FLA’s career counseling sessions offer attorneys balance for their mental health
Since 1986, Florida Lawyers Assistance, Inc., has been supporting lawyers who develop mental health or substance abuse issues.
“We started as a ‘lawyers helping lawyers’ organization,” FLA Executive Director Dan McDermott said. “The Bar has an obligation to make sure that those who hold licenses and serve the interest of clients are in a position to do so without undue [impediments].”
In that regard, FLA focuses its efforts on education, talking to attorneys about the pressures of practicing law, the stresses that go with it, and how those stresses may affect their health and personal wellbeing.
FLA recognized that lawyers often adjust to a lifestyle, and then find they are not very satisfied in what they’re doing.
“In many cases they feel trapped,” McDermott said. “They’ll say, ‘I can’t walk away from the compensation, and I don’t know how I can find alternatives.’ That can lead to some of the unhappy situations that can lead to bigger problems like substance abuse.”
Accordingly, back in 2012, FLA teamed up with David Behrend, M.ED., director of Career Planning Services for Lawyers in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, to offer a career counseling program on the second Wednesday of each month.
This career counseling is offered free of charge for lawyers via computer or telephone, from the privacy of their home or office.
McDermott says Behrend heads up career planning services for lawyers. His organization has helped hundreds through employment transition. Sometimes those are voluntary and sometimes not.
Behrend offers each person who attends a career counseling session an open door and an opportunity to engage. He said his service can function as an early resource that may prevent other things from going wrong in a lawyer’s life.
“Being unhappy in a job could lead to other outcomes and that’s what we’re here to help address,” Behrend said. “Oftentimes, lawyers in this situation don’t know who they can talk to about it and they don’t want to talk to another lawyer about it.”
Behrend says participation in each monthly career counseling session generally consists of anywhere between three and eight attorneys. He feels that number is ideal.
Behrend said the most crucial factor in determining a career change is the amount of gratification a lawyer gets from their job.
“Not every lawyer gets the internal gratification [from their work],” Behrend said. “There are a lot of lawyers who stepped into a position that really wasn’t suitable for them. For example, you’ll hear a 25-year-old say, ‘I got hooked in business development law, but I really wanted to be a litigator.’”
Behrend said he uses a gratification index to determine if a change is necessary.
“I feel that being a lawyer should be 70-80% gratifying,” Behrend said. “If it’s two-thirds, that’s barely passing. 50% is unacceptable.”
Behrend has worked in career counseling for more than 30 years. He stressed he’s not an employment agent but rather a career consultant.
“I’m a personal trainer for lawyers and a catalyst for change,” Behrend said.
Behrend outlined three types of change that can affect attorneys. The first is a job change, whether that is with a new firm or new partner. The second he calls career alteration, where the attorney wants to do something else within the legal field but different than what they are currently doing. The third is career transition, where a lawyer can be forced into by a loss of position or loss of license.
“Career transition is something where mental and substance abuse issues can come into play,” Behrend said. “If there’s a change in the enjoyment level of the work you do, the gratification could go down.”
Behrend said his sessions, like many other FLA programs, are confidential, using first names only. He said that most people are afraid to take that first step and become disenchanted.
“They may have had at one point a 90% job gratification rate that goes down to unacceptable,” Behrend said. “The problem is that most lawyers have tunnel vision. What I do is help them to expand their thought processes.”
Behrend says many of the attorneys who attend these sessions fall into different age groups and each age group comes with a distinct set of circumstances. He says the 30- to 40-year-old group’s biggest issue is finding a good work/life balance.
“Some of them will say, I got divorced, I don’t see my kids enough, is there something else I could do?” Behrend said.
The 50- to 60-year-old crowd staring down the barrel of retirement is looking at different issues. Many say they are getting ready to retire, don’t know what to do with themselves, and don’t want to get into trouble.
“I’ll tell them, ‘Well, you’ll have another 20 years or so to live and that’s a long time to not do anything, Behrend said. “You can only play so much gin rummy and golf.”
Behrend said he’s even counseled attorneys in their 80s who have told him, “I’ve outlived my money, what do I do now?”
Behrend has counseled attorneys all over the country from his home base outside Philadelphia to New Jersey, Ohio, Florida, and points in between. He said he got started working in Florida in part due to his 30-year friendship with former FLA Director Michael Cohen.
“This is for lawyers and it’s also what I consider my pro bono work,” Behrend said. “I find it eternally gratifying.”
McDermott said through his time as FLA director he’s found that lawyers come away with tremendous reassurance.
“They receive a new skill set of approaching and analyzing issues,” McDermott said. “It really puts them in a great stead. It does have applications in so many other contexts. People feel empowered to respect not only the education they have, but how to solve the problems in front of them.”
Behrend agreed.
“We provide a venue for people who feel dissatisfied with what they’re doing in their legal career for whatever reason,” Behrend said. “It could affect their mental health and impact their family.”
Behrend closed by asking lawyers two questions.
“To emphasize one thing from my vantage point, are you getting the internal gratification you deserve?” Behrend said. “The last point is I say to people, is your compass heading north in 2023?”
Should Florida lawyers have problems answering those two questions, FLA encourages them to attend a meeting on the second Wednesday of each month at noon.
To log on, go to http://global.gotomeeting.com/join/684399861. If the participant is using a telephone, call 213-493-0614. The access code is 684-399-861. The audio PIN will be shown after joining the meeting. The meeting ID is 694-399-861.
