This month, a third round of We Care, the Foundation’s immensely successful professional development opportunity for civil legal services professionals, kicks off with new topics.
We Care helps civil legal services professionals navigate the stressors of work demands, process common experiences, talk about mental health concerns, and access further care if needed. Thanks to the input of previous We Care participants, the 2025 We Care program is expanding with new topics, which include conflict resolution, assertive communication, social intelligence, adapting to change, emotional intelligence, and mindfulness. Managing and supervising attorneys will have access to two additional topics: creating a desirable corporate culture and leadership styles.
“We are always interested in soliciting feedback and improving our programs to best suit the needs of our legal services providers,” said Camille Gill, programs and grants counsel. “In this case, we updated the program to reflect the topics participants want.”
To facilitate and develop We Care, the Foundation contracts with Matrix, an independently owned psychological practice headquartered in Columbus. Matrix has a network of over 12,000 providers and has provided programs similar to We Care to L Brands and other large corporations.
The Foundation and Matrix organize We Care participants into ten cohorts from four groups: legal support staff, social workers, and ombudsman staff; staff attorneys; supervising or managing attorneys; and administrative staff. Each cohort is led by a licensed professional from Matrix and meets for 90 minutes once per month for six months.
Since its inaugural program in 2023, We Care has been extremely popular amongst civil legal services staff and attorneys. Registration for this year’s program opened in November, and all 100 available spots were quickly filled. To meet the overwhelming demand of the 2025 program, the Foundation expanded We Care in December for a total of 13 cohorts and 130 participants.
“I think We Care’s popularity speaks to the interest and need for staff and attorneys to have a space to decompress, learn, and share their experiences with their civil legal services colleagues across the state,” Gill said. “We are looking forward to offering this program again.”
For more information about We Care, contact Camille Gill.