[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
Law and Cultural Psychology with R&G Insights Lab's Dr. Caitlin Handron
Unicourt's Josh Blandi on Improving Access to Federal, State, and Local Court Data
Molly Huie on Bloomberg Law's New DEI Framework
Jennifer Leonard of Penn Law's Future of the Profession Initiative
Nicole Bradick and Ryan McClead on the Launch of Map Engine and Life as a Startup Founder
Pablo Arredondo on CaseText's New WeSearch Tool and How the Neural Net Is Making Its Way Into Legal Information
Bob Taylor, Valerie Dickerson, and Mark Ross on Deloitte Legal Business Services
Dan Packel on the Rise of Distributed Law Firms
Adam Tsao and The Creativity Playbook for Lawyers
Kate Tompkins on Being a Practice Group Leader But Not a Lawyer
What's Next for Jeroen Plink?
Lex Machina's Karl Harris on the Past, Present, and Future of Legal Analytics
Sophia George and Chevazz Brown: Finding Diverse Lawyers via DiversePro
Geoff Zodda on Legal Industry Employment Trends in a Post-COVID World
Rachel Travers on the New Law360 Pulse
Brightflag's Alex Kelly on Using Data and Analytics to Make Better Legal Spend Decisions
AI for Lawyers with Noah Waisberg and Dr. Alexander Hudek
Nicole Morris on Emory Law Schools TI:GER Innovation Conference
How Mid-Level Associates Can Thrive at Law Firms - with Jennifer Bluestein
Jennifer Bluestein on Stepping It Up: A Guide for Mid-Level Law Firm Associates
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The emPOWERed Half Hour
NABOR® TALKS
U.S Property Podcast
Aligned Money Show
The Ramsey Show
Planet Money