Intervention Strategies for Helping Legal Professionals

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Intervention Strategies for Helping Legal Professionals

Program originally presented Friday, April 28, 2023

With the alarming prevalence of substance use and mental health disorders in the legal profession, it is imperative that we are all armed with the knowledge and insight of how to approach someone who may be struggling. Certain approaches yield greater results than others. While many of us have viewed the "Intervention" show on television, Johnson style interventions don't typically produce excellent results. Language is key when approaching someone you care about and having them be able to "hear" what you are saying without getting defensive. The window of opportunity to help someone is very small. With the alarming number of suicides in our profession, it tells us that people would rather die than ask for help - and this must stop. We are bringing you this CLE program as part and parcel of the solution.  

Lawyers Concerned for Lawyer's Executive Director, Laurie Besden, Esq., a person in long term recovery from an addiction that nearly cost her her life, will share strategies that work when you approach someone you feel may be impaired. Ms. Besden will also share real examples of what she has handled through her work with LCL and what could have been done differently to yield different results. She will weave parts of her own addiction and recovery story throughout this program to further emphasize what did and did not work in her firsthand experience. The program will include simple ways we can take care of ourselves and "put our oxygen masks on first," so we are able to be there for our colleagues/profession/families.

Attendees will learn how to:

• Recognize that one in three legal professionals will struggle with substance use and/or a mental health disorder at some point in their legal careers
• Appreciate that substance use and mental health disorders are chronic, progressive, and fatal medical diagnoses if untreated, though the prognosis for recovery is excellent if help is sought
• Spot the signs of impairment and learn the "Motivational Interventions" approach that yields results and saves lives
• Utilize the confidential, free, safe, and supportive resources that are available to you and your family members through LCL-PA, Inc.
• Assist a person struggling with a substance use or mental health disorder, as they may not physically be able to pick up a phone and ask for help
• Identify simple ways to take care of your own well-being

Featured Speaker:
Laurie J. Besden, Esq. (she/her) 
Executive Director
Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers of Pennsylvania

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