I don’t talk about work too much on here, but there’s something I’ve been working on that I’m incredibly proud of: my mission to help end the stigma over mental illness in the legal profession.
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Like many of us, attorneys face difficult challenges with stress, anxiety, and mental illness – and this struggle all too often results in substance abuse, dissatisfaction in life, depression, or even suicide. To make matters worse, they feel like they are unable to talk about mental illness as it will be seen as a sign of weakness. Indeed, there is a stigma surrounding mental illness that clients will not hire you, that opposing counsel will take advantage of you, or that your bar association will find you unfit to practice law. This stigma needs to end.
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Over the last year, my colleagues at The Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division and I launched the StigmaFreeYLD initiative to help end the stigma over mental illness. We aim to demonstrate that dealing with mental illness is not a weakness, but a sign of strength. That by embracing your reality and dealing it, you can better understand how stress, anxiety, and mental illness may be affecting your practice and your life. We also provide resources to help overcome these challenges.
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I’m grateful to have received the President’s Award for my work on this campaign, but the people who really deserve recognition are those incredibly brave attorneys who struggle with mental illness every day yet show up to work for their clients, colleagues, and our profession. A special thank you is owed to Natasha Dorsey, Christian George, Santo DiGangi, Kayla George, and my colleagues at the bar for allowing tackle this initiative.
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I’ll share more about our campaign in the future, but in the meantime, if you or someone you know is struggling with mental illness and is afraid to face what they are going through - reach out to me at anytime. You’re never bothering me. And in the meantime, just know that you are a badass, and that I’m here for you.