Mental health and mitigating circumstances

I had my first panic attack recently. Everything was fine until it absolutely wasn’t. Completely out of the blue, my mind went blurry. I suddenly realised I was in a cold sweat. I saw spots. And I couldn’t decide if I was going to faint. Or throw up. Or one then the other. And when I was no longer convinced I was going to die, I was shaking. And embarrassed.

For the rest of the day I felt rubbish. Nauseous. Panicky. I couldn’t concentrate. For the rest of the week my anxiety levels were high. I can safely say it was one of my top-10 most unpleasant experiences to date.

Why am I telling you this? Firstly, because I want to emulate the behaviour of the professionals I admire by talking openly about mental health. I really do believe that this contributes to positive social change. Secondly, I want to emphasise the fact that even people with generally good mental health can struggle sometimes. No one is well all of the time. No one is indestructible.

And this view of mental health is increasingly being accepted by professionals in the City. Sure, there is still stigma surrounding mental health. But if the ‘This is me’ Lord Mayor’s Appeal (and the many other similar initiatives) show us anything, it’s that these old-fashioned views are on the way out.

Despite this, lots of students are still really concerned about disclosing mental health issues on their applications. And it’s easy to understand why. You want to show the best version of yourself. After all, your application is an advert for you. The last thing you want to do is describe a bad period of your life. But disclosing this information may actually help, rather than hinder, your application.

Should I disclose my mental illness or mental health issues?

Be honest with yourself. Has your mental illness had any impact on your education? Has it stopped you from performing at your best? Has it made it harder for you to get the marks you deserve? Has it ever prevented you from participating in work experience or extra-curricular activities? I’m sure you’ve taken it in your stride and managed it beautifully. And you’d never ever use it as an excuse for not achieving your goals. But if it has caused you to have an off-week, an off-month or an off-year, you need to seriously consider explaining that in your application.

If you don’t write about why your grades dropped last semester, the graduate recruitment team will assume you spent too much time down the pub. Ok, they might not think that. But really, you’ve given them no explanation. They don’t know what to think, so may reject your application on that basis. This is unfair to you if those low grades were the best you could possibly get while juggling your tutorials, part-time job and bad mental health. 

Sometimes life gets in the way of perfection. And there’s nothing you can do about that. But you CAN cut yourself some slack and take credit for making the best of a bad situation. And you do that by telling graduate recruiters what happened.

How do I explain my poor mental health as a mitigating circumstance?

As with anything personal, there is no one-size-fits-all technique. However, having talked to a few graduate recruiters about this, it seems that general consensus is to keep it concise and factual. State the mental health issues and how they impacted on your application. For example, your anxiety caused you to be sleep-deprived, which had a negative effect on your performance in exams. Remember to include the time-period this covered; which specific exams were affected? And finally, take credit for your hard work. If you’ve spent time and energy learning to effectively manage your mental health, then you should say so. It really is an achievement and should be regarded as such.

Will I be discriminated against for disclosing my mental health issues?

In a perfect world? No. In reality? Perhaps. While most law firms work hard to be inclusive and understanding, there will be firms that have not jumped on the bandwagon. It is a sad reality that you may well be discriminated against. Because of this, you should only ever disclose what you are comfortable disclosing. And that can change from firm to firm.

However, if you do think the firm will discriminate against you, you probably don’t want to work there. Being a solicitor is stressful, so there is a good chance that in the future you may have some mental-health rough patches. That’s why it is really important to work for a firm that supports you in being well. If the firm isn’t supportive and understanding at graduate recruitment level, it’s probably not going to be at associate level either. And you deserve to work somewhere that encourages your growth and progression as a solicitor, and that includes helping you to look after your mental health. You won’t fulfil your potential as a solicitor if your mental health is bad and any firm worth your time will recognise that.

Rosie Watterson is a future trainee at Herbert Smith Freehills and the author behind career blog Apply.Shine.Win. She is also an enthusiastic supporter of diversity and inclusion initiatives, particularly those aimed at supporting individuals with physical disabilities and mental health issues. Rosie has recently completed the GDL and will start at HSF in September 2019.