CANADA
CBC
Last Updated Apr 24 2006 09:49 AM CDT
CBC News
A group of Winnipeg lawyers who represent former residential-school students has started a self-help group, comparing the stress they feel to the experiences of emergency workers in war zones.
Lawyer Israel Ludwig says the stress of dealing with hundreds of residential-school cases was taking its toll on the lawyers. Ludwig has sat across the table from more residential-school clients than he can count, listening to their stories of abuse and misery.
"Their anguish is so visible and so tactile that I can tell you I've found myself in tears on a number of occasions, and I wasn't alone," he told CBC News.
"We, as counsel, were having difficulty in being professional in our jobs because we were just so overcome with the emotion of what was going on, so we knew we needed strategies to help us deal with this problem."