Mental health panel becomes permanent
Mental health panel becomes permanent
Senior Editor
Determined to continue addressing the legal profession’s mental health challenges, the Board of Governors is raising the status of a special committee.
The board voted unanimously at its May meeting to create a standing “Mental Health and Wellness of Florida Lawyers Committee” to continue the work of a similarly named special committee.
Special committee Chair Dori Foster-Morales recounted some of the panel’s accomplishments since the board, at the urging of President Michael Higer, launched the special committee last August.
Since then, the special committee has sponsored a series of town hall meetings across the state, dedicated an issue of the Journal to mental health and the law, sponsored events designed to raise awareness and destigmatize mental health issues, and added an online counseling service as a Florida Bar member benefit, Foster-Morales said.
Still in the works is a 24-hour, toll-free hotline for members of the legal community who are dealing with a mental health crisis or other related issues, Foster-Morales said. And law students need more assurance that seeking help for mental health problems won’t stall or derail their chances of passing the character and fitness portion of the Florida bar exam.
“This was a heavy, heavy lift. . . . It was the start of a very long process,” Foster-Morales said. “We have reached out to law schools, we have reached out to voluntary bar associations, we have joined forces with the Young Lawyers Division.”
And much more needs to be done before practicing lawyers can openly discuss their mental health histories, or seek help, without risking their careers, Foster-Morales said.
In 2016, a landmark ABA/Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation report indicated that 28 percent of licensed and employed attorneys suffer from depression, another 19 percent exhibit symptoms of anxiety, and 21 percent qualify as problem drinkers.
A recent Johns Hopkins University study of 100 professions revealed that lawyers are 3.6 times more likely to suffer from depression than people with other jobs.
Higer praised Morales and special committee members for their dedication and promised that the effort, which began as a 2018-19 Florida Bar Strategic Planning Priority, would continue.
“Even though you had a relatively small committee, you really reached out and had hundreds and hundreds of people who became dedicated,” Higer said. “We’re really crawling, if anything, right now. So it’s going to take all of us to continue the conversation.”
