Mental Health Awareness Week: we're getting the legal community talking about anxiety (15 to 21 May)
Anxiety is the theme of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week (MHAW) and we're highlighting the prevalence of anxiety in the legal community.
Anxiety is one of the top three reasons people working in the law reached out to LawCare for support in 2022. LawCare’s Life in the law study (2021) also showed that 69% of participants said they had experienced mental ill-health over the preceding 12 months, and of those 60.7% said they had experienced anxiety either often, very often, or all of the time.
This Mental Health Awareness Week, we want to get the legal community talking about the common experience of anxiety, so that legal professionals can recognise the signs and know where to turn to for support.
New guidance for leaders and people managers on anxiety in the workplace
There are steps individuals can take to reduce their feelings of anxiety, but it’s important for leaders and employers to be proactive in helping staff manage anxiety. By doing so staff are less likely to experience work related mental ill health.
Our new guidance for leaders and people managers on anxiety in the workplace includes ways to support a colleague experiencing anxiety.
Free anxiety webinar
Our ‘Let’s talk about anxiety’ webinar was on Thursday 18 May, starting at 12.30pm.
This hour-long event featured a panel of legal professionals who shared their personal experiences of living with anxiety and their strategies for managing it.
The webinar sold out, but here is a recording.
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“Many legal professionals experience anxiety. They may worry that they are not cut out for the law, have sleepless nights about a mistake they have made, or be fearful of not meeting targets. The perfectionist personality of legal professionals, the high-performance culture in law, and a lack of effective management support can make legal professionals prone to anxiety. Having anxiety at work can have a huge impact on you and your career, and it is important that managers recognise and do not ignore when colleagues may be experiencing anxiety. Managers need to be equipped to recognise the signs of anxiety, this could be a significant drop in performance or reduced productivity, and then respond with empathy and compassion. A supportive workplace where information about anxiety is visible and talked about will enable colleagues with anxiety to feel psychologically safe to seek support."
Finding support for anxiety
Anyone who is worried about anxiety should make an appointment with their GP.
Legal professionals can also call LawCare ‘s confidential helpline on 0800 279 6888 or visit www.lawcare.org.uk for information and emotional support.
Read more about Anxiety in the legal profession and have a look at all LawCare’s resources about anxiety here.
For all media enquiries about Mental Health Awareness Week contact our Communications Manager, Sarah Fitsell, on sfitsell@lawcare.org.uk or 07940 020234.
We're here to listen...without judgement
Contact our free, confidential, emotional support service for the legal sector
0800 279 6888
Your Stories
Real stories of people in the legal community who have experienced stress, depression, anxiety and more.
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How I coped with anxiety
"I felt really unwell – heart rate rising, breathing out of control, nausea, and an overwhelming desire to get out of the car."
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How I coped with stress
"I collapsed in the office mid-deal, suffering from exhaustion."
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How I sorted out my sleep
"I would wake up four or five times a night, brain racing with thoughts and often would manage only 2 or 3 hours sleep. I was exhausted."
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My journey to an ADHD and autism diagnosis
"As a woman, I, like many other autistic and ADHD women, learnt to mask my traits and so I went undiagnosed for 32 years."
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