Getting arrested is terrifying and can cause a silent mental breakdown. If you are facing criminal charges in Philadelphia, you know that the time between your arrest and your final court date is a highly stressful “waiting game”.

The Heavy Toll of the Waiting Game

Going to court multiple times makes people feel very anxious, stressed out, and uneasy. Many people are terrified of being placed in pretrial detention, which means going to jail before a trial even begins. This fear is perfectly valid because the conditions in pretrial detention are often worse than the conditions for people who are already convicted. The uncertainty takes a massive toll on a person’s mental health, and suicide rates for people in pretrial detention are three times higher than for convicted prisoners.

3 Ways to Keep Your Brain Busy

Michael Kotik, a criminal defense attorney at SKA Law Group, advises clients that the best way to survive this waiting period is to stay busy. Here are three rules to follow:

Go to work or school: Do not sit at home feeling sorry for yourself. Make your days go faster by getting a job, a second job, going to school, or working out at the gym. This keeps your mind off the actual court case.

Stop Googling your case: Do not use Google or AI to research your criminal charges, because this will only make you panic and lose your mind over the case.

Let your lawyer worry: You hired the right attorney and gave them money to fight for you, so let them handle the legal stress. Your main focus should be on surviving by staying busy.

Healing and Coming Home

The criminal justice system can cause deep emotional trauma, but there are alternative ways to heal. Some programs use “restorative justice,” where the offender and victim safely communicate to repair the harm caused. This helps offenders take real responsibility and focuses on the needs of the victims.

If you do serve time, coming home to your community in Philadelphia is another major hurdle. The abrupt shift from being incarcerated to returning to the community is incredibly challenging. Returning citizens face huge struggles with finding housing and employment, making their suicide risk higher than the general public. Building strong support systems and finding stable housing and full-time employment are the keys to safely reentering society.