Wellbeing will be a key priority for the new Bar Council chief, who declared in her inaugural speech last night that she wants to give barristers the opportunity to regularly ‘check in’ with a professional.
Barbarba Mills KC told a packed hall at Inner Temple last night that barristers do intense and highly-pressured work.
In 1990, when Mills was called to the bar, barristers ‘did not openly talk about mental health and wellbeing or childcare or heaven forbid, menopause, and any barrister who thought to complain about being under stress would have been met with a derisory snort and encouraged in the direction of a stiff gin and tonic in Daly’s after work’, Mills said.
Professionals exposed to their client’s trauma and distress can suffer vicariously, Mills said. ‘If you add the relentless pressure and high expectations, the competitiveness required of barristers and the repercussions in an adversarial process of showing any weakness, it is little wonder that this can lead to chronic and unmanageable fatigue, burnout and illness if left unchecked.
‘Other professions with similar pressures have incorporated systems which support their members’ wellbeing. I would like to explore ways to offer barristers coaching or supervision – which provides the barrister with the opportunity to have regular confidential check-ins with a professional.’
Mills recalled asking a criminal barrister in the robing room how she was doing. ‘Fighting back the tears, she thanked me for asking and then said she was overwhelmed. She did not feel she had been able to support her children, and her daily diet of RASSO [rape and serious sexual offence] work had left her unable to sleep. She did not know how to access help and she was worried about the expense.’
A young civil practitioner was advised to have therapy after something went wrong in a case and he lost his confidence. He wondered why he could not claim the costs of therapy as a tax-deductible expense like he could with other practice-related work.
‘It seems to me that whilst much is said about wellbeing now, the emphasis remains centred around crisis management. What I would like to see in the profession is wellbeing losing its stigma as a sign of weakness and elevated to the same non-negotiable level as having an accountant or having insurance.’
Mills said a working group will be set up to explore and pilot options.
