Feature Article
HELPING OUR OWN
Lynn S. Garson
McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP
[email protected]
I
n the last half of 2014 and the first half of 2015, national
attention was sharply focused on mental health, specifically
suicide. When Robin Williams committed suicide in
August of 2014, the outcry was loud and strong. I believe
we would have had a national conversation about mental
health right then, only information quickly circulated that
he had Parkinson’s Disease and was depressed for that
reason. The nation collectively breathed a sigh of relief that
mental illness could go back into the closet and immediately
moved on to other things. The genie popped out of the bottle
again in February of 2015, at the Academy Awards of all
places. Graham Moore’s speech in which he revealed his
early suicide attempt was heralded as “the Oscars’ most
moving acceptance speech” by The Huffington Post and
others, while Dana Perry’s comment that suicide should
be talked about “out loud” also made the news. The fact
that suicide was mentioned twice at the Academy Awards
is extraordinary and in an odd way extremely encouraging.
It means that the closet door has been wedged open and is
waiting to be swung wide.
As lawyers, we tend to be somewhat behind the curve in our
willingness to be frank about problems in our profession. We
know that the problems are out there. We know that in the
past three years, we have lost at least six Georgia lawyers
to suicide. Most recently, we lost a member of the Atlanta
legal community to suicide in January of 2015. His firm took
immediate and decisive action, inviting George Martin, the
head of CorpCare, the Bar’s clinical services provider, to
speak to members of the firm and explain the issues that
lawyers face and the assistance that is presently being
offered by the Lawyers Assistance Program (“LAP”). This is
extremely positive and hopefully will be the beginning of many
such engagements, as we move to educate ourselves about
mental health and substance abuse issues among members
of the Bar and how these issues are being addressed. In
planning his presentation, Mr. Martin noted that:
“More than four hundred attorneys have called on us in
the past three years, and through confidential satisfaction
surveys from participants, we know that the services
provided have resulted in meaningful, positive changes for
many. When I hear of a lawyer lost to suicide, I wish that
6 THE ATLANTA LAWYER
May 2015
he or she or a colleague had reached out to the LAP for our
assistance, because there is so much that we can do to
help.”
As members of the Bar, our further challenge is to tackle
a broad spectrum of issues before they become lifethreatening. Our efforts need to encompass mental health
issues, substance abuse issues, stress, family issues, issues
of aging and the gamut of the struggles that we face and that
are only exacerbated by the nature of our work. We all know
lawyers who struggle with such issues. I personally have, in
spades, what is currently referred to as “lived experience.” I
suffered from depression through all of my legal career and
voluntarily hospitalized myself three times between 2000
and 2010 for issues ranging from binge eating disorder to
depression to anxiety (plus a few other diagnoses that I have
since rejected).
What can be done to help lawyers like me, who struggle to
various degrees at various times during our law practice?
Make no mistake, for most if not all of us who face these
issues, they will come and go through the course of our lives.
There are many things that can be done to help, but little that
can be done to cure these problems. The point is, help will
be needed and it will likely be needed on an ongoing basis,
not as a single intervention.
The LAP, which offers confidential help and treatment, is a
critical piece of what is available to help. The LAP offers
a confidential telephone hotline (800-327-9631) and up to
six prepaid in-person counseling sessions per year with
a licensed counselor. The licensed counselors who are
provided through CorpCare have on average 17 years
of experience, which speaks volumes about the quality
of this program.. Anonymous interventions can be made,
so that if you are worried about a colleague, you can call
the hotline and a staffer will reach out to the struggling
attorney with an offer for help, without identifying you as
the source. Details are available at http://www.gabar.org/
committeesprogramssections/programs/lap/.
A peer support program is also being developed. This is an
effort to establish a statewide service system of volunteer
The Offic