2025 Potomac River Bench & Bar Peak Performance and Mental Wellness Summit

Date and Time: Friday, March 21, 2025 | 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM ET

Location: K&L Gates LLP, 1601 K Street, NW, #1, Washington, D.C. 20006

About this Event

“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and inhumane.” - Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Although we are living in a mental health crisis, we still do not prioritize our mental health in the same way that we prioritize our physical health. Unfortunately, not everyone has access to the same health resources or help when needed – even after a global pandemic. This is unacceptable. We must come together to drive change to enable better health outcomes across traditionally underserved and marginalized communities.

The APA Foundation and its Center for Workplace Mental Health, the American Psychological Association, CHC: Creating Healthier Communities, the Rotary Club of Howard West, and the Bar Association of the District of Columbia are teaming up for the inaugural 2025 Potomac River Bench & Bar Peak Performance and Mental Wellness Summit (the Summit) on Friday, March 21, 2025, 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM, at K&L Gates LLP, 1601 K Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20006. The featured speakers and panelists consisting of psychiatrists, psychologists, judges, attorneys, and law students, include Chief Judge James E. Boasberg (USDC DC), Lynn Bufka, PhD, ABPP (American Psychological Association), Brook Choulet, MD (American Psychiatric Association), the immediate past Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Hon. Donald M. Remy, Esq., Ian Kremer, JD (LEAD Coalition), Mena Mirhom, MD, FAPA (Columbia Univ. Med. Ctr.), and Jean Accius, PhD (CHC: Creating Healthier Communities) have accepted our invitation to participate in the Summit.

The Summit’s learning objectives will include:

1. Defining and dealing with stress, burnout, and wellbeing in the workplace;
2. Understanding anxiety and depression, and substance use disorders;
3. Representing clients with mental illness, including intellectual & developmental disabilities (IDD), and serious mental illnesses (SMIs);
4. Navigating the family caregiver’s burden as a legal professional;
5. Developing lifestyle techniques to promote wellbeing and peak performance;
6. Neurodivergence, disabilities & the law; and
7. Understanding microaggressions, imposter syndrome & John Henryism.

Warmest regards,

Co-Chairs: Rawle Andrews Jr., Esq. and Shirley Ann Higuchi, Esq.

Organized by:

Complimentary event, registration required by March 7, 2025. A separate communication to confirm attendance to follow.

Please reach out to Ms. Rudy Scott ([email protected]) if you have any questions.

Host or Publisher American Psychiatric Association Foundation (APAF)