Two thirds of UK adults feel they have nobody to talk to about their problems, a survey by mental health campaign Time to Change found earlier this year. More than a third of 2,500 people said they could never find the right time to raise their problems with others; 28% said they could not find an appropriate venue to raise their worries; and just under a quarter said they had waited a year for the ‘perfect’ time to discuss their issues.
Lawyers, with their high-pressure lifestyles, are not immune to mental health issues and the difficulty of talking openly about them. In 2017, LawCare received nearly 900 calls from 616 callers, an 11% increase on 2016. Nearly half of the solicitors and barristers who contacted the legal mental health charity for help cited depression (17%) and workplace stress (27%) as the reason for the call.
Other issues cited were disciplinary concerns (8%), anxiety (7%), bereavement (7%), financial problems (4%), and bullying and harassment (4%). The remaining 33% of calls included worries over chronic illness, alcohol and drugs, career development problems, and relationship issues. The majority of callers to the helpline were women (65%) and 45% were trainees or had been qualified five years or fewer.
As LawCare’s CEO, Elizabeth Rimmer, said in a statement: ‘These figures show that more lawyers are willing to come forward and ask for help.’ However, despite the increasing weight of evidence that lawyers need to take care of their mental health – and open up about issues such as stress, anxiety, or depression – it remains a taboo subject in many law firms and chambers.
That is why the recent #TimeToTalk campaign is so important, as it allows those who have suffered – and who continue to suffer – to share their accounts of what it is like to live with mental health issues and see that it is okay to speak about them. So, in the spirit of this campaign, I add the tale of one young lawyer who, on condition of anonymity, has agreed to tell their story. The following account is in their own words.
‘I was a trainee in a corporate team working in a particularly high-pressure environment. After receiving a dressing down from a partner one day I found myself trudging toward the tube in the midst of a panic attack. All I wanted to do was to get back home, hand in my notice, and never go back to the firm again. But then I started thinking about my family’s reaction. I had long suffered from anxiety, a condition that had nearly ruined my law finals. Now, I was once again a mess; a failure prepared to throw all they had worked for away.
‘As I stepped onto the tube platform a train pulled in and a thought popped into my head out of nowhere: all I needed to do was take one more step off the platform and the pain and frustration I was feeling with myself, and the expectant disappoint from my family, would be over.
‘Obviously I didn’t take that step, but the realisation that throwing myself in front of a train was a viable option scared me more than anything else has before or since that moment.
‘It was the height of summer and between my tears and profuse sweating (another side effect of anxiety) I was sopping wet by the time I got home. I realised that I needed to get help before I could go back to the law. In my mind I equated that moment on the platform with working in that office, on that case, with those others around me. So I got help. I’m not fixed, far from it. I still have my bad days, but I’m back at work and things are definitely better and speaking about my experience with others has definitely made a difference.’
The young solicitor above would have obviously benefitted from new guidance published earlier this year by the Junior Lawyers Division which recommends law firms appoint ‘mental health first aiders’, wellbeing champions, and mentors to ensure staff are not suffering in silence. Likewise, aspiring barristers competing for pupillage will now benefit from wellbeing support on a new online resource launched by the Bar Council’s Wellbeing at the Bar Working Group last December. But firms, chambers, and individual lawyers can and must do more to help their colleagues when they are most in need, and arguably sooner rather than later.
Ahead of the upcoming World Mental Health Day (10 October 2018), which this year looks at young people and mental health in a changing world, LawCare’s Rimmer said: ‘Research suggests that you start thinking like a lawyer and absorbing the cultural norms of the law on the very first day of your law degree, and it is our duty to better prepare young people for the demands of this challenging profession.’
Already, 29 certificates of recognition have been awarded by the Bar Council to acknowledge the range of activities that many chambers, specialist Bar associations, and Inns have introduced to support the wellbeing of barristers, clerks, and chambers’ staff. Here’s to more sets and law firms following suit, and to better health in the profession over the years to come.
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The number for the LawCare helpline is 0800 279 6888.
This article was first published in February 2018 and has been updated for fivehundred.