National Study on the Wellbeing of legal professionals

Each group is FREE and CONFIDENTIAL and operated independently of MAP.

Group sessions are virtual and are one hour long and tend to average in size between 5-6 people.

Each person may (but doesn’t have to) share how their mental wellness is affecting them.  They can then get “feedback” from another member (which is empathy or a technique which has worked for that other member…none of them will tell someone what they “should” do…as none of them is a professional).

The groups have been very popular as they offer three significant benefits:  

1.  Members learn that they are not alone, and that there are others like them suffering;   

2.  Members can unburden themselves to a sympathetic ear…rather than continue to over-burden their spouse or parents who don’t have the lived-history to help;  

3.  Members can get real-world suggestions of techniques which others have used successfully.

There are currently running five (5) public meetings each week (Sunday - Thursday nights from 6:00pm - 7:00pm).    So about 30 people receive free service each week!    

The program runs off the MeetUp.com website and anyone who wishes to join, from anywhere in the world, can ask to join the private MeetUp page, and once accepted, can select whichever of the meetings they wish to attend.  Some members will attend only one meeting per week, and some may wish to attend multiple. One of the benefits of this program is that if someone is feeling like they need support, they can sign up THAT DAY and receive support the SAME DAY.

Each group is facilitated by a peer (a long-standing member of the group and thus someone who has "walked a mile in your shoes"), and those peer facilitators have received Mental Health First Aid Training.  

There are two types of Groups:  1) for the general public and 2) for Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario staff.  There re no "lawyers only" groups yet, but those can always be created (the organizer is himself a lawyer after all!).

SIGN UP ON MEETUP.COM

PUBLIC   

MAG  

Each group is facilitated by a peer (a long-standing member of the group and thus someone who has "walked a mile in your shoes"), and those peer facilitators have received Mental Health First Aid Training.   

SHORT VIDEOS EXPLAINING THE GROUPS:

PUBLIC

MAG

Facebook page  

The organizer has the ability to increase the number of meetings.  If you would like to speak with him about starting your own group, please contact admin@mentalwellness.help

Stress Strategies:  A free online tool by the Psychology Foundation of Canada that gives practical ways to cope with stress.

BC Lawyer Assistance Program: Stress Management 

7 science-based strategies to cope with coronavirus anxiety from Jelana Kecmanovic, Adjunct Professor of Psychology, Georgetown University

The Ontario Bar Association has a host of  wellness resources, including a 30-day fitness challenge, quick tips, and a CPD series.

SADNESS VS. DEPRESSION - a video

ENJOY THE BENEFITS OF EXERCISE - a video

Learn how you can create your own happiness

Want more resources?  

Click here

Alcoholics Anonymous is an international fellowship of men and women who think they have a drinking problem. It is nonprofessional, self-supporting, multiracial, apolitical, and available almost everywhere. There are no age or education requirements. Membership is open to anyone who wants to do something about his or her drinking problem.  

American Bar Association: Alcohol Use Disorders - signs & symptoms.

ABA Podcast: Substance Abuse and Mental Illness in the Legal Profession.

Mindfulness Without Borders (MWB) is a leading provider of best practices and evidenced-based programs on secular mindfulness and social-emotional intelligence to youth, educators, health and corporate professionals in communities around the world.  MWB offers in-person and on-line workshops, produce a fantastic blog, and have lots of resources on their website.

MUSE, a Personal Meditation Assistant from Toronto's Interaxon, is wearable tech at its best!   It's a headband that, when paired with their app, gives you feedback about your meditation in real time by translating your brain signals into the sounds of weather.

Mental health means striking a balance in all aspects of your life: social, physical, spiritual, economic and mental. Reaching a balance is a learning process. At times, you may tip the balance too much in one direction and have to find your footing again. Your personal balance will be unique, and your challenge will be to stay mentally healthy by keeping that balance. 

Click here for information and suggestions from the Canadian Mental Health Association to help you keep your balance. 

HelpGuide is a nonprofit mental health and wellness website. Their mission is to provide empowering, evidence-based information that you can use to help yourself and your loved ones. 

It's 100% ad-free and not for profit.

Governments are beginning to loosen restrictions and some businesses are firing up their engines again. If you are leading one of these operations, you will be required to implement many new protocols to protect the physical and psychological safety of staff, both as a group and as individuals.

The work 2.0 reboot will become the new normal for workplaces, and while it may spur many good things - renewed energy for employees who have felt drained by isolation, innovation, enhanced processes and procedures - it will also require you to be acutely aware of employees’ needs and the way you can support, and ideally, positively impact their mental health as they move through this new phase of the crisis.

To do this successfully, it is important to have plans in place that reduce mental harm and promote mental health and wellness.

WORK 2.0 REBOOT: SUPPORTING EMPLOYEES’ MENTAL HEALTH

Coronavirus has many people anxious about their personal safety and a number of people are worried about their safety at work as well as the possibility of having to miss work due to sickness. Education is a big part of managing people’s anxiety.  Blog post  and video by My Workplace Health. 

Clear, caring messages from all levels of leadership is helpful in reducing fear and uncertainty in the workplace in the face of public health concerns. Learn the best ways to effectively communicate about coronavirus in the workplace by clicking here.

Workplace Strategies for Mental Health: Dealing with Fear and Anxiety:  Daily video tips on taking care of your mental health during the pandemic 

Below are some quick tips on leading through today's changing environment:

Leading from a distance: Video

Protecting your team's wellbeing: Video

Leading Through Change: Lessons in Inclusion: Article

Workplace Strategies for Mental Health: Plan for Resilience: PDF

5 Tips for Remote Working (from the OBA): Article

Warning signs: Why it’s important for lawyers and firms to be proactive about mental health - PracticePRO

Understanding mental health in the legal profession - PracticePRO

The Employer’s COVID-19 Return to the Workplace Playbook in Canada  - Osler

Understanding mental health and mental illness and their impacts in the workplace - Morneau Shepell 

Medcan offers employee health solutions bridge the gap between your benefits plan and the health needs of your employees.  Plus, they have some amazing resources for you and your family.  

The Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace is a leading source of free, practical tools and resources designed to help Canadian employers with the prevention, intervention and management of workplace mental health issues. All tools and resources are available in English and French to anyone, anywhere, at no cost.

To help you be part of the conversation, the Bell Let’s Talk Conversation Guide was created. It provides information and resources on how you can facilitate a conversation in your community, as well as guidelines on how to have conversations with people you care about and may be concerned about. 

The Provincial HSJCC is looking for members to join a community of practice focused on addressing release from custody issues across Ontario.
 

Regional and Local HSJCCs have repeatedly reported that clients are being released from custody without appropriate discharge planning, connections to housing or community supports. These issues have been further exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, the Provincial HSJCC has committed to identifying ways the HSJCC Network can coordinate efforts of our members across Ontario.
 

The P-HSJCC Release from Custody Community of Practice will be made up of members from across the HSJCC Network who work in the housing, health and justice sectors that support and coordinate efforts for those being released from correctional institutions. Members will raise issues and brainstorm solutions at a Local, Regional, and Provincial level. This may include connecting clients to housing, finding transportation to home communities and sharing creative practices across the province.
 

The Community of Practice will meet on a regular basis via teleconference or a virtual platform. Additional issues may be discussed between members by email or through the use of online forums. Members from Local, Regional and Provincial HSJCCs, as well as our partner stakeholders, are welcome to join. For more information, please contact Christine Conrad at cconrad@ontario.cmha.ca 

The HSJCCs were established in response to a recognized need to coordinate resources and services, and plan more effectively for people who are in conflict with the law. Priority consideration is for people with a serious mental illness, developmental disability, acquired brain injury, drug and alcohol addiction, and/or fetal alcohol syndrome. 

The committees were generated as a cooperative effort between the Ministries of the Attorney General, Children, Community and Social Services, Health and the Solicitor General.

The two primary areas of emphasis for the committees are:

1. To provide a planning table to bring together service providers to find solutions to the problem of the criminalization of people with the defined unique needs, and;
2. To develop a model of shared responsibility and accountability in dealing with this group of individuals at points of intersection with the justice system.

Work planning and reporting helps HSJCCs from across the province plan their activities for the year. Reporting ensures there is accountability across the network and is a great way to highlight the accomplishments of the HSJCC Network.

Regional and Local HSJCCs develop their work plan based on a standardized reporting template.  

The HSJCCs provide reports on the following:

Mental Health Courts in Ontario;

Older Adults and the Justice System;

Housing & Justice Reform; and

Police-Hospital Transitions Frameworks

Regional committees were established to coordinate communication and service integration planning between health, criminal justice, and developmental service organizations within specific regions. Local committees provide input to these regional groups. The Provincial Committee, consisting of regional chairs and Ministry representatives, has been developed as a provincial planning body. 

The Provincial HSJCC is committed to identifying provincial service and policy issues across Ontario, making recommendations to address such issues and identifying system solutions to appropriate government and other provincial bodies. As such, the Provincial HSJCC often participates in consultations and prepares submissions to help address issues and advance improvements to the human services and justice coordination efforts of the HSJCCs and the Government of Ontario.

 In December 2020, the HSJCC published a new report by Ontario’s leading experts on housing, justice, and mental health and addictions that outlines how existing supportive housing could more effectively meet the needs of justice-involved individuals and reduce strain on the health and justice systems.  Read that here!  

The HSJCC  has also made recent submissions regarding issues exacerbated during COVID-19 which you can find on their COVID-19 updates page. 

The Provincial HSJCC is looking for members to join a standing committee focused on addressing Anti-Racism across the HSJCC Network. Following high profile incidents of anti-racism both provincially and internationally, as well as feedback received from our Regional HSJCCs, the Provincial HSJCC has committed to identifying ways the HSJCC Network can be a leader in addressing Anti-Racism.
 

The P-HSJCC Anti-Racism Committee will be made up of members from across the HSJCC Network who will provide invaluable input and guidance in the development of a network wide strategy that will represent the interests of Local and Regional HSJCCs at the provincial level.
 

Committee members will:

• Provide advice and oversight to the Provincial HSJCC on all anti-racism practices, processes and cultural diversity throughout the network.
• Act as Anti-Racism Champions,      representing Local and Regional HSJCCs, and partner organizations to help identify systemic issues that will meet the interests of the full HSJCC membership.

The Anti-Racism Committee will meet on a regular basis via teleconference or virtual platform. Additional consultations may be done with members by email. Members from Local, Regional and Provincial HSJCCs, as well as our partner stakeholders, are welcome to join. For more information, please contact Andrew Fairbairn at afairbairn@ontario.cmha.ca 

On March 30, 2020, the Boards of Directors of the Conference of Chief Justices and Conference of State Court Administrators took action to establish a new Task Force to assist state courts in their efforts to more effectively respond to the needs of court-involved individuals with serious mental illness.

The Task Force will build upon the previous work of the NCSC National Advisory Committee  supported by funding from the State Justice Institute. Their work and future plans are described in the transition report, The Future is Now: Decriminalization of Mental Illness.

In order to address mental health needs in your community, certain court and community responses must be developed early on. The best practices recommended on this website build the foundation for improving the court and community responses to mental health and co-occurring disorders. 

This website begins with leading change resources specifically designed for judges.  Every community will be at a different place with each of these practices. As you look through the various recommendations, consider your own community and the best way to use these tools to build a structure of support for mental health issues within it. 

Opening with a series of statements on racial justice from six state supreme court chief justices, the 2020 edition of Trends In State Courts provides timely and diverse stories including an article on how collaborative efforts among justice, mental-health, and public-health systems are essential to respond to individuals who frequently cycle through systems, State Courts’ Responsibility to Convene, Collaborate and Identify Individuals Across Systems. 

The National Advisory Committee produced several informative resources to inform and educate the judiciary concerning mental health and the courts to include the Leading Change guide and the Coordinated Court and Community Responses website.

The Leading Change Guide for judges and court leaders is intended for court professionals who want to create change in how mental health needs are addressed in their communities but aren't sure how to get started. It lays out the steps for beginning the movement toward change in the court and community's response to mental health and co-occurring disorders—from inviting stakeholders to the first meeting to sustaining the initial momentum for long-term progress. It includes a list of potential stakeholders, action step checklists, sample meeting agendas, assessment questions.