Mental Health and Wellbeing in the Workplace
Whether you manage a team as an employer or as in-house counsel, advise employers, or are a lawyer working in team environment yourself, this program provides all the practical and legal mental health & wellbeing guidance you need. The morning breaks down strategies to manage mental health in the profession for yourself or for your team. The afternoon offers critical legal & risk management advice for employers, in-house counsel & legal advisers. WEB226V01
Description
Attend and earn 6 CPD units including:
1 unit in Substantive Law
1 unit in Ethics & Professional Responsibility
3 units in Practice Management & Business Skills
1 unit in Professional Skills
This program is applicable to practitioners from all States & Territories
Session 1
Mental Health & Wellbeing Considerations for Legal Professionals
Chair: Christopher McDermott, Barrister, Aickin Chambers; Deputy Chair, Mental Health Victoria
Practice Management & Business Skills
9.00am to 9.30am (Live from London) KEYNOTE ADDRESS: THE GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE: How the Culture and Practice of Law Affects Wellbeing and What We Can Do to Make a Difference
Presented by Sara Carnegie, Director, Legal Projects and Dr George Artley, BIC Project Lawyer, International Bar Association UK
Ethics & Professional Responsibility
9.30am to 10.15am Wellbeing in Legal Practice: Insights from the Home City of Lawyer X
- What findings and recommendations were made in the Royal Commission into the management of police Informants?
- Do lawyers have an ethical obligation to maintain good wellbeing?
- Do lawyers have an obligation to notify a regulator of the poor wellbeing of a colleague?
- When and how will a regulator intervene if a lawyer is suspected of practicing while impaired by a serious and unmanaged health condition?
Presented by Dr Michelle Sharpe, Barrister and Writer, Young’s List
Professional Skills
10.15am to 11.15am A CONVERSATION TOGETHER: THE BARRISTER AND THE PSYCHOLOGIST: Dealing with the Mental Health of Clients, Opponents and Colleagues
Understanding clients, opponents, colleagues, and self when working in a culture of competence and adversity
- Are there psychological types overrepresented in the law and what might this mean for career development, interpersonal relationships and managing stress?
- Strategies for promotion of better mental health – checklist provided
- Observing mental health of clients and opponents
- What to look for and how to triage a mental health situation
- What resources are available specifically for lawyers
Presented by Meredith Fuller, OAM Psychologist and Panayiota (Pat) Karnis, Barrister & Mediator, Foley’s List
11.15am to 11.30am Morning Tea
11.30am to 12.30pm Mental Health, Your Wellbeing, and Meeting Your Responsibilities: Burnout and Stress in the Legal Profession
- Navigating pressure vs stress to maintain your energy
- The causes, impacts and signs of burnout
- How burnout is different from regular stress
- Risks and protective factors for burnout
- Organisational levers leaders can action to prevent burnout in their teams
- Developing personal resiliency
Presented by Pippa Rose, General Manager, Aspect Health Group
12.30pm to 1.15pm Lunch
Session 2
Employer Responsibilities for Mental Health and Wellbeing
1.15pm to 1.20pm Opening Comments from the Chair
Practice Management & Business Skills and Ethics & Professional Responsibility
1.20pm to 3.20pm Empowering Managers to Address Mental Health in the Workplace
- Best practice guide for psychosocial work risk assessments
- Compliance with regulator codes of practice and regulations
- What do prevention plans look like?
- What is the responsibility of managers, executives and boards?
Presented by Catherine Dunlop, Partner, Maddocks
Social Responsibility with Respect to Employee Welfare and Mental Health
- Getting the culture right: building trust with staff and across teams
- Leadership traits to enhance employee welfare and mental health
Presented by David Brewster, Chief Legal and Safety Officer, Coles Group
Managing Well-Being in the Virtual Environment: Obligations and Tips
- Recognising your professional responsibility and ethical obligations when dealing with stress in your own practice
- Duties and obligations to disclose mental health issues in others.
- Staying on top of employee wellbeing when working virtually
- How to get the best out of yourself and your team when working in a hybrid or virtual environment
Presented by Adrienne Trumbull, Principal and Carlie Andrews, Senior Associate, Hive Legal
Panel Discussion and Q&A
3.20pm to 3.35pm Afternoon Tea
3.35pm to 4.20pm Managing Employee Health and Wellbeing: Employment Law Perspective
- Managing intermittent and long-term sick leave
- Medical certificates & employee health: When can you require more information?
- Managing & supporting employees with mental health issues
- Medical incapacity & medical retirement: When is it an option?
Presented by Chris Molnar, Partner, Kennedys Lawyers
4.20pm to 4.30pm Final Q&A and Closing Comments
Presenters
Sara Carnegie
Sara is an employed barrister with over 25 years’ experience in the criminal justice and public policy sector. She currently heads up the Legal Policy and Research Unit at the International Bar Association, working across all Committees and Divisions to lead and support a wide range of IBA projects. This frequently involves collaboration with external stakeholders, including the United Nations, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), European Union institutions and World Bank. Current projects cover business and human rights, anti-corruption, rule of law, cybersecurity and mental well-being in the legal profession. The majority of her career has been spent working for government, most recently as Director of Strategic Policy at the Crown Prosecution Service. Sara has led the legal teams on two public inquiries (The Baha Mousa Inquiry and the Detainee Inquiry) and spent several years as a legal and policy advisor to the Senior Presiding Judge and Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales. She has sat in a judicial capacity on the Council of the Inns of Court Disciplinary Tribunal between 2013 and 2020 and was appointed as a reviewer for the National Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel in 2019. She also works as consultant for Red Lion Consulting and is a trustee for a homelessness charity.
Dr George Artley
As an undergraduate George studied history at the University of Oxford, before training as a commercial lawyer at Macfarlanes LLP in the City of London. He then returned to Oxford for graduate study, where he undertook a PhD in legal history, concentrating on the origins of the rule of law in England. As BIC Project Lawyer, his role is to assist in co-ordinating and implementing projects which are relevant to the bar association and law society members of the IBA. In addition, he is also involved in projects focusing on the future independence and sustainability of the legal profession, including the impact of working environments on the mental wellbeing of lawyers, and questions about how shifting ethical expectations are affecting attitudes towards the fundamental values of the law.