Dear Advy,
My practice involves constant exposure to clients' trauma. I don't think I'm burned out in the usual sense, it's more that carrying other people's pain has quietly changed me. Is this something firms should be resourcing, and what can I ask for?
Sincerely,
Trauma Exposure
Dear Trauma Exposure,
You are not alone. For many legal professionals, our regular work requires us to delve deeply into the trauma experienced by our clients, by witnesses, and by other people that we work with. The 2022 National Study on the Psychological Health Determinants of Legal Professionals in Canada found that 26.8% of respondents who work with clients report recognizable symptoms of secondary trauma. See Section 2.27 of that report for more discussion of the subject.
That vicarious experience of trauma has real consequences. A 2025 study of hospital workers tells us that secondary trauma can “…manifest as emotional (e.g., desire to avoid certain patients), cognitive (e.g., having gaps in memories about patient interactions), and somatic (e.g., rapid heartbeat) symptoms.” It can result in depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder as well as burnout.
You ask if this is something firms should be resourcing and what you can ask for. Could law firms be doing something to help employees deal with vicarious trauma from their work? Sure. It’s the second part of your question that really gives me pause.
Much of the frontline work in providing legal services to the public is done by small firms and sole practitioners. Almost three quarters of lawyers in Canada are either in sole practice or in small firms. While I don’t see reliable statistics on it, I would anticipate that areas of law that could be expected to carry the greatest risk for secondary trauma such as family law, child protection work, and criminal law skews toward government legal departments (such as crown prosecutors’ offices), non-profit agencies, and small firms/sole practitioners. I will leave government agencies aside for the purposes of answering your question because you specifically ask about “firms” which suggests you are not working in the public sector. Work that creates a risk for secondary trauma therefore probably falls disproportionately on lawyers who are in work situations that are the least amenable to providing firm-based mental health supports. Because of their scale, small and solo firms are unlikely to provide the same professional counselling and interventions as larger firms.
For that reason, I believe expecting your firm to solve this problem for you may not be realistic. Still, it is reasonable to ask your firm to help. As you face a workplace hazard, your firm should make reasonable efforts to support your wellbeing, even if that only means fostering a supportive group of co-workers. Don’t hesitate to ask your firm for help. For some concrete tips on how to negotiate positive change for yourself at your workplace, consider reading a previous letter to this column. Your co-workers may be more capable of helping than you or I know. It’s not that they can’t do anything, but it is usually significantly more limited.
A more useful path to pursue would be programs that are available or could be made available outside of your firm. The CBA itself provides workshops and online programming that can help you, many of which are directly on point for what you are describing. On top of that, your local lawyer assistance program (often called a “LAP”) has supports you can use to stay healthy. Here’s something else to bear in mind: Your LAP may be ready willing and able to fine tune what it currently offers and could develop new mental health supports to help you get through your day, your week, and your life and maybe even thrive while doing so. LAP’s ability to be responsive to community needs may vary depending on where you live, but most are quite responsive.
As mentioned in a recent letter to this column, one of the most powerful tools at your disposal when you see a gap in the support offered for your own individual needs is the phone number for your LAP. It’s possible that what your LAP offers already is more suitable for your needs than meets the eye when you see a description on a website. It’s also likely that the person on the other end of your call is highly motivated to find a way to make the LAP’s offerings helpful to you. LAPs exist to support legal professionals in their jurisdictions. They have expertise and an economy of scale for offering or developing innovative support services that a sole practice or small firm will not have.
LAPs in Canada and other jurisdictions have set up support groups, offered peer support tailored to specific needs, provided coaching, developed workshops and similar events, and of course provided professional counselling services to members of the bars that they serve. Almost universally, they developed those programs in response to the needs that local legal communities identified among their members. Think about that: Until someone put a hand up to say that there was a need for (for example) 12-step programs tailored to the needs of legal professionals, those didn’t exist. It takes someone who identifies a need in the first place for the supports to materialize.
If your Lawyer Assistance Program currently lacks trauma support, reaching out is the first step to making it available. Ask for support yourself and be willing to shape new programming. Many other people likely share your needs, and your LAP will probably be receptive when you call.
Be well,
Advy
