The Catholic Social Thoughts (CST) require individuals to perform acts that show the truth about and maintain the human dignity and rights of individuals, speak out against any injustice in society and make contributions towards positive change in society. One principle of CST is the common good, which is described as a philosophy that guides individuals to easily make decisions that are beneficial to a large number of people within a given community (Brady, 2017). Since the legal profession has been identified as being a risk factor for people developing mental health issues, it means that interventions need to be made to ensure that practicing it becomes suitable for the lawyer’s health. Each person is entitled to good health and to have access to health services that treat any sickness they may go through. It thus means lawyers are entitled to these solutions that help mitigate the mental health issues they may face (Wiefek, & Heinitz, 2019).
The global culture has always portrayed legal professionals as a group of people with perfectionist, unemotional and workaholic tendencies. They are always expected to be rational, and even when anyone around them is in obvious distress, they are supposed to be unaffected while they are fulfilling their duties. However, lawyers are human, meaning that, like everyone else, they are vulnerable to suffering from mental health issues. (Krill, Johnson, and Albert, 2016, pp. 46). A 2019 survey carried out with about 3800 legal professionals showed that 31.8% of them admitted to suffering from depression. Also, 72% of the respondents stated that these issues with their mental health stemmed from their work environment, and 74% of them said that they thought that their profession would harm their mental health eventually. Lawyers are more susceptible to psychological issues due to the nature of their work, its emotional demands, and the legal trauma they face while performing their duties (Govinnage, 2013, pp. 34).
It is a necessity since if a lawyer goes through mental health issues, they affect not only themselves and their health but also other parties around them. The parties concerned include; their own families who get distressed about their wellbeing, the clients they serve who will not get quality service. These clients may suffer consequences of bad legal decisions made by the lawyer and employers who may lose these clients due to receiving inadequate services. Therefore having solutions that help the lawyers get better or prevent them from suffering from depression will serve a common good to these different groups. (Harper, 2016).
The first step in combating the increasing mental health issues among the legal profession is to take preventative measures to ensure that lawyers do not have their mental health affected by their work. Law firms and other employers of legal professionals should encourage lawyers to take care of themselves. Lawyers should also take to heart that it’s their responsibility to take care of themselves and ensure not only their own physical and spiritual wellbeing but their emotional side as well (Bowling, 2015, pp.37). There are several steps they can take to ensure that they get these outcomes. One, they should do an inventory of their stress levels and find things that are their stressors; once they have identified them, they can then come up with a stress management plan. Also, they should schedule their time to divide between things important to them personally and performing their work duties. Then they should learn when to say no and yes and ensure they are firm in their decision. Finally, as part of their stress management, they should find things that make them happy but are outside the legal industry. It will ensure that they have time where they can let loose and get away from the stresses of the job. Legal professional bodies globally should make this a law for employers to ensure that their employees do this as frequently as possible. It will ensure that preventable situations do not escalate and result in depressed lawyers (Krieger and Sheldon, 2014, pp.554).
Globally, law firms should ensure they provide onsite counselling and peer group support for employees who are facing mental health issues. Confidentiality should go hand in hand with offering these services, which will give the lawyers the confidence to seek help without any fear of facing backlash. Therefore, there should be guidelines set out for the firms to follow when setting up these services for their employees and a body to govern their implementation. These policies should also make it compulsory for law firms to have therapy services and any other support services to deal with mental health issues available for their employees. In addition to this, law firms should use licenced therapists to offer assistance. Such therapists are bound by law to maintain client confidentiality regarding whatever is discussed during sessions. Hence, this protects the privacy of the lawyers who seek help from them as the law even prevents them from admitting whether or not an individual is receiving services from them (Cearley, 2013, pp. 453).
However, for both these solutions to work, the stigma surrounding mental health issues in the legal profession should be eradicated. To successfully do this, the profession as a whole should come together to fight against it in the industry, and it should start from the leadership. Partners in law firms should be leaders and create cultures in their organisations that support mental health (Telfer, 2016). When the employees see their leaders taking a stand and fighting this issue, they will also follow suit and not be afraid to tackle the problem. Likewise, leaders should frequently educate their employees about mental health issues, activities that threaten their mental health, how to prevent them from escalating, and also steps they can take to seek help. They should also make it known that suffering from mental health issues and seeking help is not a weakness (Bibelhausen, Bender, and Barrett, 2015, pp. 918).
Legal Professional Communities and law societies globally also have a role to play in ending the stigma. They should have Member Assistance Programs where lawyers can turn to anytime to seek help in dealing with these issues. Fellow employees should also take part by being supportive and offering help to colleagues who are facing mental health issues like depression and avoid being discriminatory against them (McCue, 2016). Finally, the supervisors in the places of work should provide support to lawyers going through problems and ensure that they are not stigmatised. However, 44% of them admit that they have not been trained on how they are supposed to handle these issues. Therefore, employers should train these supervisors on tactics that can be used to manage lawyers suffering from mental health issues. Law firms and organisations should continually ask themselves if they are doing enough for employees in terms of tackling and addressing mental health issues. One of the best ways they can do this is by carrying out regular surveys among its members to find out what is done well and what needs improvement. Once they know this, they can then adjust these solutions to suit their situations and ensure that they are providing enough support for the lawyers in their employ (Gillers, 2014).
References
Bibelhausen, J., Bender, K.M. and Barrett, R., 2015. Reducing the Stigma: The Deadly Effect of Untreated Mental Illness and New Strategies for Changing Outcomes in Law Students. Wm. Mitchell L. Rev., 41, p.918.
Bowling III, D.S., 2015. Lawyers and their elusive pursuit of happiness: Does it matter. Duke FL & Soc. Change, 7, p.37.
Brady, B. V. (2017). Essential Catholic Social Thought 2nd edition. Orbis Books.
Cearley, S., 2013. Lawyer Assistance Programs: Bridging the Gap. UALR L. Rev., 36, p.453.
Gillers, S., 2014. Regulation of lawyers: Problems of law and ethics. Wolters Kluwer Law & Business.
Govinnage, S., 2013. Mental illness, stigma and law. Brief, 40(9), p.34.
Harper, S.J., 2016. The lawyer bubble: A profession in crisis. Basic Books.
Krieger, L.S. and Sheldon, K.M., 2014. What makes lawyers happy: A data-driven prescription to redefine professional success. Geo. Wash. L. Rev., 83, p.554.
Krill, P.R., Johnson, R. and Albert, L., 2016. The prevalence of substance use and other mental health concerns among American attorneys. Journal of addiction medicine, 10(1), p.46.
McCue, M.J., 2016. An ecological systems approach to understanding the lived experiences of law students with mental illness. Michigan State University.
Telfer, T.G., 2016. The Wellness Doctrines for Law Students & Young Lawyers, by Jerome Doraisamy.
Wiefek, J., & Heinitz, K. (2019). The Common Good Approach in Entrepreneurial Practice. zfwu Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts-und Unternehmensethik, 20(3), 320-345.
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