As part of its ongoing mission to center students’ emotional health alongside academic success in law school, USC Gould School of Law’s Office of Student Life and Community Engagement continues to find new methods to address law students’ needs.
The latest is a pilot program for Nebbi, a new app aimed at maintaining mental wellness. Seventeen law students participated in a pilot at the beginning of this year. USC Gould is the first law school in the nation to offer the app, says Dr. Nickey Woods, associate dean for Student Life and Community Engagement and dean of students for the JD program.
Woods came across the app online, where she learned that it was being tested with the UCLA Women’s Basketball team. Woods, a UCLA alumna who also played basketball there, immediately saw potential in the app, co-created by Nina Westbrook, wife of NBA star Russell Westbrook and a UCLA basketball alum who is also a licensed marriage and family therapist.
“I said, ‘We need that at Gould,’” Woods says. “I saw how it could be beneficial for law students in a high stress environment. It’s designed not to be labor-intensive. We want to provide varied options and entry points to wellness for our students.”
The app, based in cognitive therapy, aims to lighten stress before it takes hold with short daily check-ins offering simple practices and providing tracking of monthly progress.
“Even when you’re in a good space, it gives you action items, like taking a few minutes to remember a peaceful moment looking out of a window to enjoy a scene,” says Dr. Malissa Barnwell-Scott, director of Student Support Services. “(It encourages) being mindful and aware of what’s around you. It’s not intrusive and easy to do.”
After Woods and Barnwell-Scott worked out the details, they invited Westbrook to the Jan. 29 launch. She demonstrated the app, tailoring her presentation to law students, and helped the students install it.
Jorge Perez, a 1L student and one of the pilot participants, said he appreciated the app for making him “more aware of my emotions instead of thinking I was tired and brushing it off.”
Recognizing the impact of mental health on law school success, the Office of Student Life and Community Engagement strives to provide relevant services and to remove the stigma from seeking mental health services. The office organizes a slate of peer mentors every year, hosts pet therapy sessions and works in partnership with the Keck School of Medicine of USC to provide counselors who meet students one-on-one and in group sessions.
Since fall 2020, Erika Nanes, Clinical Instructor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Keck School and a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, has worked with Gould students from an onsite office. Most report anxiety from the rigors of law school and concerns about future employment. Nanes believes her presence sends an important message to students about mental wellness.
“It signals that the law school cares about students’ mental health and helps destigmatize mental health care,” she says. “If (it’s normal) for the law school (to have) a therapist, then it’s normal (that) law students have stress.”
Nanes hosts a variety of programs designed to lift the pressure, including “Cookies and Coloring” as well as a processing session for international students concerned about visa status, a talk with International Human Rights Clinic students about vicarious trauma, and “Fueling Up for Finals,” where students made their own trail mix.
Other face-to-face options include the Community Hour on Fridays at 12:30 on the South Lawn, where students, faculty and staff come together for informal discussions and networking. Student Services also hosts visits from Love on Four Paws, an animal therapy organization based in Los Angeles. Second-year law students can sign up as peer mentors, meeting informally with 1Ls to share their own law school journeys.
Woods, Barnwell-Scott and the rest of the office staff will work this summer on additional programming and ideas for engaging with students. Woods says she’s grateful for Westbrook’s support in bringing her app to Gould.
“Nina has been a great partner,” she says. “That she came here personally meant a lot to the students and the whole community.”
Woods and Barnwell-Scott praise the support from Dean Franita Tolson and the rest of the law school community in supporting students as they adjust to the reality of law school.
“Dean Tolson genuinely cares about the work we do, and that support makes our jobs easier,” Barnwell-Scott says. “It’s encouraging to know there is openness to new ideas and a shared commitment to creating programs and initiatives that meaningfully support our students.”
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