So what are some of the confidential services that the Lawyer's Assistance Plan provides here in Nassau County and through sister organizations around the state and the country?

So the Lawyer Assistance Program provides confidential assistance to all members of the legal profession, lawyers, judges, law students, legal administrators, secretaries, anyone employed within the legal profession, and their immediate family members.

Our Our services include, it's similar to an employee assistance program.

We can offer a certain number of professional mental health sessions, outreach and education to law firms, law schools, legal departments.

We do evaluation and treatment intervention, treatment placement.

We have support groups for attorneys who are struggling in general within the legal profession, but also specifically with attention deficit disorder.

We have a diversion program for attorneys who may find themselves with facing ethical issues based on behaviors that were in part affected by substance use and mental health issues.

Can you explain a little bit more how lawyers and their clients can build resilience?

Why is suicide such a big problem with lawyers?

You know, I just want to backpedal a little tiny bit to law students also in terms of the statistics.

There have been a number of studies that have been done specifically with law students.

The Law Student Well-Being Survey was originally done in 2014 and then repeated in 2024.

And the outcomes were very similar in that, you know, lawyers... well-being as rated before coming into law school and rated during law school it's almost as if law school itself reduces lawyer you know well-being scales and i think that in part also has to do with the culture and the stress of being in law school and the um the issues around asking for help and and finding time to actually go and get professional help as well

So what are some other ways that lawyers can build resilience and their colleagues and families and employers can help them along the way?

Well, I think recognizing some of this, there's a few different ways of doing that, right? Recognizing the signs of whether it be impairment of some type of substance or whether it be signs of depression.

Lawyers often spend more time with their colleagues than they do with their families.

Tell us about the assistance that LAP provides.

So thank you for asking.

LAP is a program that provides confidential mental health and substance abuse services to all members of the legal profession, as well as their immediate families.

Many lawyers are unaware that this program exists.

It's completely confidential, as protected by Statute 499, similar to the protections in the attorney-client privilege.

So any member of LAP, including myself or what they refer to as an agent of LAP, which could include, of course, Christina, who is our case manager, our program assistant, as well as any of our committee members and volunteers, all fall under that banner of confidentiality.

So we provide outreach and education in law firms, law schools, legal departments, in court settings.

Absolutely.