The California Lawyers Association (CLA) has announced that it is joining forces with attorney Patrick Krill to produce ‘groundbreaking’ new research to improve mental health and wellbeing in the legal profession. The research is designed to advance the understanding of and support for mental health and well-being in the legal profession, and will be launched in late March, confirmed CLA.
Spearheaded by mental health and wellbeing expert Krill, the new research will build upon and expand on the findings from the landmark 2016 ABA/Hazelden Betty Ford study (that Krill also led). This 2016 study of 13,000 lawyers in the US, revealed that as many as one-third were problem drinkers, 28% battled depression and 1 in 5 struggled with anxiety. Before Krill’s 2016 report, there hadn’t been a study on behavioural health in the legal profession for more than 25 years. As a result of these findings, Krill helped launch a national task force in response to the report that outlined steps for improving attorneys’ lifestyles and developed action plans for law firms and schools to adopt, which was described as ‘a turning point’ for the profession.
DESIGNED TO IMPROVE WELLBEING
“The legal profession has made great strides in the realm of mental health, substance use and wellbeing over the last few years but, in many ways, our work is just beginning. Increased knowledge and understanding of the problems are vital to our ongoing efforts towards a long-term cultural change that will truly improve the health and wellbeing of lawyers,” Krill commented. “We need to move beyond prevalence data alone, and to shed light on the many risk factors that exist on both the profession-wide and individual level. I am incredibly grateful to the CLA for its enthusiasm for this work and its desire to lead on this front.”
This time round Krill together with his colleague Dr Justin Anker, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Minnesota, are designing a survey to assess the current prevalence of mental health and substance use problems amongst licensed attorneys, and identify underlying risk factors and contributing causes for those problems.
The anonymous and confidential survey will investigate a range of individual risk factors for mental health and substance use problems (stress sensitivity, early life adversity, impulsivity, sleep, diet, exercise, social and financial health, burnout, personality disorders, drinking to cope with negative emotions), as well as cultural and workplace risk factors (stress in environment, incivility, toxic goals, incentivised and rewarded behaviours, attitudes towards substance use and self-care, availability and utilisation of support resources). More importantly, the survey will ask respondents to share their views about what can and should be done to promote better mental health and personal wellbeing within the profession.
CRITICAL INSIGHTS
The survey will also be distributed to members of the DC Bar, the largest unified bar in the country, confirms Krill. The DC Bar’s participation in the research project not only increases the sample size and geographic diversity of the study, but also demonstrates the type of collaborative approach necessary to successfully address profession-wide challenges. Analysis of the results is expected to take several months from the time data collection ends, with the findings to be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
This research is crucial to furthering the progress that has been made around attorney mental health in recent years and will allow the profession to develop and deploy meaningful strategies and resources to improve the health of its members, and chart a more sustainable future, said CLA.
“As the bar association for all California attorneys, CLA is excited to participate in this important research project. The health – including mental health – and wellbeing of our members is critically important to us,” added CEO and Executive Director Ona Alston Dosunmu of CLA. “We hope the findings from this critical survey will provide insights into ways to better serve and assist our members and the profession.”
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