LawCare promotes mental health taskforce in England & Wales

A taskforce has been launched today to promote and support mental health and wellbeing in the legal profession in England & Wales.

An initiative of the Law Society of England & Wales (LSEW), being driven by the lawyers' support helpline LawCare, the Legal Professions Wellbeing Taskforce brings together representatives from legal professional and educational establishments, those with legal expertise and knowledge of the sector.

The move comes in response to a growing awarenss of mental health issues and to published data that show that the culture and practice of law can have a negative impact on mental health and wellbeing. 

It aims to identify areas where collaboration will be beneficial, identify mechanisms for establishing and sharing best practice, identify how to improve the perception of mental health and wellbeing, and address stigma as a barrier to accessing support. While recognising an increasing number of initiatives within the sector to address mental health and wellbeing, the organisers believe that more can be achieved by working together.

Along with LSEW and LawCare, the 15 partners in the taskforce incllude the Bar Council, the Solicitors Regulation Authority, Newcastle University, legal firm Linklaters, the Junior Lawyers’ Division, and the Bar Standards Board.

"We at LawCare know there is stigma attached to acknowledging mental health issues, and that there is very low awareness of the support and services available to those in the legal community", a statement from Lawcare said. "There is also a lack of knowledge in the community itself about good practice and what that looks like."

It is understood that preliminary discussions have taken place with a view to forming a similar grouping in Scotland.