As an attorney, one of the things that you might not think about as often as you need to is your mental health. With the different types of cases that you’re presented with each day and the various outcomes that result, your mental health shouldn’t take a back burner to the other details in your life.
One way that you can begin to address your mental health as an attorney is to talk with other lawyers and legal professionals about how they feel working in the career field and what they are doing to maintain their mental health. Some of the things that you could talk about include isolating yourself from family members and friends if you’re working on a detailed case or even substance abuse if you find that you’re using alternative methods of dealing with the stresses that you face each day. You can talk to others about the proper balance of working in the office and in the courtroom while maintaining your personal life as well. You can also talk about the expectations that clients have for the outcome of their case while also preparing them for the possibility that they might not see that outcome.
Sometimes, you might need to drive across town to get to a support group with other lawyers. If there are other people who share your determination in simply getting to the venue where the support group is held, then it shows that the mental health of others in your profession should be addressed and that there could be issues that can be dealt with in a healthy manner instead of turning to other sources. When you’re in a support group for lawyers, you might be surprised to find that there are more than Millenials in the group. There could be lawyers who have already retired who are still dealing with the impacts of some of their cases. When you’re sharing information as a group, try not to interrupt each other so that each person can express their feelings and the concerns that they have.
In most groups, there is usually a host who discloses personal experiences and the reason for holding the group. Over time, members of the group will begin to express their own feelings, making it easier to come together to discuss the mental health of legal professionals. With the right support, then it can be easier to deal with some of the challenging factors during the day in and out of the courtroom.
Contact the office for more information about mental health and how a support group could offer the assistance that you might need.
Source: https://abovethelaw.com/2019/07/a-reckoning-for-mental-health-in-the-legal-profession/