Vermont Center for Responder Wellness’ Post

Addressing Mental Health in the Legal Profession: Michael Ferguson's Journey Reflecting on his youth, Michael Ferguson, a lawyer from Goderich, Ontario, realized he had been grappling with mental health issues long before his professional career began. Ferguson shares his struggle with depression and anxiety, which he believes started in his childhood amidst personal family tragedies. Despite achieving academic success and becoming a lawyer in 2019, Ferguson found that the pressures of the legal profession exacerbated his mental health issues. He highlights the importance of the Law Society of Ontario's health summit in 2021, which played a pivotal role in his mental health journey. Ferguson emphasizes the need for the legal profession to continue addressing mental health openly, advocating for more supportive programs and policies. His experience underscores the significance of understanding and accommodating mental health within the workplace. His story is detailed in his chapter of the book, "The Right Not to Remain Silent: The Truth About Mental Health in the Legal Profession," which aims to inspire and support others facing similar challenges. #MentalHealthAwareness #LegalProfession #MentalWellness #SupportiveWorkplace #CommunityCare #MentalHealthMatters

Someone's postcode shouldn't determine their access to mental health care following instances of family and domestic violence. Our CEO Zena Burgess FAICD FAPS shares a few ways psychologists can help break cycles of domestic violence in our regional and rural communities: https://ow.ly/iE8B50S1yNB But this is just one part of a much larger puzzle. We are continuing our fierce advocacy for government investment in our regional psychology workforce, and holistic legal reforms to help to move the onus away from victim-survivors (or would be victim-survivors) and reduce the impact of abuse in our community. Learn more in our latest submission: https://ow.ly/ceJG50S1yNC #mentalhealth #psychology #wellbeing

Today is World Mental Health Day – an international awareness day for global mental health education, awareness and advocacy. It is not always easy to spot somebody who is struggling with their mental health, but Enforcement Agents are trained to look out for warning signs including the use of specific language and erratic changes to behaviour when in conversation. This identification process is incredibly important, as CIVEA members are often the first people to speak with someone who is potentially vulnerable. To find out more about how enforcement agents (bailiffs) help debtors struggling with their Mental Health, please read our latest blog post: https://bit.ly/3FcorV0 #WorldMentalHealthDay #Enforcement #Vulnerability #CIVEA

When it comes to seeking mental health services, black children and teens are more likely to receive it in schools than in outpatient programs. The main problem however is that schools in predominately black neighborhoods are less likely to have mental health services available in comparison to schools in predominately white neighborhoods. Here at Access Psychology Foundation, we are committed to increasing equitable access to mental health treatment and training for people of color and underserved communities. Learn more about how we are closing the gaps in access to mental health care by visiting us online at www.access-psychology.org/. #accesspsychologyfoundation #mentalhealth #mentalhealthsupport #mentalhealthtreatment #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealthmatters #youthmentalhealth #mentalhealthforall

This week is National Well-Being Week In Law, a crucial yet often overlooked aspect of the legal profession. It's no secret mental health challenges are prevalent among legal professionals. Many lawyers face daily stressors, demanding workloads, business demands, competitive environments, and relentless pressure to secure favorable outcomes while navigating high-stakes and often emotionally charged cases. Mental health challenges, such as anxiety, depression, and substance abuse, can affect individuals across all practice areas. By utilizing resources and support systems, we can work towards fostering a healthier, more resilient legal community. National Well-Being Week In Law reminds lawyers to prioritize self-care and support one another in their pursuit of well-being. #LawyerWellBeing #NationalLawyerWellBeingWeek

Support comes in different forms. Meet Jax, from B.C. and Alberta Guide Dogs, who is in training to support people with special needs. Jax will offer a sense of safety, belonging, understanding, and trust. The need to be understood and feel we belong is something that we all have in common. Peer support offers a secure and nonjudgmental space for connecting with individuals who share similar experiences, fostering a sense of safety and courage. Whether in the workplace or in our daily lives, peer support cultivates an environment of understanding and collaboration by empowering individuals to navigate challenges together. Shared lived experiences are the everyday moments we all encounter, creating common ground and understanding. The shared stories, laughter, and challenges connect people, forming the fabric of relatability in our daily lives. Hearing stories from peers helps to break the stigma that surrounds mental health challenges and creates a space of belonging and safety. Peerspective workshops and training for facilitators, parents, caregivers, youth, educators, and your organization's staff are available. Contact me for more information. #peersupport #getsomepeerspective #support #mentalhealthmatters

Some sectors are more demanding than others, by their very nature. And one of those sectors is undoubtedly law. I've written about mental health in the legal sector for both FormScore and Betterspace, and have really enjoyed seeing the strides that are being taken by companies like Thrive Law, headed up by the incredibly passionate Jodie Hill, to champion wellbeing in the workplace. It made me super happy then to come across this webinar from LawCare, chaired by Lloyd Rees, focusing on neurodiversity amongst legal folk. As someone who's getting to grips with the possibility of having ADHD (yes, another one...isn't it incredible what happens when we have more knowledge at our fingertips?), I know how mind-blowingly difficult it can be to try and fit into a mould that wasn't made for you. And how that can exacerbate (and create) poor mental health. That's why I'm self-employed 🌟 But not everyone has that option - which is why ALL sectors, especially the traditionally demanding ones, need more understanding around neurodiversity, wellbeing, and mental health. If you're in the legal profession and you want to learn more about neurodiversity in yourself or your colleagues, here's the sign-up link👇 #Neurodiversity #WorkplaceMentalHealth #MentalHealth #MumsInMarketing #WorkplaceWellbeing https://lnkd.in/eTXKg_qy

Happy Mental Health Awareness Month! Mental health for the legal community is an issue that’s close to my heart. Despite the fact that employee well-being has risen as a top concern for in-house teams and law firms, it remains a challenge. According to the latest Bloomberg Law Attorney Workload and Hours survey: - All lawyers report feeling burnt out about half the time - 55% say their workloads are heavier - 40% say their well-being has worsened So this #mentalhealthawarenessmonth, Tradespace is proud to be supporting the IP community with a chance to invest in theirs. On May 22, we’ll be hosting a webinar led by Dr. Anna Gibson, a licensed psychologist with a decade of experience specializing in helping organizations support employee well-being. During this session, we’ll come together to learn about the mental health issues faced by the legal community and actionable advice on how to spot and respond to them. This event is open to anyone in the legal profession, so please feel free to forward it along. You can register here: https://lnkd.in/gYS6Bst8 Stay tuned for more mental health tips and resources designed specifically for the legal community all month. I’ll be dropping them once a week to help legal professionals make the most of May’s Mental Health Awareness month! #intellectualproperty #lawyermentalhealth #lawyerwellbeing

Friends, The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) posts a mental health, well-being, and self-care piece about the importance of balancing the work, life, and health continuum of peace officers. Here the need to define, address, and positively operationalize the issues, is aligned with the timely need to dislodge the deeply ingrained stigma with doing so. Indeed this... mental health, well-being, and self-care; a salient topic of contemporary law enforcement issues, is rising to the top of the ice-berg of policing problems for good reasons. Among them is fundamental first principle thinking. That is, in order for peace officers to deliver a high quality service product, they themselves must be physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually fit to do so. Any deviation from this may be proportionally correlated (directly or indirectly) with adverse consequences. For first responders in general, balancing work, life, and health means navigating the often turbulent, desperate, dynamic, and complex (spoken and unspoken) cultural expectations, (formal and informal) organizational principles, policies, and procedures, along with the current environment of public perception. Friends, this multifaceted approach helps to form a higher, deeper, and broader view, that tantamountly holds heavy leverage on how stakeholders, who may or may not have intimate knowledge of policing, frame meaningful issues and compel valuable changes in all facets of symbiotic policing systems. I believe that all of these issues converge in the middle of The IACP concentric circles of policing balance (work, life, and health), creating the epicenter of our implied focus, an opportunity towards a more effective, efficient, and equitable solution. That is unmistakably, the need to serve our communities, organizations, and officers with respect, dignity, and care. This done prudently in a holistic and hybrid policing model that does not center-around, or perpetuate from what is self-centered, but rather pivots around what is righteous, cultivates what upholds integrity, and grows what is reputable, moral, and ethical, indeed, regarding the highest values in our profession. Friends, in the service of their communities, officers and their organizations must develop well planed strategic, operational, and tactical maps that support their defined, along with their mutually agreed upon visions, missons, goals, and core-values. Our capacity to uphold these core-values must be galvanized, only adapting to high ideals that strengthen the definite chief aim of helping, protecting, and serving towards an envisioned destination, a brighter future, and a hopeful reality for all. Friends, this in spite of any Herculean hardships, handicaps, and hurtles that may derail any lesser efforts. Nevertheless, we must seek and find the balance individually as officers, and collectively as organizations to help our communities and our families, which are often one in the other.