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Law360 (April 30, 2020, 3:27 PM EDT) -- The Florida Bar said Thursday it is launching a helpline to connect attorneys to professional mental health counselors two months early to help lawyers deal with the additional stress caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Florida Lawyers Helpline will go live on Friday, two months before the previously planned launch date in July, which was to follow the swearing-in of Florida Bar President-Elect Dori Foster-Morales, who has made attorney mental health a priority.
"I was going to kick it off with my speech at the convention, but people are in need," Foster-Morales, a family law attorney in Miami, told Law360 on Thursday. "I'm not waiting for some arbitrary deadline if it was ready to roll out."
The helpline, which will be a 24/7 free service for Florida Bar members, will connect attorneys with a professional counselor provided by CorpCare Associates Inc., which also serves members of the Georgia, Maryland and South Carolina bars.
The counselors can help attorneys by providing strategies for dealing with personal challenges and professional pressures, and can also refer bar members for up to three free sessions each year with a licensed mental health professional by phone or video service, according to the bar.
They'll also be equipped to help with other situations that attorneys might be facing in their personal lives, from financial consulting to finding long-term care facilities for elderly family members.
For Foster-Morales, who is set to be sworn in as Florida Bar president on June 19, helping attorneys around the state deal with stress, depression, addiction and other mental health issues will be her priority during her one-year term at the helm of the organization.
She's spent her time as president-elect meeting with Florida Bar members around the state, talking about the importance of self-care and getting help when necessary. Despite lingering stigmas surrounding discussion of mental health, she said that people all over the state have been forthcoming with her about their own issues and are helping to change the conversation around mental health.
"In the smallest town, in the biggest city, people are talking about this stuff," Foster-Morales said. "If you speak openly to them and you share with them, they share right back."
She said attorneys spend all day solving other people's problems, but often feel like they can't admit to their own.
"All we do is solve people's problems," Foster-Morales said. "There's never a day that a client calls me simply to tell me they're having a great day. They call me because of a problem that's really important to them."
The pandemic and the resulting economic downturn has caused clients, both individuals and businesses, to struggle with a number of problems, while also forcing attorneys to telework while home-schooling their children and adapting to this new normal.
"People's mental health has really been impacted by COVID-19," Foster-Morales said. "The normal way you would manage a problem gets turned on its ear. It's been really challenging."
--Editing by Alanna Weissman.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
