[Ed. Note: This episodes discusses sensitive issues including depression and suicide. -GL]
Mental health and wellbeing issues have long posed challenges in the legal profession.
However, in this thoughtful episode of The Geek in Review podcast, hosts Marlene Gebauer and Greg Lambert have an enlightening discussion with three experts on concrete ways to foster greater wellness.
Defining wellbeing holistically, Bree Buchanan, co-founder of the Well-Being in Law Movement, explains it encompasses mental, emotional, occupational, spiritual, and physical dimensions. She argues the profession needs “systemic, structural change” through total leadership buy-in, not just HR-led programs. As Buchanan emphasizes, “What I see frequently, then you'll have a practice group or a team, and the leader of that is not bought into this at all.”
Reviewing startling statistics from a new Thomson Reuters survey, Nita Cumello reveals over 50% of legal professionals have taken a mental health day this past quarter. She worries this implies “even more days spent, where they're operating in a negative or stressed or in best case, state of neutral headspace.” Cumello asserts, “if more than half of the people are struggling with mental health difficulties enough that it forces them to take time away from work, it means that there are even more days spent, where they're operating in a negative or stressed or in best case, state of neutral headspace.”
Saskia Mehlhorn courageously shares her family’s painful experience losing her youngest son to suicide and the importance of removing stigma through authenticity. As she recounts her eldest son telling her, “You can’t make the last thing that people will know about [him] something that isn’t him.” Mehlhorn stresses, "if someone lives authentically, we have to pick them up at the point where we, as a family, as a community, as a society fail and don't allow them to live authentically any longer."
Offering insights on providing genuine support, the guests emphasize taking helpful actions, active listening without platitudes, and cueing off what colleagues need. Buchanan advises firms should intervene to assist struggling employees rather than ignore issues or terminate them. She observes, “there’s much more willingness to sit down and give the person a chance and work with them.”
Cumello concludes wellbeing can’t be crowded out by urgent business demands, stating “we have to keep the well being movement as and think about it in that reframe sense of how foundational it is to performing optimally." She advocates assessing workforce wellbeing, training at all levels, and equipping leaders to role model healthy behaviors to drive lasting cultural change.
Links:
The Unmind report on The State of WellBeing in Law
Thomson Reuters Future of Professionals Report
DIal 988 - Suicide and Crisis Lifeline
Contact Us:
Twitter: @gebauerm, or @glambert
Threads: @glambertpod or @gebauerm66
Voicemail: 713-487-7821
Email: geekinreviewpodcast@gmail.com
Music: Jerry David DeCicca
Transcript
LegalWeek 2024 Special Part Four: Joshua Lenon from Clio
Love and Legal Tech: Sonja Ebron and Debra Slone of Courtroom5
LegalWeek 2024 Special Part Three: Bill Piwonka of Exterro
Love & Legal Tech: Cassie Vertovec and Alex Macdonald
LegalWeek 2024 Special Part Two: Mollie Nichols and Mark Noel from Redgrave Data
Legal Week 2024 Special Part One: Joey Seeber of Level Legal
Navigating the Future of Legal Tech with Caroline Hill
Projections for Legal Tech and Innovations in 2024 (TGIR Ep. 232)
Breaking Barriers and Building Bridges: Tackling Racial Bias in Law with LexisNexis Fellows 2023 (TGIR Ep. 231)
Pfeifer and Wellen Give an Inside Look at LexisNexis' AI Sprint (TGIR Ep. 230)
The Future of KM is Bright: DiDomenico, Miro, and Little Review the KM&I for Legal Conference (TGIR Ep. 229)
TGIR Ep. 228 - Cat Moon and Mark Williams Launch the New Vanderbilt AI Law Lab (VAILL)
vLex's Damien Riehl on Examining vLex's New Vincent AI
Colin Levy, Dorna Moini, and Ashley Carlisle on Herding Cats and Heralding Change: The Inside Scoop on the "Handbook of Legal Tech"
Jacqueline Schafer on Writing Briefs at the Speed of AI: How ClearBrief is Transforming Legal Drafting
Paulina Grnarova and Yannic Kilcher from DeepJudge.AI: Unlocking Institutional Knowledge: How AI is Transforming Legal Search (TGIR Ep. 224)
Thomas Suh and Ken Block on How LegalMation is Revolutionizing Litigation Efficiency
Unleashing the Legal Monster Behind the Door - LexFusion's Christina Wojcik (TGIR Ep. 221)
Paxton.AI's Chau & Ulin: How AI Allows Legal Work to Soar to New Heights (TGIR Ep. 220)
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