Cross-profession mental health and wellbeing body set up

As part of UK mental health awareness week, the Law Society and Bar Council have announced a cross-profession taskforce to promote mental health and wellbeing in the legal community, as well as a series of other related initiatives.

As reported in Lawyer2B, the Legal Professions Wellbeing Taskforce (made up of 15 different bodies) will, among other things, identify areas where collaboration on mental health issues would be beneficial and look at how to improve the perception of mental health and address stigma.

Jonathan Smithers, president of the Law Society, said: “Law can be a demanding career. Many of us are drawn to the intellectual challenge and thrive on the high pressure our work entails, but with this high pressure can come stress.”

LawCare revealed that in 2015, more than 60% of its 900 helpline callers were women, and 39% were trainees or of less than five years’ PQE. The most common issue was workplace stress (30%), followed by depression (20%), disciplinary issues (12%), financial problems (5%) and alcohol abuse (4%). LawCare chief executive Elizabeth Rimmer said: “LawCare has identified that there is very low awareness of the support and services available to those in the legal community, and that there is stigma attached to acknowledging mental health issues.”

The Bar Council and the Inns of Court published its Wellbeing at the Bar report a year ago, and since then have taken steps to improve wellbeing and resilience, chambers' management practices, and understanding of the related issues. Specifically targeted at young barristers, the Young Barristers’ Committee has launched a wellbeing guide on the Young Bar Hub and last summer hosted a YBC wellbeing seminar with the Bar Council.

Chantal-Aimée Doerries QC, chairman of the Bar, said: “I’ve seen for myself how the landscape has changed. Before our survey and subsequent report on wellbeing, few spoke about the stress of the work we do and its impact. Now, when I visit chambers around the country, it is often a topic of discussion. Wellbeing is now high on the agenda at the Bar and we’ve been delighted by the way the whole profession has come together to proactively develop wellbeing support.”