender, but when not handling those duties, she helps Public Defenders understand the importance Self Sustainment. 

 

In a public facing job where clients are facing arguably the worst experiences of their lives, it can be difficult for Public Defenders to  recognize the signs of burn out and its impact on their work. No one wants to be the person to take a step back and take care of themselves when people's lives are at stake. It's something that I am acutely familiar with because of my military service. The importance of the mission is internalized to the point that any step towards taking care of yourself first can easily be viewed as selfish, but what happens when we don't take those steps? What happens when we constantly burn the candle at both ends? Eventually, our candle goes out, and your work suffers. For Public Defenders, that ultimately means your client suffers. 

 

Tune in to this awesome conversation to hear how exposure to various realities of public defense work weigh on people and learn different strategies for staving off stress and burnout!