Montana Lawyer April/May 2024

CO-PARENTING SPECIALIST

TheGoodDivorceCoach.com Karen McNenny works remotely with clients across the U.S.

CERTIFIED MEDIATOR

WELL-BEING FROM PAGE 9

HOPE AND SOLUTIONS While alcoholism and substance use disorder are especially prevalent in the legal profession, lawyers are also inclined toward and trained in problem-solving. However, as I and many others have learned, this problem cannot be solved alone or in isolation. The very good news is that there are free solutions available for anyone in the legal profession who may be concerned or even simply curious about their own substance use and risk factors, or those of a friend or colleague. All it takes, in my experience, is a willingness to ask for help and take the first suggested steps once they are pointed out. Moreover, there are several impactful steps that law firms and other legal orga nizations can take to help their employees. For example, it is now recognized that systemic peer support, education, and changing the alcohol-centric legal cul ture are important parts of the solution. And while there is much more work still needed in these areas in both law school and within the legal profession, there are signs of progress. For example, national and state task forces have been formed, including the WSBA’s Member Well-Being Task Force, which officially launched earlier this year, and the ABA National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being. In its comprehensive and powerful 2017 report, the ABA Task Force laid out specific recommendations for those in the legal profession to con sider implementing.5 In addition, hundreds of legal em ployers—including companies with in-house counsel, bar associations, and law schools—have now signed an

are. The 2016 Krill study was conducted and published before the COVID-19 pandemic. Not surprisingly, given the increased stress, isolation, and access to home-delivered alcohol brought about by the pandemic, the lawyer-specific studies since then are even more alarming. In 2021, another study by Patrick Krill and fellow researcher Dr. Justin Anker, conducted through a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant, was released. The study was based on self-reported data collected from lawyers randomly sampled from the California Lawyers Association and the Bar Association of the District of Columbia.2 This study found that for both men and women, the impact of COVID-19 and the long-standing permissiveness toward alco hol at legal workplaces and functions were the primary predictors of risky drinking relative to other factors (e.g., overcommit ment, work-family conflict). In addition, results indicated that the prevalence and severity of risky/hazardous drinking are now significantly higher among female at torneys than among male attorneys. “This finding is at odds with several other stud ies outside the legal profession indicating that men typically exceed women in terms of problematic alcohol use …,” the authors stated.3 The women surveyed also report ed higher levels of anxiety, depression, and stress than the men surveyed. The legal profession in the U.S. is “in the midst of a cultural reckoning related to the mental health and well-being of its members,” the study authors stated. “However, this problem extends beyond the individual lawyer and has the potential to impact not only clients but also the legal system more broadly.”4

drinking (also called problematic drinking). This compared to 11.8 percent in the wider highly educated workforce. In addition, attorneys surveyed reported some level of depression (28 percent), anx iety (19 percent), and stress (23 percent). Sixty-one percent of lawyers reported hav ing concerns with anxiety at some point in their careers, and 46 percent reported having concerns with depression. Eleven percent reported having suicidal thoughts at some point during their career. I self-medicated to progressively greater degrees for decades (from my teens to early 50s) with alcohol (and other mood-altering substances) in the effort to manage my feelings of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. For a long time, I was able to function highly and have ap parent career success. But I now know that alcohol is a depressant, so I was literally pouring fuel on the fire and progressing deeper and deeper into the chronic abyss of addiction and my other mental health issues. I was also underreporting and be ing dishonest about my actual usage, even with the mental health therapist I finally agreed to see (after waking up with an alcohol overdose in the emergency room). The anti-depression and anti-anxiety medications prescribed to me could not work while I was still abusing alcohol and other substances—but I could not imagine my life without these substances. In recovery, I have heard the stories of many others with substance use disorder, depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation, and found that my experience is common. I therefore suspect the numbers self reported by lawyers in the Krill survey and other surveys are lower than they actually

26 MONTANA LAWYER

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