Take care of your wellbeing: establish healthy habits early on

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You may not have many opportunities to think about your mental health and wellbeing; you’re probably busy studying or perhaps you’ve just started your first job. However, sparing a few minutes this Mental Health Awareness Week to think about your mental health and wellbeing could help you to start developing healthy habits that’ll build your resilience and enable you to flourish in your legal career.

Studying law and working in the legal profession may not be what you had imagined. You may have noticed that the competitive and busy environment has affected your mental health and wellbeing, and you often feel under a lot of pressure. Perhaps you’ve spent years and lots of money studying, faced stiff competition to get the role you want, and now need to move somewhere far from home. The law often attracts perfectionists, which can amplify your anxiety and stress: are you very hard on yourself, terrified of making mistakes and being less than perfect?

At LawCare, the mental wellbeing charity for the legal community, 60% of the people who contacted us for support in 2022 (and told us how long they’d been qualified) were trainees/pupils or had been qualified for less than five years. This is very similar to the 2021 figures, suggesting junior legal professionals aren’t getting the emotional support they need to make the transition into practice. They’re struggling with a range of issues from anxiety, panic attacks, sleep problems, financial concerns, worries they’re not cut out for the law, bullying and homesickness.

‘Massive jump in number of legal professionals with career worries, LawCare reveals' – read this News for further insights.

So, what can you do to equip yourself with the skills you need to support your mental health and manage the pressures of the early stages of your legal career?

Here are some tips to get you started:

1. Take regular breaks, including a lunch break, and try to get out for a walk every day. This may seem impossible, but you’ll do better work if you do this. Time spent outside can renew your attention span when you’re flagging after an extended period staring at a screen.
    
2. Try to avoid working or studying all the time, particularly late at night. There are likely to be times when you need to do longer hours, but it isn’t healthy if this is your regular routine. This can be hard to address when it’s possible to be active online at any time (no matter where you are); however, monitoring your working hours will help you to set boundaries between work/study and home.  
    
3. To avoid feeling overwhelmed, complete one task at a time and break complex ones down into manageable chunks. It can sometimes be helpful to disable notifications and close your inbox to minimise distractions so you can focus.
    
4. If you’re very busy don’t let healthy habits slip. It sounds obvious, but make sure you eat well, get to bed at a reasonable time and find time to exercise.
    
5. Make time for family and friends and doing things you enjoy, don’t sacrifice this time for work or study.  
    
6. Talk to someone. Talking your problems through makes a real difference and provides reassurance that you’re not alone. Reach out to a friend, family member, colleague or contact our free, independent and confidential LawCare support service on 0800 279 6888.
    
7. Try to support the people around you and talk to them if you can see they’re struggling. Ask them if they’re ok and let them know you’re there if they want to talk. You don’t need to be an expert in mental health to start a conversation of this nature. It’s important to remember that talking could make all the difference to their mental health. They might just want to get something off their chest, or you’ll sometimes need to signpost them to further support.

Finding further support

You can get in touch with LawCare. We offer a free, confidential emotional support service to everyone in the legal profession, including law students. We’re here to listen, with helpline calls, emails and webchats answered in confidence by trained staff and volunteers who have first-hand experience of working in the law. You can call our helpline on 0800 279 6888, email [email protected] or visit www.lawcare.org.uk for additional information, resources and factsheets.

Elizabeth Rimmer is the chief executive of LawCare.