Be a LawCare star: mental health charity launches Christmas fundraising appeal
updated on 01 December 2021
Legal mental health charity LawCare is running a Christmas fundraising appeal, the Big Give Christmas Challenge, which will see all donations made to the charity via the Big Give website doubled.
The initiative will be open until 12:00pm on Tuesday 7 December to raise money to help the charity:
- to provide emotional support to legal professionals;
- continue to prevent, educate and tackle stigma through our resources and awareness raising; and
- unite the legal community around taking action and creating change to support better mental health.
Nearly 70% of legal professionals have experienced mental ill-health and 22% have experienced bullying, harassment or discrimination at work, according to LawCare’s survey of more than 1,700 legal professionals in the UK. Legal professionals are at an incredibly high risk of burnout, with 59% of survey respondents highlighting fears around additional pressures on work/life balance.
The charity explained that:
- £25 will help them to train a helpline volunteer;
- £40 provides emotional support to one legal in professional need;
- £50 pays for a one-hour counselling session; and
- £120 provides ongoing peer support to a legal professional in need.
LawCare has been providing emotional support to legal professionals since 1997. Speaking about their experience using the charity, one person said: “LawCare has significantly helped in my recovery from depression. I believe I experienced mental health issues almost solely as a result of working in an unhappy environment within law. Thanks to LawCare, I am in a much better place in my journey to recovery and hope that my new role is much better for the new me."
The charity’s CEO Elizabeth Rimmer said: “We want to challenge the stigma that surrounds speaking up about mental health and prevents people from accessing the support that we and others provide. We want to create a culture in law that puts the law’s greatest asset – its people – first.”
Donate via LawCare’s page on the Big Give.
