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Tackling depression requires ‘crossing a desert'
Ten years after the first Tristan Jepson Memorial Foundation lecture, the profession has significantly improved its treatment of mental health – but the road ahead remains long.
Stefanie Garber
TJMF co-founder and executive director Marie Jepson – whose son Tristan took his own life in 2004 after a struggle with depression – said the foundation’s work over the past decade started a conversation within the legal sector.
In ensuing years, many law firms have adopted EAP and well-being programs aimed at improving the mental health of lawyers.
In addition, 120 firms and organisations have signed on to the TJMF psychological well-being best-practice guidelines. A world-first, the guidelines give firms a framework for encouraging a healthier, more engaged workplace.
However, Ms Jepson said lasting change would not come overnight.
“The perception that it will be a miracle by Christmas is unrealistic. We're looking at generational change – we're looking at 30 years,” she said.
She likened firms’ efforts to improve mental well-being to “crossing the Gobi Desert”.
“There's no path,” she said. “For a change-resistant profession, which has not been challenged in any regard, to go somewhere where there isn't a precedent, is an enormous challenge.”
The 10th annual TJMF lecture will be held tonight at the Federal Court of Australia, with keynote speaker Alex Malley, the chief executive of CPA Australia.
