Staying Safe and Sound for the Holidays – Strategies for the Legal Professional

Holidays are often associated with joy and excitement, but they can be stressful, overwhelming, and challenging as well. For some, holidays bring up feelings of grief, isolation, disappointment, and sadness. The holiday season can quickly bring increased stress and anxiety to members of the legal profession whose lives are already filled to the brim with those emotions.

With the alarming prevalence of substance use and mental health disorders in the legal profession, it is imperative that we are all armed with the knowledge and insight of how to approach someone who may be struggling. Certain approaches yield greater results than others. The “Intervention” methods shown on television, while often compelling, don’t typically produce excellent results – especially with members of the legal profession.

As lawyers, we all know that language is often the key to success. Why should we expect it to differ in the life and death struggle to help someone who suffers from alcohol or substance misuse or a mental health disorder? With the alarming number of suicides in our profession, it tells us that people would rather die than ask for help – and this must stop.

Mr. Quinn will discuss:

1. Recognize that one in three legal professionals will struggle with substance use and/or a mental health disorder at some point in their legal careers.
2. Spot the signs of impairment and learn the “Motivational Interventions” approach that yields results and saves lives.
3. The confidential, free, safe, and supportive services for lawyers, judges, their family members and law students that are available through Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers.
4. The barriers that exist that prevent lawyers and judges from asking for help with an alcohol/substance misuse or mental health disorder.
5. Identify the parameters of Rule of Professional Conduct 8.3 (c) – and the safe harbor that it provides to protect attorneys working with an approved lawyers assistance program or who contact a LAP on behalf of an attorney or judge who is struggling.

Speaker: Brian S. Quinn