The Well-Being Hour

How does your workplace address trauma? In the legal profession, trauma often goes unacknowledged—whether it's the vicarious trauma lawyers experience through their work, or the risk of retraumatizing clients as they navigate the Canadian justice system.

What types of small changes can be made to make this process easier and make healthy living become second nature?

Listen-in on this program to learn some tips and tricks to make lasting changes and focus on using food as a powerful tool to maintain energy and focus throughout the day.

In January 2025, a group of law students in Alberta will have access to new university curriculum to help them gain insight into maintaining their well-being while practicing, from a lawyer with over 30 years of experience in the profession.  Listen-in on a discussion about the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Law to develop a well-being course for law students and why it is so important for the future of the profession.

Many lawyers tend to be high performers. Practicing law often demands a drive to succeed on top of intellectual rigor and a high level of work ethic to meet client needs. But dealing with life's unpredictable ups and downs can be even more of a challenge for high performing legal professionals. Facing multiple challenges at work, on top of any issues at home, while always attempting to strive for the highest possible outcomes can take its toll on your mental health.

Listen in on what makes up of a high performer and what it takes to reframe your outlook to help maintain a healthy internal drive without burning out.

Well-being is a profession-wide responsibility and not just the responsibility of legal professionals to take on solely themselves. That being said, many great initiatives begin with a single person championing the importance of well-being to senior members of their organizations. What is the best way to start - where do you begin? 

Listen in on a discussion between Kwende Thomas and Val Lucas on these questions and more.

Many of us are aware of the systemic and organizational issues that currently plague the Canadian Legal Profession. Lawyer mental health and overall well-being is a hot topic being addressed at all levels. But how does the legal profession measure against the challenges being faced in the medical profession?

This session will look at the long-term ramifications of not dealing with the ongoing burnout epidemic in both professions.

Mindfulness often conjures thoughts of meditation or yoga, and while both can be very effective, they aren't always practical for a busy lawyer. What if you could make little tweaks to your day-to-day routine that wouldn't take a great deal of time?

Join Bree Buchanan, one of three co-authors of a study of the California and D.C. bar on the attrition crisis of women lawyers post-COVID, discuss these issues and provide recommendations on how law firms can retain women lawyers in the profession.

Merle Alexander and Akosua Matthews discuss how the current firm structure can negatively impact the well-being of Indigenous legal professionals and why it is important for non-Indigenous legal professionals to actively contribute to reshaping that structure for the future.

Anita Cardinal and Stacey Soldier share some of their experiences working within the current legal environment and the systemic barriers they have faced.  They discuss their views on how Indigenous legal professionals can best prioritize self-care and set boundaries when navigating workplace challenges.

For legal professionals, the stakes in making a mistake can have dire consequences, with the threat of not only losing your job, but potentially losing your license. The public has a stake in knowing that the legal professionals serving them are fully capable of bringing their skills to bear on legal problems. Health problems like depression, anxiety, addictions, physical illness, and many others can contribute to, and exacerbate issues that come before regulators. 

The Law Society of British Columbia has begun a pilot Alternative Discipline Process to address this, recognizing that there should not be a “one size fits all” course of action in all cases. Panelists Jess Abells and Brook Greenberg discuss how this exciting new process can not only help some lawyers find an appropriate method of treating their underlying issues, but also take some of the burden off of Law Societies going through a more extensive formal process.

With the current demands that many lawyers experience in their day to day lives, more and more legal professionals are experiencing heightened stress and burn-out. Most law firms follow a standard business model, but are there alternatives that could potentially lessen the strain on legal professionals without compromising on productivity and profitability?

Family Lawyer and CEO of YLAW, Leena Yousefi, discusses the merits of legal firms moving to a four-day work week and other initiatives her firm utilizes to improve the stresses felt in the practice of law.

The unrealistic demands put on lawyers, in an industry that already has an issue with normalizing overworking, has been exacerbated in the wake of the pandemic.

Join presenters Heidi Alexander and Danielle Hall as they discuss issues around professional culture, managing lawyer burnout, tactics to manage technology in a healthy manner and setting reasonable boundaries.

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With the current climate, we are seeing many young lawyers moving to alternative practice or leaving the profession altogether.  Often a driving force for these decisions comes down to issues with their well-being.

Former lawyer and new film maker, Anna Robinson shares her journey to leave the legal profession, sharing insights through her short film When We Were Younger.

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Are you looking forward to retirement days or are you dreading the transition? What steps do you need to take to begin the shift, and when should you start to plan for retirement? While these questions are necessary, they can also cause a great deal of stress and anxiety.

Assistant Director and Lawyer Counsellor for the Lawyers Assistance Program of BC, Shari Pearlman, discusses the importance of maintaining one’s well-being while shifting into retirement and shares tips for making a smooth, healthy shift into transition.

There is often confusion between coaching, therapy, and mentoring. While there may be some cross-over, they are different resources that support well-being and career development in different ways.

In this program, our expert panel examines the benefits of coaching for lawyers and legal professionals. Learn about gladiator mentality, the pitfalls of perfectionism, and above all, if coaching is something that would benefit your life and career at this time.

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Why is trauma and resilience relevant to lawyers?  Why does the impact of trauma sometimes go unnoticed? Do so-called soft skills like emotional intelligence and empathy really connect with lawyer wellbeing, or lawyer performance?  

Join presenter Helgi Maki as she answers these questions and more through the examination of the neurobiology of trauma and its effects on lawyers using the biopsychosocial model. Registrants will gain helpful tips and learn resiliency skills that they can use today to help their practice and their clients when faced with adversity.

A lawyer’s mind is a vital working tool. Just as skilled carpenters and mechanics prudently take good care of their working tools, so too can lawyers. Mindfulness and meditation provide effective, time-tested techniques for doing so.

Join Joy Noonan, lawyer and meditation instructor, and Michael Apollo, mindfulness consultant and founding member of the Parliamentary Mindfulness Advisory Group, as they discuss the benefits of mindfulness and meditation for both well-being and performance in law.

The legal profession may very well be facing a state of crisis when it comes to mental health and addiction. Isolation, job dissatisfaction, and the constant pressure to be an overachiever can often lead to overall ill health, a misuse of alcohol, or problems with substance abuse. In extreme cases, these issues may threaten a lawyers’ ability to practice law.

Join Dr. Charl Els and Cherie Langlois-Klassen as they discuss the impact these issues have on the profession as well as the preventative measures that should be taken to help mitigate the risk. In addition to the video, registrants will receive the paper ‘Lawyers Health Conditions: Protecting the public, optimizing outcomes for lawyers-as-patients, and protecting the profession.’ Register today.

The pandemic has had some real drawbacks, but there have been a few advantages to going online.  You can access programs from around the world without the commute or need to leave the office.  

Join our panelists as they discuss how easy access to online mindfulness and yoga programs can not only help with overall wellness, but can help make you a better lawyer.

What if you could change the way you respond to stress? Think about what a personal and professional advantage that would be. Well, good news: its possible! Using tools and strategies based on principles of neuroscience, you can learn to be more resilient, connected, and focused during life’s most challenging moments. We will explore this material and more in this unique and practical presentation.  

There is a lot of talk in legal circles these days about wellness, and there is a lot of talk about diversity and inclusion. But there isn’t much talk about how these two elements relate to each other. How does promoting inclusivity in the workplace also promote work-life balance, social connection, and satisfaction at work? How does implicit bias affect our businesses and what can we do about it? Join us for this insightful discussion to help you and your firm achieve (some really important) objectives. 

We lawyers, like members of other helping professions, are particularly susceptible to compassion fatigue. Regular exposure to traumatic accounts from clients and the ongoing need for empathetic listening and responding can wear us down over time, as well as triggering some of our own trauma. As we look after our clients’ interests (and those of our parents, partners, pets, kids and colleagues…), who is looking after us?  This timely session will focus on how to recognize, overcome, and guard against CF, allowing you to build on your professional success as well as your personal well being.