The Judicial Training Methods (JTM) working group organised a seminar on the topic of Communication and Vulnerability that focused on the key judicial skill of communication and the importance of recognizing vulnerability in others and ourselves in the court context.
The seminar took place from 10-11 November in Sofia, Bulgaria and gathered 25 participants from 11 countries.  By the end of the seminar participants managed to:

• Understand the elements of communication and how it can go wrong.
• Understand how judges need to adapt when communicating with individuals with different vulnerabilities.
• Recognise the key indicators of vulnerabilities which may affect the ability of an individual to understand the court process or communicate effectively in court;
• Recognise the power of the vulnerable judge – resilience and reflection

The seminar was opened by Mr. Markus Brückner, EJTN Secretary General and Ms. Lyuba Rainova, Continuous training and international exchange Director at the Bulgarian National Institute of Justice. The programme has been prepared by Mr. Phillip Rostant, Director of the UK Judicial College and the Activity Coordinator for the event. Other experts in the training session included:  Ms. Emma Bell, Resilience Expert and former Judge; Mr. Leslie Cuthbert, Judicial College, UK; Ms. Maria Perquilhas, Judge, Portugal and Mr. Arno Vinkovic, JTM Project Manager.

Why do the magistrates have closed eyes and are listening to instructions on how to fold a T-shirt?

The session will be repeated in Calendar of EJTN 2023 activities – we invite you to join us and find out – have the chance to improve your communication skills and resilience that goes beyond the courtroom!

Lunchtime webinar in October included the specific session on How Judges can build a Resilient Mindset. Both events were a great success and show how much interest there is for building soft skills in communication and mental health for the EU magistrates.