E132 Michael Herman Lawyers Share Mental Health Struggles
Let’s Be Well Together Podcast - Episode 132
Date: August 6, 2024
Participants: John Webster, Noura Saad and Cameron Earnshaw
Guest: Michael Herman
Start Times and Segments:
[0:00:16] What’s On Your Mind: Noura’s discussion question: during your life and career have you ever experienced being talked out of doing something you so deeply in your heart and gut wanted to do?
[0:11:22] Expanding Minds Interview: [Mental Wellness] We interview Michael Herman, one of many lawyers and judges who contributed to the groundbreaking book, The Right Not To Remain Silent – The Truth About Mental Health in the Legal Profession. It contains candid and courageous memoirs by members of the legal profession living with mental health and addiction issues. The book came about primarily through the efforts of lawyers Beth Beattie and Carole Dagher. They had a conversation in 2022, after a large research study about mental health members of the legal profession, who suffer from high rates of depression, anxiety and substance misuse. It's important for the legal profession to be able to engage in a dialogue, to raise awareness, to reduce the stigma and to bring about change. This book is an effort to advance these objectives, by having different legal professionals tell their stories, to permit others to use it as a launch pad to advance the dialogue. The message of hope is the theme that emerges and gets stronger as the book goes along. People are not saying they solved all their problems and don’t have the issues anymore. Instead, it’s that they found their way to work through the struggles. They moved from being in a position where they were hopeless, to a little bit of belief and then to hope.
[0:31:58] Running Popup / Adventures of the Starving Artist: Popup – Michael A. Singer’s analogy of people being like flowers – beautiful whether seen individually, or together as if in a garden. Artist – An enjoyable music group’s tradition in the midst of a hurly burly schedule – the band dinner together before a show.
Quotes and Take-Aways:
Michael – The book came about primarily through the efforts of lawyers Beth Beattie and Carole Dagher. They had a conversation in 2022, after a large research study about mental health and lawyers. We’ve known for many years that members of the legal profession suffer from rates of depression, anxiety and substance misuse that are very high – much higher than the average population.
Michael – It’s important for the legal profession to be able to engage in a dialogue, to raise awareness, to reduce the stigma and to bring about change. This book, which is the brainchild of Beth Beattie and Carol Dagher, is an effort to advance these objectives, by having different legal professionals tell their stories and put that out into the universe, to permit others to use it as a launch pad to advance the dialogue.
Michael – The hope is that by having people be willing to speak out and to raise this awareness, that most importantly we will one day eradicate the stigma associated with these types of conditions. We want to reduce the stigma and make a difference by creating safe and non-judgmental environments where these discussions can occur within organizations. We hope that these discussions can be normalized, where it’s okay to talk about not being okay.
Michael – The theme that started to emerge and get stronger as the book goes along is the message of hope. People are not saying they solved all their problems and don’t have the issues anymore. Instead, it’s that they found their way to work through the struggles. They moved from being in a position where they were hopeless, to a little bit of belief and then to hope. That is a key message that the book conveys and an important message for people to hear.
Guest Information: Michael Herman is a lawyer with and General Counsel to Canadian offices of international law firm Gowling WLG. As General Counsel, Michael provides legal advice to the law firm, and plays many important roles. With more than 30 years of experience, he’s also highly regarded as a strategic adviser to a broad range of clients. For example, he advises clients on mergers and acquisitions, corporate development, corporate finance and other complex business matters. Michael spent a number of years in senior executive positions at multi-national public corporations, where he was responsible for strategic planning, strategic partnerships, corporate governance and other marketing and investor relations activities.
Find Book Here: The Right Not to Remain Silent: The Truth About Mental Health in The Legal Profession
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Thanks for joining us,
(-(-_(-_-)_-)-) Your wellness check-in team
John, Sammy, Cameron, Sheila, Elise, Isabelle, Noura, Julie and Riley