[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
LINKS, Citizen Coders & Auditing Shelfware: Insights from Harbor’s Kris Martin
Observing the Black Box: Transcend's Brandon Wiebe's Insights into Governing Emerging AI Systems
Fast, Smart, and Empathetic: How DISCO's Culture Drives Legal Tech Innovation (TGIR Ep. 217)
Deploying Cutting-Edge Legal AI: Travers Smith's Cautious, But Open-source Approach. (TGIR Ep. 216)
Laura Leopard on Law Firms' Current Succession Planning: Step One - Do Nothing
Trellis' Nicole Clark on Leveraging State Court Data for Competitive Advantage (TGIR Ep. 214)
You Still Need to Put in the Work: Hyperdraft's Ashley Carlisle and Tony Thai on the AI Hype Cycle
Thomson Reuters' Kriti Sharma on Responsible AI and the Path to Trusted Tech in Law
Cybersecurity in the Remote Work Era: AI, Employees and an Integrated Defense - With SessionGuardian's Jordan Ellington and Oren Leib, and Katten's Trisha Sircar
A Literal Generative AI Discussion: How AI Could Reshape Law
The Rise of "Post-Truth" Litigation: ALM's Isha Marathe on How Deep Fakes Threaten the Legal System
The Rising Cost of Legal Services: Insights from 10 Years of Data from CounselLink's Kristina Satkunas
Curt Meltzer on Why Legal Tech Companies Should Give Back: The Business Case for Pro Bono, A2J, and Community Outreach
Christian Lang on Governing the Rise of LLMs: How LEGA Provides a Safe Space for Law Firms to Use AI (TGIR Ep. 206)
Michael Bommarito on Preparing Law Students for the Future, and His Quest on Bringing Order to the Chaos of Legal Data (TGIR Ep. 205)
Unleashing Potential: Laura Terrell on Transforming Legal Careers through Executive Coaching (TGIR Ep. 204)
LexisNexis Bets Big on AI Transforming the Legal Industry: Jeff Pfeifer on the Launch of Lexis+ AI (TGIR Ep. 203)
Lawyer vs. AI or Lawyers + AI: Embracing the Future of Legal Practice with BriefPoint.ai's Nathan Walter and Bridget Albiero
Richard Tromans on the Future of Legal Innovation and The Legal Innovators California Conference (TGIR Ep. 201)
Rethinking Law Firm Strategy: The Road to Growth and Success with Toby Brown and Nita Sanger (TGIR Ep. 200)
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