Ms Vlahos — who won the Wellness Advocate of the Year at the 2021 Women in Law Awards — told Lawyers Weekly that she was determined to effect change in young lawyers around their mental health and wellbeing, particularly after working with graduate students at a firm that was involved in representing banks at the Royal Commission into Misconduct in Banking and Superannuation.

As a practical legal mentor or lecturer, Ms Vlahos said she saw a “profound deterioration” of their wellbeing over the course of those six months.

“I really wanted to delve into what the triggers and stressors were,” she explained to Lawyers Weekly.

VIEW ALL

“I wanted to see if organisations could better manage the hazards in the workplace.”

Ms Vlahos said she desired a shift in discourse in the workplace from one that expected individuals to assume responsibility to build their own personal resilience — which she said was not the fundamental issue — to one where management in the legal workplace focuses on workload and job design to improve wellbeing in their employees.

“What I saw during the royal commission was that job design and resourcing issues were critical to this, as was assessing staff well-being,” she said.

“By that, I mean we have to ask how they’re coping and whether they are able to manage with the stressors in the workplace. If they’re not, then we obviously need to look into that and manage it better.

“This is what really spring-boarded my interest in the wellness space in the legal profession, particularly with young lawyers.”

Path to victory

Ms Vlahos attributed her award win last year to her involvement in a number of different boards and committees in Australia and globally that focused on wellness.

She was invited to join the International Bar Association Wellbeing Taskforce as one of two Australian delegates, which she called a tight-knit group of international lawyers across the globe.

The taskforce launched a “first-of-its-kind” global evaluation survey into the mental health and wellbeing of legal professionals, out of which stemmed a report on the state of mental health in the law profession.

She is also on the European Regional Forum of the International Bar Association and their mental health and wellbeing working party.

In addition, she has presented to the Victorian bar, the International Bar Association, as well as the New York State Bar Association as part of their arbitration organisation for young lawyers.

Alongside this, Ms Vlahos has presented numerous times at Leo Cussen as part of its professional development days.

“I’m a huge advocate for mental health and safety in the legal profession and providing information for lawyers around mental health,” she said.

“Moreover, I look at it from the lens of risk management and the impact I’m having on the legal profession and the wider community.”

Winning an award lends gravitas

In her submission for the 2021 Women in Law Awards, Ms Vlahos not only outlined her work in Australia and internationally but also the opportunities she has had to liaise with different departments such as human resources and psychologists to effect change in the legal profession.

“What we have ultimately realised is this can’t be solved by lawyers alone,” she emphasised.

“Improving wellbeing requires collaboration between a multidisciplinary team of experts to create a longitudinal system for organisations to integrate. I’m heavily focused on changing the narrative from outputs to outcomes for organisations because that’s how I think we’ll see the most positive impact.”

With these objectives in mind, Ms Vlahos founded Wellceum in May 2022, a new workplace consultancy platform that assists businesses with integrating this longitudinal measurement and assessment system to improve wellness by using “real people data”.

This assists organisations with pinpointing priority requirements, measuring the impact of initiatives, managing psychological risk, and complying with legislative duties, while providing tools to improve employee resilience and increase productivity.

As such, winning the Wellness Advocate of the Year Award has lent her and her consultancy some “gravitas”, Ms Vlahos said.

“The fact that I’ve won the award has given me national recognition of my work and bolstered mine and my company’s position as well,” she said.

Focus on the impacts of wellness

Addressing this year’s award entrants, Ms Vlahos encouraged wellness advocates to not only focus on their research in mental health and wellbeing but also on its “real” social impact in the legal profession.

“Look at solving the problems from left to right and right to left. Think about what problem you’re trying to solve, the initiatives you want to undertake, and the impact you’re trying to garner from that,” Ms Vlahos recommended.

Ms Vlahos concluded that the ultimate goal of a wellness advocate is to support employers by implementing tangible strategies instead of “just paying lip service” to improve mental health in the workplace.

“Think about how you can help people in the legal profession and workplace so they feel fulfilled and can live a life of value, and subsequently go out into the community and help others,” she said.

The 2022 Women in Law Awards national awards program is the pinnacle event for recognising female talent in the Australian legal industry.

It will be held on Thursday, 24 November 2022, at the Grand Hyatt in Melbourne to reward women who have tirelessly worked to influence and propel the legal profession forward.

It shines a spotlight on the outstanding achievements by executives, barristers, academics, pro bono, students and other legal professionals in large and boutique firms.

Click here to submit an entry or nominate a worthy colleague by 9 September 2022 to be in the running for these prestigious awards.

For more information, including categories and judging process, click here.