The legal profession plays a critical role in supporting communities during and after natural disasters. The increased frequency and severity of natural disasters across our country—from Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina to the fires in Los Angeles—highlight the urgent need for our profession to bolster its post-disaster recovery capacity. Natural disasters create complex legal challenges for both lawyers and their clients, including navigating insurance claims, accessing disaster relief, addressing property loss, and handling matters related to the disaster-related injuries and deaths of loved ones. These events also lead to broader communal losses, such as the destruction of green spaces, public facilities, farmland, and the closure of local businesses and restaurants, as well as a communal loss of safety and stability. To remain resilient in the face of traumatic and disruptive events, we must cultivate specific skills that support our personal recovery. These skills also enhance our ability to effectively serve clients and contribute meaningfully to disaster recovery efforts when needed.
One of the most surprising things to me about going through a “Big T” trauma is the ensuing brain scramble. While I have studied this phenomenon and witnessed it when representing sexual violence survivors as an attorney, I wasn’t prepared for my lived experience. My own disorganized thinking, forgetfulness, and inability to perform certain tasks, like basic arithmetic, were disorienting. For example, I wrote a check to a contractor for home repairs after the storm for $9,000 over the invoice! Following instructions was also difficult; Siri’s “return to the route” became a regular refrain while driving after Helene. Staying focused and keeping track of time, such as remembering the day of the week or upcoming holidays, was also a significant challenge.
Mental confusion, disorganization, and forgetfulness are particularly hard for lawyers to endure. We rely heavily on our mental cognition; losing it, even temporarily, makes living life and practicing law even more difficult.
A Tangible Solution to Address Disaster-Related Challenges
Last fall, in the month following the hurricane, the Buncombe County Bar (BCB) partnered with my business, Conscious Legal Minds, to offer an innovative multi-week CLE course. Shortly after cell service was restored in the days following Helene, the BCB’s incoming president, Susan Russo Klein, called me to brainstorm ways to support the membership post-Helene. Offering a no-cost well-being CLE was one tangible solution.
A few weeks later—almost a month to the day after Helene—the five-week course began. Mastering the Mind-Body Connection: Somatic Strategies for Improving Well-Being and Cultivating Resilience in the Practice of Law Post-Helene helped bar members process the personal and professional impact of the storm using mindfulness-based somatic practices. It equipped Asheville-based attorneys with tools to help process individual and collective trauma, foster emotional resilience, and bring renewed mental capacity to serve clients effectively during challenging times.
The online course was remarkably well attended, despite post-Helene internet connectivity challenges. It was an honor to lead this course for the courageous attorneys who participated. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive; the sense of connection and collegiality we shared became a vital part of my own hurricane recovery. Inspired by its success, I’m sharing here the foundational principles behind its creation. My hope is that this framework can serve as a valuable resource for other legal communities navigating the personal and collective loss, shock, and trauma that follow disasters, wherever they may occur.
Foundational Elements of the Mind-Body Course
I drew from three research-based neuropsychology models as the framework for the course’s curriculum, applying similar practices that I use with individual coaching clients to the group exercises. Each week’s curriculum included practices based in:
• Somatic Experiencing (SE), founded by Dr. Peter Levine;
• Internal Family Systems (IFS), founded by Dr. Richard Schwartz; and
• Applied Polyvagal Theory (PVT), founded by Dr. Stephen Porges and as applied to trauma treatment by clinician Deb Dana, LCSW.
These frameworks are effective for post-disaster recovery because they each help slow down the mind, reconnect it with the body, and support the body in returning to homeostasis after trauma/shock by reducing overwhelm. In the course, I provided concrete tools based on these three models, along with mindfulness meditation practices. These tools taught participants how to regulate their physiology and reduce stress while also learning to manage their thoughts and emotions in the aftermath of a natural disaster.
Each week focused on regulating a physiological system affected by stress, such as the respiratory system and the digestive system. We explored how stress and disaster trauma impact these systems while learning practical strategies to mitigate their negative effects. We also practiced tools for integrating mind-body health into legal work. The course highlighted the importance of using short somatic practices throughout the workday as a foundation for effective legal practice, professionalism, and well-being at work, particularly after a natural disaster.
It was deeply moving to hear participants share what they learned about paying attention to their physiology throughout the day. “The tools learned through Laura’s sessions have helped to calm and refocus my mind after tragic events,” shared William Auman. Another participant shared, “In a world where we are trying to find normalcy, there isn't much opportunity to take time to process the current state of our community. These sessions helped to process.”
Mind-Body Tools Are Pivotal for Disaster Recovery in the Legal Profession
Attorneys and judges face compounded stress after a disaster, as we must navigate our own mental and emotional recovery while supporting clients and litigants who rely on us for guidance. “Mental health is critical for attorneys,” noted Russo-Klein, “but especially when we’re experiencing a disaster.” The shock and disorientation caused by a disaster can obscure the need for these recovery tools, both immediately and in the months that follow. “The BCB leadership was aware that our members had an immediate need for recovery tools,” shared Russo-Klein. “We were able to pivot during the disaster to provide the Mind-Body CLE to all of our members at no cost. Our colleagues at the Harnett County Bar Association generously stepped forward with a grant to support the members of the Buncombe County Bar.”
“Hurricane Helene has been and continues to be a super stressful event for our community,” expressed course participant attorney Brad Searson, acknowledging that “many of our clients and fellow lawyers are still suffering.” Despite continued suffering, attorneys directly or indirectly affected by the disaster may believe they are "fine," underestimating how practicing law in a post-disaster environment affects their ability to think clearly and negotiate effectively.
Through the course, participants learned to recognize and address the additional stress caused by Hurricane Helene, tracking its impact on their minds and bodies while actively working to mitigate it. As one participant noted, “We’re under unprecedented stress—personally, for sure, if not professionally—and it is wise to stay aware of the potential impact of that stress on a daily basis.”
Why Mind-Body Practices Work
Interestingly, reconnecting with the body is essential for restoring both physiological calm and cognitive functioning. During traumatic events, the prefrontal cortex—the part of the brain responsible for cognitive processes like decision-making, reasoning, and impulse control—slows down so that the brain can focus on surviving the immediate threat. More primal parts of the brain are activated, such as the amygdala. This slowdown helps the body react quickly to danger but can lead to difficulties with clear thinking, memory, and decision-making during or after a traumatic event. At times, even after the danger has passed, the prefrontal cortex remains offline. To re-engage it, we must connect with the body to signal to the nervous system that the trauma is over and it is now safe—or safe enough—to relax, recover, and return to normal thinking and decision-making.
While mind-body connection skills are important for everyday law practice, they are imperative for post-disaster lawyering when our ability to think, reason, and remember may be impaired.
“These practices should be shared with all lawyers in order to manage stress, model compassion, and better assist clients,” expressed participant attorney David Irvine.
It is important to recognize that while disaster survivors may experience slowed cognitive processing during their recovery, this does not mean they are unfit to practice law or adjudicate. Instead, it highlights the critical need for awareness in the legal field about the potential for cognitive disruption after a disaster, both for ourselves and for our clients and colleagues. Additionally, it underscores the importance of providing attorneys and judges with access to trauma education and effective strategies for resilience and recovery. BCB course participant attorney Clifton Williams commented, “I was carrying stress from the storm that I wasn't fully aware of. Laura’s CLE series helped me cope with it in a positive, productive way.”
Coming Together Shortly After a Disaster is Key to Recovery
Collective trauma (defined as the psychological and emotional trauma response of a group of people after undergoing a shared traumatic event or series of events) has the potential to permanently wound a community. However, if properly addressed, collective trauma can be healed and, over time, cultivate renewed communal strength and deeper relationships within the community. Like many disasters, Helene caused extensive isolation due to road closures, limited fuel supply, and unavailable community resources like gyms, stores, and workplaces. I was encouraged to hear from the mind-body course participants that having a forum to come back together and share experiences shortly after the storm was key for them. One participant shared, “What I most enjoyed about the course was regulating our nervous system as a group and the connection with the group.” Additionally, Russo-Klein shared, “The Mind-Body course provided our members with a valuable opportunity to connect, support one another, and process the disaster while courts and offices were closed. Laura’s mindfulness tools and practices have been a lifeline for me during this challenging time.”
This feedback aligns with resilience research, which shows that coming together as a community after a natural disaster provides several key benefits, including: emotional support (sharing experiences and feelings with others who understand, which fosters connection, reduces isolation, and promotes emotional healing); collective strength (pooling our wisdom and resilience recovery efforts, which allows the community to address challenges more effectively than individuals working alone); and resilience building (community support helps individuals navigate trauma, adapt to change, and rebuild with a sense of shared purpose and hope).
Coming Back Stronger
While the individual and collective trauma caused by a natural disaster is challenging beyond comprehension, therein also lies the opportunity for positive transformation. It is my hope that as we navigate the challenges nature delivers, we continue to come together to share our collective strength and resources. Ideally, the connection created through healing from our shared losses cultivates a renewed sense of purpose for our law practices, empowerment for our communities, and understanding for our world.
Laura Mahr is a North Carolina and Oregon lawyer and the founder of Conscious Legal Minds LLC, providing well-being consulting, training, and resilience coaching for attorneys and law offices nationwide. Through the lens of neurobiology, Laura helps build strong leaders, happy lawyers, and effective teams. After bringing herself back from the brink of burnout with the tools she now teaches, Laura brings lived experience and compassion to thousands of lawyers, judges, and support staff each year in her writing, coaching, and CLE training. Her work is informed by 13 years of practice as a civil sexual assault attorney, 30 years as a teacher and student of mindfulness and yoga, and ten years studying neurobiology and neuropsychology with clinical pioneers. www.consciouslegalminds.com.
