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Talking differently about grief
Lawyers will inevitably face grief in their careers. Talking about it is something they cannot shy away from, writes Juliana Warner.
Juliana Warner
In September of last year, Fortune Magazine ran an article with the headline: “The biggest risk in business right now is grief”. The magazine – which routinely publishes a list of the 500 richest and most successful corporations in America – doesn’t normally talk a lot about grief.
People have grieved the loved ones they have lost; the health they once had; the jobs they once relied on; and the lifestyles they once enjoyed.
In India, where COVID-19 infections and deaths have surged, we are witnessing grief, and anger, spilling out onto the streets.
Grief has been one of the defining features of COVID-19 worldwide.
As lawyers, even outside of a global pandemic, we will encounter grief throughout our careers – both in our clients or in ourselves. Some areas of law are particularly marked by conflict and loss, which can expose practitioners to grief. Areas like criminal law, family law, many types of litigation and royal commissions.
While grief is a universal experience, many lawyers might struggle to talk about it, let alone support others who are grieving. As Professor Danielle Cover, from the University of Wyoming, noted in an article for the Clinical Law Review: “Loss and disappointment are inevitable in the practice of law. Yet lawyers and law students receive almost no training in how to respond on an emotional level when loss manifests itself during practice.”
The Law Society’s recent Staying Well in the Law webcast for the legal profession, “Talking Differently about Grief”, is something of a corrective to this. It also reflects the Law Society’s commitment to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of the state’s 36,000 solicitors.
Presented by Wendy Liu, specialist grief and trauma counsellor and accredited mental health social worker, the webcast explores the impacts of grief and how best to support someone experiencing grief. Ms Liu has been supporting people during crisis and bereavement for more than 20 years, including at forensic medicine with the Coroner’s Court, palliative care, intensive care, oncology and aged care.
Her presentation discusses grief and its impacts, types of grief, principles, approaches to supporting people who are grieving (including information on what not to say) and relevant resources and strategies.
As Ms Liu points out, it’s important to understand that grief includes death and non-death-related losses (changes to work, relationships, health), which is particularly important in the time of COVID-19 when people are dealing with “a change in their imagined future, what we’ve anticipated, what we’ve hoped for, what really is”.
Juliana Warner is the president of the Law Society of NSW.
