This training will provide examples of how to engage with clients in a legal aid setting that is both trauma-informed and sustainable. Within this framework, the following objectives will be highlighted: (a) how to prepare to work with clients seeking legal aid, (b) tools for having difficult conversations, (c) personal and professional sustainability practices in legal aid. This session will cover the impact these issues can have on an attorney’s ability to perform legal services with competence.

This session is presented by Sylvia Gribbell, LCSW is the Managing Director of Trauma-Informed Services and Education at Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice . She oversees the organization’s Community Advocacy (CA) program and trauma-informed staff training. Sylvia has worked as part of several multi-disciplinary teams at the intersection of social work and legal practice in the areas of dependency, special education, disability rights and survivor-based practices serving immigrants, domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking survivors. She has over fifteen years as a social work practicum instructor working with over ten accredited schools of social work. Sylvia is also in private practice providing ecotherapy, training and consultation, and specializes in trauma, anxiety, and depression.