How does Nebbi help law students manage stress?
Early, and before it builds. USC Gould School of Law is the first law school in the country to pilot Nebbi, giving students a two-minute way to name stress before it turns into something heavier.
Law school runs on pressure. Grades curve against classmates, the job market looms from week one, and most students arrive already primed for anxiety. National surveys of law student well-being have found depression and anxiety rates well above the general population, with first-year students often seeing the sharpest climb in the first few months. That is the environment USC Gould’s Office of Student Life and Community Engagement was working to support when it brought Nebbi to campus.
What 2026 research says: stress in law school is structural, not a personality flaw
For years, the assumption was that stressed law students just needed better coping skills. The research says the pressure itself is the bigger variable, and that early intervention changes the trajectory.
Studies on law student well-being consistently point to the same pattern: distress climbs fast during 1L year, stays elevated through the program, and is closely tied to sleep loss, isolation, and fear about future employment. Schools that intervene early, with low-effort tools and normalized mental health support, tend to see students engage before problems compound. That is the logic behind pairing a therapist-designed app with the school’s existing counseling and peer mentor programs, rather than treating either as a replacement for the other.
Where law school stress shows up
Stress does not hit every student the same way. Here is what the Gould pilot and the broader research point to.
| Stressor | How it shows up | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Academic pressure | Curved grading and heavy reading loads drive chronic low-grade anxiety, especially 1L year | USC Gould pilot, student and staff interviews |
| Career uncertainty | Concerns about employment outcomes surface early and persist through graduation | Erika Nanes, Keck School of Psychiatry |
| Sleep and burnout | Students report exhaustion getting mislabeled as normal, masking real emotional strain | Jorge Perez, 1L pilot participant |
| Isolation | Immigration status, family distance, and unfamiliar systems leave some students without an obvious support network | USC Gould Office of Student Life |
| Stigma | Students often wait to seek help until distress is severe, rather than early | Clinical observation, Keck School of Medicine |
Inside the USC Gould pilot
Dr. Nickey Woods, associate dean for Student Life and Community Engagement and dean of students for the JD program, found Nebbi while it was being tested with the UCLA Women’s Basketball team. A UCLA alumna and former basketball player herself, she saw an immediate fit for a high-stress academic environment.
“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.”
What Nebbi’s data shows: when the hard nights hit
Seventeen law students joined the pilot at the start of the year. Dr. Malissa Barnwell-Scott, director of Student Support Services, points to how the app meets students where they are, without demanding much from them.
“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,” Barnwell-Scott says. “It’s not intrusive and easy to do.”
I visited Gould on January 29 to launch the pilot in person, walk students through their first check-ins, and tailor the app’s language to what law school actually feels like. Jorge Perez, a 1L participant, described the shift plainly: the app made him “more aware of my emotions instead of thinking I was tired and brushing it off.” That distinction, between exhaustion and something that needs naming, is the whole premise behind Nebbi.
The pilot sits alongside Gould’s existing mental health infrastructure rather than apart from it. Erika Nanes, a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Clinical Instructor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Keck School of Medicine, has worked onsite with Gould students since 2020. She sees tools like Nebbi as reinforcing a message the school already sends by having a therapist on-site.
“It signals that the law school cares about students’ mental health and helps destigmatize mental health care,” Nanes says. “If it’s normal for the law school to have a therapist, then it’s normal that law students have stress.”
What Nebbi’s data shows: when the hard weeks hit
Nebbi check-in data consistently shows two busy windows during the day: early morning, before the first class or cold call, and late evening, when the reading is not done and the day catches up with you. Late check-ins skew heavily toward two states we named on purpose: “Overwhelmed” and “Drained.”
Most conversations about student stress happen in the abstract. Our data shows where it actually lands: the morning before a class you have not fully prepped for, the night the outline still is not done, the week grades post. Naming the feeling, “I am not fine, I am Overwhelmed,” gives students something to act on instead of just pushing through. When people finish a check-in, 86 percent say they feel at least a little better afterward. Nebbi does not replace therapy, a peer mentor, or a professor’s office hours. It catches the emotional fallout of a hard day in the moment, so students are not carrying all of it into the next one.
How can law students build stress resilience this semester?
Start with the low-effort habits that actually move the needle, not the ones that just look like self-care.
Name the feeling before you try to fix it. “Stressed” covers too much ground. Overwhelmed, drained, and anxious call for different responses, and naming the right one is the first step in CBT-based approaches to stress. Use the entry points already built for you. Peer mentors, community hour, on-site counseling, and a two-minute check-in are lower-friction than most students expect. Use whichever one matches your energy that day. Protect a fixed point in your week. One block of time that is not negotiable, whether that is a class, a workout, or a call home, gives your week a floor to stand on. Treat isolation as a solvable problem, not a personality trait. International students facing visa uncertainty, first-generation students, and students far from home benefit most from structured, no-pressure community, like Gould’s Cookies and Coloring or Community Hour. Do the uncomfortable version of self-care. That might mean naming the anxious thought that is keeping you up instead of scrolling past it, or showing up to office hours before you are behind instead of after.
When should a law student see a professional about stress?
If stress is affecting sleep, focus, or your ability to function for more than a few weeks, talk to a professional. You do not have to wait until it is severe.
Most law schools, including Gould, have on-site or affiliated counselors who understand the specific pressures of legal education, which matters more than it might seem. A therapist familiar with law school stress will not need the context explained from scratch.
A note on apps, including my own. Nebbi can support the everyday emotional side of law school, but it is not therapy, not a diagnosis, and not built for crisis. If you are in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (call or text 988 in the US). For ongoing anxiety, depression, or burnout, a licensed professional is the right call.
Stress in law school is not a sign you picked the wrong path. It is closer to a predictable cost of the work, one that is easier to manage when you catch it early. If you want a small tool for the emotional side of a hard week, you can download Nebbi and try a check-in.
FAQs
How does Nebbi help law students manage stress?
Nebbi is a two-minute, therapist-designed check-in that helps students name what they are feeling before it builds into something bigger. USC Gould School of Law piloted the app with 17 students at the start of 2026, making it the first law school in the country to offer it.
Why did USC Gould choose Nebbi?
Dr. Nickey Woods, associate dean for Student Life and Community Engagement, discovered Nebbi through its pilot with the UCLA Women’s Basketball team and saw a fit for law school’s high-stress environment. The app is designed to be low-effort, with short daily check-ins and simple, mood-matched practices.
Does Nebbi replace therapy or counseling for law students?
No. Nebbi is not therapy, a diagnosis, or a crisis tool. It works alongside existing support like on-site counselors, peer mentors, and community programming, not as a replacement for them.
What did students say about the pilot?
Jorge Perez, a 1L participant, said the app made him “more aware of my emotions instead of thinking I was tired and brushing it off,” a distinction that reflects the core idea behind Nebbi.
When should a law student seek professional help for stress?
If stress lasts more than a few weeks or starts affecting sleep, focus, or daily functioning, talk to a professional. Most law schools have on-site or affiliated counselors familiar with the specific pressures of legal education. If you are in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988 in the US.
This post draws on reporting from USC Gould School of Law. Read the original article, “A new way of addressing stress”, published July 13, 2026 by Leslie Ridgeway.
