Achi news desk-
A group of lawyers have written what they call a ground-breaking book about how mental health is perceived in the legal profession.
“The Right Not to Remain Silent” is a series of candid memories from lawyers who have lived with mental health problems and addiction.
One of the authors, Beth Beattie, senior counsel to the Ontario Minister of the Attorney General, joined CTV Morning Live’s Rosey Edeh to discuss it.
The following interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Rosey Edeh: This is indeed something, that a group of attorneys would get together and write a book about the right not to remain silent. Many times, you have a case, you might say to your clients, ‘You need to let us talk. Be quiet,’ but attorneys have come together to talk about why it can be very important to talk about your mental health in the workplace.
Beth Beattie: Absolutely.
RE: Can I talk to you about your background and your journey through mental health issues while working?
BB: I have been a lawyer for 30 years and when I was a first year associate at one of the big Bay Street firms, I was suffering from very deep depression and I got help for it and I went on anti-depressants and I very good. About six years later, I had a blooming psychotic episode, which meant I lost touch with reality and long story short, I was eventually admitted to the Center for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, where I was very well taken care of. .
The problem I had was two themes. I was convinced I was going to get sick again, either manic or depressed. I’m not anyone special; a lot of people with bipolar disorder relapse, so I was afraid of that. I was also shocked to think that people would find out about my condition because as a lawyer, I’m supposed to be seen as rigid and strong, and if I care about my clients, opposing counsel would know about my condition, they might think there’s a chink in the armour, we’re going to fall behind.
RE: When did you get to the point where you said you can talk about this?
BB: It took 14 years and during those 14 years, I was a condensed ball of angst, worried about people finding out. When I was 50, I was financially secure, I had been in my job for a while, they knew I worked hard, so I thought I would I venture because I think I can help other people who feel alone and isolated.
RE: You and several other attorneys wrote this book, “The Right to Remain Silent”. You wrote a section about disclosing mental health issues at work. Let’s talk about the pros and cons of disclosing mental health issues at work. The first pro would be—
BB: There’s a great sense of relief because keeping these things quiet is exhausting.
RE: Another pro is that you become a role model.
BB: Absolutely. We need people, especially senior members of the profession, talking about our conditions and showing that we can have very successful practices when living with mental health problems.
RE: And you would feel energized by sharing your story because I would imagine there is a sense of relief and release.
BB: Absolutely. It was a cathartic experience. I was so scared to do it and then I opened the floodgates and I was like, well, this is so much fun, I’m going to keep advocating.
RE: And then, you get the support you need. When you revealed that you had some mental health issues, did you receive an outpouring of support and find out that you weren’t alone?
BB: Absolutely. I made a presentation at our monthly staff meeting, told my story for 20 minutes, and my colleagues stood up and gave me a standing ovation. When I knew I had the support of my colleagues, I knew I could go out and be a mental health advocate.
RE: Let’s talk about the downsides now of disclosing your mental health issues at work. You feel excluded from colleagues.
BB: That can happen. It didn’t happen to me but it could possibly happen to others.
RE: Feeling like people are gossiping about you.
BB: Yes, you can feel that maybe there’s gossip, whether it’s happening or not, you get that paranoia. For people like me who also lived with an anxiety disorder, we worry.
RE: And risk of being excluded.
BB: That’s the reality if you have a lousy boss, if you have a lousy management team, you might feel like you’re not getting the quality work you want.
RE: I feel like the pros outweigh the cons, here, because there are a lot of good points to releasing that issue you have, revealing it and then feeling empowered by it.
BB: In a sense, I think these disadvantages are advantages because I didn’t feel any of them, I didn’t experience any of them. My biggest fear of it being a real handicap to reveal, I didn’t feel that.
“The Right to Remain Silent” is available on Lexis Nexis. All royalties are given to CAMH.
