We provide emotional counseling and support for families of those accused of a crime
Defense Attorneys
Have A Tough Job.
We’ll Make Yours Easier.
Here’s How…
GET YOUR MOOD SURVEY
Your clients come to you stressed, worried, fearful. Now you can help them determine if they need help managing their stress levels.
Provide your clients with over-the-top care with your new FOTA Mood Survey today! Fill the form to download below.
Your Client’s Family Needs Help, Too
Your Clients’ Families Are Torn Apart
Every criminal defense case represents a family in crisis. Families of people accused of a crime experience trauma, fear, anxiety, shame, depression, guilt and overwhelming isolation. We know because we’ve been there.
Other than traditional psychotherapy, there are not many resources for the families of accused people. That’s why we launched The FOTA Project: Families of the Accused. Our mission is to provide desperately needed emotional counseling and support for these families in crisis.
Families You Refer To FOTA Have Access To Ongoing,
Desperately-Needed Counseling Services
•Private, one-on-one counseling/support sessions
•Access to the FOTA resource library (Videos, book recommendations, wellness resources, etc.)
•Monthly webinar classes, some of which feature guest experts from the legal and mental health professions.
•As our community grows we will be adding…
•Group support meetings
•The opportunity to connect with other families through the FOTA community
Here Are Four Ways Partnering With The FOTA Project Will Make Your Job As A Defense Attorney Easier…
4 Ways FOTA Will Make Your Job Easier
#1—We help you focus on what you do best
When someone is arrested for a crime, their family is thrown into unimaginable turmoil. For many, this is their first encounter with our legal system. It is scary.
This feeling of isolation and terror is hard to overstate. Attorneys help with this, but their area of expertise is the law. They are simply not set up to provide ongoing, emotional counseling for the families of their clients, nor should they have to.
That’s where we step in. We provide ongoing counseling for the families of your clients, thus freeing up more of your time and energy to focus on your area of expertise: the law.
#2—Better clients for you
We help make defendants and their families better clients. Defendants often feel guilty and worried about how their family has been affected by their run-in with the law. They see the crushing fear and anxiety on their parents’ faces. They hear the worry in their spouse’s voice. Your clients can gain some much-needed peace of mind knowing their family is being supported through this ordeal.
We also provide guidance to families on how to support their accused loved one. The more support a defendant has, the more successful they are in participating in their own defense.
#3—More value for your clients
Your clients and their families will appreciate that you cared enough about their overall well-being to partner with a group like FOTA. This will demonstrate that you not only care about providing the best legal defense possible but that you are concerned with their entire family’s overall emotional needs. Referring them to FOTA helps you further communicate that you’ve got their back.
#4—We’ve got you and your client’s back
Things don’t always go smoothly in a criminal case. When your case experiences a setback, when new evidence against your client comes out, when ugly details about your client’s case emerge, the family is traumatized all over again. We help them through the volatility that criminal cases often have.
We help manage your client’s expectations. We let them know early on that even if they have the world’s best attorney, criminal cases are like an emotional airplane ride. That they should expect some turbulence, some unsettling ups and downs. And while we can’t promise a turbulence-free journey, we can promise that we’ll be there with them throughout their journey, and we won’t bail out on them when the going gets rough.
We help them work through their anger, fear and disappointment when it occurs.
We equip your clients with tools to manage the daily stress, fear and anxiety. We also provide them with a safe, non-judgmental place where they can simply vent when they need to.
All of this helps take some of the pressure off you.
We Make Partnering With FOTA Simple and Easy
We work through referral relationships with defense attorneys and legal organizations. If we choose to partner together, you’d simply refer us to the families of clients whom you think we’d be able to help, much like you’d refer a client to a physician or other expert when they need it.
What To Do Next
We’d like to meet with you to learn about your organization and discuss establishing a referral relationship.
We’ll meet with you to answer any questions you may have and discuss how we can partner together to help the families of your clients.
About
The FOTA Project was founded by husband and wife team, Jolyn Armstrong and Jim Armstrong.
In 2017 a family member of Jim and Jolyn’s was arrested for a crime. Throughout the arrest, trial and prison sentence of their loved one they experienced fear, panic, turmoil and—worst of all—a deep sense of isolation. They learned that this experience was common among the families of the accused. They also learned that there is very little emotional support for families in this situation.
That’s why in 2020 they launched The FOTA Project: Families of the Accused. FOTA’s mission is to provide ongoing emotional counseling, support and community for the parents, spouses, and other family members of people who have been accused of a crime.