Free for law students and lawyers
Mental health charity LawCare has teamed up with academics from the University of Sheffield and The Open University to launch a new online course that aims to combat stress in the legal profession.
The charity says ‘Fit For Law’ focuses on helping lawyers develop emotional competency and build professional resilience through a range of interactive activities and videos featuring legal professionals.
The course, which is free and takes between two to four hours to complete, forms part of LawCare’s ongoing project to “promote psychologically and emotionally healthier ways of working within law”.
It is available to everyone studying law or working in the legal profession in the UK and Ireland and could be used as continuing professional development (CPD) in some jurisdictions.
Last year the charity piloted a webchat service aimed at junior lawyers and trainees who, it says, are more likely to seek help online than pick up the phone. It also launched ‘LawCare Champions’, a network of advocates who are committed and passionate about why mental health matters.
On this latest initiative, Elizabeth Rimmer, CEO of LawCare, said: “We know from our work in supporting lawyers for over 20 years how difficult it is for lawyers to admit they are struggling with the pressures of work — which often leads them to seek help when they are nearing crisis. We want to change this.”
Rimmer, who will be speaking at The Future of Legal Education and Training Conference (LegalEdCon) North in Manchester on 30 January, continued:
“Providing legal professionals with resources to enable them to understand and develop key emotional competencies such as emotional self-awareness, self-reflection and better strategies for emotional self-regulation will equip them more effectively for practice, enhance their wellbeing and potentially reduce levels of stress, anxiety and depression.”
Feeling stressed? You can contact LawCare by calling 0800 279 6888 in the UK.
