TCBA Spotlight Lawyers Helping Lawyers

make a difference? The best example I have seen of LHL working was in my own life. I was a private practitioner and didn’t have any other lawyers around to help me stay grounded. In 2008, I lost my father to lung cancer and found myself unable to control my drinking and prescription pill use. In 2013, I attempted suicide and was told about LHL. I called and was sponsored by a very successful attorney in Tulsa. Just the fact that this gentlemen was who he was, worked for the Firm he worked for, and had previously gone through a life event like I was dealing with at that time, made me feel so much better because I realized, I wasn’t alone. Other, more successful attorneys, had gone through something similar, and, on top of that, had come out the other end happy, healthy and successful. I needed to know that I was not alone. It still took me a few years to finally get permanently sober and healthier when it came to my mental health, but I was most definitely showed the way by LHL. I am forever grateful.

What are areas of opportunity for the program? The importance of Mental Health is starting to be recognized in our profession and in the general population. We are starting to find that our mental health is just as important as our physical health. We need to put just as much time and work into sustaining our mental health as we do in sustaining our physical health. This idea is finally starting to be accepted in the legal community as well. Just a few years ago it was unheard of for a lawyer to feel free to discuss negative mental health issues with their employer. As of this year, a new study shows that over one-half of practicing lawyers in the country felt open to letting their employers know they were having mental health troubles. With acceptance finally starting to occur, now we need to ensure that there are programs that lawyers can take advantage of when they need help. LHL needs to have the funding to be able to bring on a fulltime executive director. We need an expert in this field, working full time, in order to fulfill this need for programing. Having a practicing lawyer attempting to do this while already working over full-time in their practice is not good enough.

and your mission? Fundingisthemainobstaclekeeping us from being able to hire a full-time executive director for LHL. Jeanne Snider and Peggy Stockwell were the prior chairpersons of LHL and worked tirelessly to get the necessary funding for an executive director and, in 2019, was able to get the needed money for a part time director. However, COVID 19 and the shutdown kept LHL from using most of these funds and thus, the budget was cut in half for 2022.

What do you wish more people knew about the program? I wish people knew numerous things about LHL. The biggest issues that lawyers need to know is, first and foremost, this program is completely anonymous. I remember being overly frightened to call thenumberandrelaythatIwassufferingfromsubstance abuse disorder due to the thought that I was calling the Bar Association, who licenses me as an attorney, and “telling on myself.” This program is not connected with the Bar Association in that way. Absolutely no information that comes into LHL is relayed to the Bar. There are situations where lawyers using LHL services sign releases and have their LHL sponsor testify for them at their reinstatement hearing, but that is the only situation where information is relayed outside of LHL.

Another piece of information I wish more people knew of about LHL is that every member of the OBA gets 6 free sessions with a therapist per year. Just paying your dues and being a member gets you these free sessions. Also, it doesn’t necessarily have to be with the therapist that LHL contracts with. Members can apply for their six free sessions with their own therapist. This, of course, is not guaranteed but happens quite often.

There is no formal measurement regarding the effectivenessoftheLHLprogram. Really,themorecalls

we get to the hotline, the happier we are. We know that the mental health issues are out there. The only real question is, are members recognizing them, and, when they do, do they know that the LHL program is there to help. Thus, the more calls we get, the more free therapy sessions are handed out, and the more people LHL mentors are working with the better. The only real way to check the effectiveness of a program like this are the studies that are conducted on the current mental health of the legal community at large.

Where does most of your funding come from? The LHL committee is funded by members of the Bar through their private donations and a certain amount of money is allocated from the Bar Association itself. This is truly the only connection that LHL has with the OBA. Said funding is not in any way contingent upon data sharing with the LHL committee. The lion share comes from the OBA, and that amount is supplemented by private donations from individual bar members.

We need more funding in order to hire an expert in mental health to act as a full time executive director of LHL. We also need to maximize exposure of LHL to the individual members of the OBA.

the program get better at what it does? Without question the full time executive director would make thegreatestdifferenceinhelpingtheprogramgetbetter at what it does. Having a practicing lawyer attempt to run this program in their off time is just not giving LHL the attention it needs to be able to reach and help as many OBAmembers as possible.

If anybody out there is interest in this program, they are welcome to contact me or any other committee members or sponsors at anytime to discuss it. Also, there is data online regarding this committee and each and every other states comparable program.The LHL committee meets every other month and we host, both in OKC and here in Tulsa, a group discussion (OKC is on the first Thursday of every month and Tulsa is on the second Thursday of every month). At this group meeting anyone and everyone that is a member of the Bar is welcome to come and discuss anything and everything relevant to attorney wellbeing and the LHL program. It’s nice to get with a group of lawyers that fully understand the mental and emotional strain that we lawyers deal with on a daily basis. It helps us see that we are not alone. We laugh and cry and discuss ways in which to deal with these strains in healthier ways. Without question, our group discussions are my favorite part of being a member of the LHLcommittee. The Tulsa Discussion Group is here at my office at 5:30pm on the second Thursday of each month.

Oklahoma City Meetings are held 6-7:30 p.m. on the dates listed below. In-person meetings in Oklahoma City are held at the office of Tom Cummings, 701 NW 13th St., Oklahoma City. The group will also meet virtually at the same time using BlueJeans. Email debraj@okbar.org for login information.

Meeting Dates: Aug. 4, Sept. 1, Oct. 6, Nov. 3, Dec. 1.

Tulsa Tulsa Meetings are held 5:30-6:30 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month at the office of Scott Goode, 1437 S. Boulder Ave., Ste. 1200, Tulsa. scottbgoode@gmail.com Meeting Dates: Aug. 11, Sept. 8, Oct. 13, Nov. 10, Dec. 8.