Wellness – NWSidebar

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Stressed Out? Meet Adely Ruiz, WSBA’s New Member Wellness Counselor

Recently, the WSBA Member Wellness Program grew a little larger with the addition of Clinical & Outreach Lead Adely Ruiz, MSW, LSWAIC. Ruiz comes to the WSBA via the Sound – Belltown community mental health facility, where she worked with a vulnerable low-income population. She provided cognitive behavioral therapy that included mental health diagnosis and treatment, guiding clients with harm-reduction techniques, treating substance use disorders, and providing direction on accessing medication management services.

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Can Employers Require COVID Vaccines and Other Common Questions About Vaccinations at Work

As variants of COVID-19 surge, public health guidance fluctuates, and controversies continue to erupt over vaccinations and masks, businesses across the country grapple with whether, when, and how to return to work. Naturally, employers and employees have questions as they slowly move into a new normal. Among my clients, what follows are some of the most common questions related to COVID-19 and returning to work.

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Home on the Range and a Home of Our Own in Latest Bar News

For many, dairy farms will bring to mind pleasant imagery of placid cows nibbling grass and farmworkers ambling in the pre-dawn hours with stool and milking bucket in hand. In reality, the job of a dairy farmworker involves handling sometimes dangerous fully grown cows, machinery that can lead to injury or death, and long hours in a risky environment. These are some of the reasons why dairy farmworkers fought and won the right to overtime pay after the landmark Washington Supreme Court decision Martinez-Cuevas v. DeRuyter Bros. In the newest issue of Washington State Bar News, Marc Lampson breaks down the court’s decision and provides a detailed history of dairy farming to explain how this battle for overtime pay and worker safety on dairy farms came about.

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What’s in Store for Well-Being Week at the WSBA

Over the past five years, there has been a steady and growing change in how we as a profession address the mental health of attorneys. And over the next five days, the WSBA is joining other organizations around the nation in a rallying cry to further end stigma, support one another, and promote changes leading toward a healthier profession and, in doing so, better representation for clients. From May 3 to 7, the WSBA is joining other bars, firms, and organizations in recognizing Well-Being Week in Law.

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On-Demand Office Environments for Legal Business

There are many options when it comes to on-demand office space. You can rent a conference room or a private office to limit access from other people. Or you can with other remote employees. Attorney Yuriy Moshes offers a few things to consider when choosing flexible office space.

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WSBA President Majumdar Discusses His Mental Health Journey and Stigma: Part 2

We are all human beings and we all have frailties, it is important lawyers recognize this in themselves and that we support each other with this understanding.

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WSBA President Majumdar Discusses His Mental Health Journey and Stigma: Part 1

For WSBA President Rajeev Majumdar, taking the step to go to therapy meant treading down a path that, to him, initially felt like failure. Recently, Majumdar took a little more time to speak with us about his mental health journey and what he hopes sharing it will do for others in the legal profession.

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How to Make Working at Home Work for You

Our days have a completely new schedule. I have spoken to attorneys who are lounging too much and not getting their work done, and then I have spoken to those who are trying too hard to prove they are connected and committed. It’s harder to compartmentalize work and personal life when they are one room apart.

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Washington Legal Community Steps Up During Coronavirus

Lately it seems like even normal social pleasantries no longer apply. With so much going wrong with the world, it’s heartening to know that there are still stories of people doing good, compassionate, and often selfless work to make things better for others.

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Why Judges are Stressed: Key Revelations from a National Survey

Judges in the U.S. are physically and mentally exhausted, and often traumatized by their experiences on the bench; this according to the “National Judicial Stress and Resilience Survey,” a landmark study.

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Acupuncture for Lawyers: How an Old Method Has New Potential

I used to joke that practicing law was the worst thing I’d ever done for my health, both mental and physical. Turns out, it wasn’t really a joke and I am not alone. For myself, I have found tremendous benefit from acupuncture, the centuries-old method of treating mental and physical ailments with fine needles applied […]

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My Journey from Real Estate Law to Real Estate Sales

In the fall of 2014, as the economy recovered from the recession and the need for distressed property attorneys diminished, I faced a career conundrum: either master a new area of law or pursue a new professional path. As you can tell from the title of this article, I pursued a new path that diverted […]

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Stress in Life and the Law

Stress is ever present in modern-day society. Individuals worry about money, time, families, relationships, careers. Some stress is beneficial and positive: the stress of a new baby, the stress of a promotion, the stress of personal growth. But more and more, stress is passing a tipping point from short-term, motivating, and positive, to long-term, chronic, […]

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How to Reduce Stress in the Legal Profession

Practicing law can be stressful. Lawyers are under constant pressure to meet deadlines and client demands, and law-practice environments can be highly competitive. If you find yourself feeling stressed or anxious fairly often, it’s time to take action. Chronic stress causes chemical imbalances in the body and can weaken the immune system, making a person […]

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What You Should Know about Childhood Injury Cases

There is nothing more heartrending than seeing a child injured, and for the parents it can be devastating. This is why prevention concerns all of us. Millions of children suffer some kind of injury requiring medical treatment every year in the U.S. According to Child Trends, there were more than 9 million unintentional injuries in […]

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The Well-Being Pledge: A National Effort to Help Attorneys

Earlier this year the American Bar Association, in collaboration with the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, conducted the first ever national study on lawyer impairment. This landmark study discovered that more than 20% of attorneys have consistent problematic drinking, nearly one-third report some level of depression, and 11% of attorneys have contemplated suicide at some point […]