Mindful Business Charter Announces New Guidelines to Tackle Mental Health Challenges in Legal Practice

The Mindful Business Charter (MBC) has issued comprehensive Best Practice Guidelines aimed at addressing mental health challenges within the legal profession.  The guidelines were developed by a working group of senior leaders in the profession, supported by academics and mental health professionals to address ongoing concerns through cultural change.

The legal profession is a demanding and rewarding environment, in which there are significant risks of  high performance coming at the expense of wellbeing. The guidelines seek to create meaningful and informed systems that balance wellbeing with performance for long-term success.

The guidelines offer practical strategies to create a supportive culture to foster mental wellbeing by focusing on factors that significantly contribute to mental health crises. These include persistent long term stress; persistent and unpredictable long hours of work without adequate breaks and rest; lack of sleep; and disconnection from loved ones and emotional support.

Key Aspects of the Guidelines Include:

  • Senior Leadership: Encourage senior leaders to role model care for their mental health and wellbeing and identify and support a senior level sponsor who will champion mental health and wellbeing within the organisation.

  • Board Reporting: Introduce regular reporting to an appropriate senior board on mental health within the organisation.

  • Line Management: Ensure that line managers are adequately trained and nominate and support individuals, at a ratio of at least 1:20, with a range of roles and seniority, who people can talk to, without judgement, in order to enable them to access mental health support

  • Risk Management: Understand the hours people are working (and not just charging) and provide alerts when there is cause for concern that prompt a meeting with the individual to offer support and actively and proportionately manage risk by addressing structural issues.

  • Organisational Risk: Assess work-related psychosocial risks, develop effective mechanisms to understand and identify risk to particular demographic groups and practice areas, actively and proportionately understand and manage risk and monitor its management effectively.

Richard Martin, Chief Executive of the Mindful Business Charter, said:  “The legal profession can be immensely rewarding, but it can also present significant mental health challenges. The MBC guidelines are designed to create a healthier culture by balancing high performance with well-being. We hope they encourage firms to take further steps to reduce stress and support their people.”

The Mindful Business Charter invites firms and in-house legal teams to adopt these guidelines and collaborate to create a healthier, more effective working environment. The full guidelines are available on the MBC website.

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