Total Credits: 1.5 including 1.5 Ethics CLE, 1.5 CLE
Prosecutors often dread the thought of facing victims or loved ones with upsetting news about their cases. Many prosecutors report that giving bad news over the phone or in person is one of the hardest aspects of their jobs, and yet there is so little training on how to do so well. This webinar explores the challenges prosecutors often face in sharing difficult information with those impacted, along with practical steps and tools prosecutors can implement in their regular practice. Bad news remains bad news, and yet conveying the information thoughtfully can prevent re-traumatization of victims or loved ones and restore a vital sense of humanity to the court experience, compensating in some ways for what can feel to them like an absence of justice. It can even help prevent prosecutors from developing some aspects of vicarious trauma, by restoring their own sense of humanity through personal, more meaningful connections.
| Breaking Bad News (1.1 MB) | 46 Pages | Available after Purchase |
Jane Allen Wilson is the Director of Training for the North Carolina Victim Assistance Network (NCVAN) and is a seasoned community-based advocate working with victims of crime navigating the criminal justice system. She has trained advocates statewide in basic and advanced court advocacy and in partnering with prosecutors for better case outcomes. On behalf of the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys, she co-facilitates The Resiliency Retreat and Training on Vicarious Trauma, a three-day interactive event which gives prosecutors an opportunity to process the impact of their work on an individual level, in a natural and supportive setting. For twenty years, she has also worked alongside doctors in Oncology, Palliative Care, Surgery, and Neo-Natal and Pediatric Intensive Care at Duke University Hospital and with students at the School of Medicine in communication workshops for medical professionals in delivering bad news to their patients.
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