Oh, the places you’ll go!: Newcastle Law School’s partnership interventions for well-being in first year Law

Abstract

Since “Courting the Blues” was published by Kelk, Luscombe, Medlow and Hickie in 2009, legal educators across Australia have been measuring psychological distress in law students, as well as implementing and evaluating strategies to support students’ well-being. This paper reports on initiatives implemented at the Newcastle Law School in 2012 designed to reduce performance anxiety around a compulsory first year mooting assessment, and the implementation of a self-management curriculum underpinned by the fruits of research in self-determination theory in 2013, involving a partnership between legal academics and professional colleagues from the University Counselling Service. In particular, the paper will analyse the use of the My Journey transition resource, input on growth mindset, reflective practice, resilience training, and practical mindfulness as strategies to support well-being of law students