Mitchell Hamline’s wellness efforts highlighted in preLaw magazine.
Mitchell Hamline’s efforts around the wellness of its students—including the 2022 opening of a wellness center on the first floor of the law school’s campus building—were featured in the Winter 2024 issue of preLaw magazine.
Writer Trevor Mason noted in an article entitled “It’s OK to not be OK” that law schools are “now doing more to help students manage the stress of legal education.”
Dean of Students Lynn LeMoine ’11 discussed Mitchell Hamline’s unique take on wellness work. “The faculty and administration are really invested in supporting law student well-being,” she told preLaw. “That allows us to be more creative with the kinds of things that we try here, because there’s just such universal support for this.” One cited example was the law school previously had a single contracted mental health counselor who was available ten hours a week. Now, Mitchell Hamline contracts with five counselors for 40 hours of available time.
Shammah Bermudez, former director of Disability and Student Services, cut the ribbon on Mitchell Hamline’s new wellness center on in May, 2022. Natalie Netzel ’15 (left) and Lynn LeMoine ’11 (right) held the ribbon.
Professor Natalie Netzel ’15, who also directs Mitchell Hamline’s clinical education program and has written extensively about her own experience with wellness in the legal profession, noted one goal of teaching students to let go of perfectionism. “We talk about trauma, and how trauma shows up in law for clients, and how lawyers can be vicariously traumatized,” she said.
Further reading
Read the full article here.
Learn more about Mitchell Hamline’s wellness efforts.
Mitchell Hamline will host a CLE on “Oppressive trauma-informed care and healing practices for law students and lawyers” on Jan. 17 (in person) and Jan. 18 (online). Learn more and register here.