Disabling Barriers Scotland hosts first wellbeing event

Disabling Barriers Scotland, the peer support group for people in the legal profession with lived experiences of managing health conditions – mental or physical – is hosting its first wellbeing session next week.

Tanking place at 5pm on Thursday 27 July, the event will feature Niamh Warnock, engagement and relationship manager with LawCare, and James McFarlane, chair of the wellbeing group for men in the legal profession and a LawCare champion.

The group was founded by Tom McGovern and Fraser Mackay, who want to offer support to those who face the challenges of managing a condition, however they define it, in addition to the stresses of the legal profession – challenges which they believe are starting to be acknowledged.

Drawing inspiration from Lewis Capaldi’s experience at the Glastonbury Festival, and reflecting on how lawyers suffering from a condition may not feel good enough compared with their peers and attempt to work far more hours of my peers in an effort to prove themselves, they comment: 

“As legal professionals we are at an increasingly high risk of burnout, imposter syndrome, anxiety, and poor mental ill health. In 2021, LawCare undertook an extensive report which evidenced that 69% of participants said they had struggled with their mental health but that only 56.5% said they had talked about their mental ill health at work.”

The group can be contacted at disablingbarriersscotland@gmail.com. A Zoom link for those wishing to attend next week’s event will be shared in due course.