The legal profession is again showing its commitment to addressing mental illness and depression within the industry, with the launch of the Tristan Jepson Memorial Foundation website. The website is the result of two years of planning and a donation of $10,000 from the Attorney General’s Department.
The foundation was set up in memory of Tristan Jepson, a young lawyer and comedian who suffered from severe clinical depression and took his own life at the age of 26.
The Foundation’s board has now created a working party to help drive its initiatives in the coming year, including the annual memorial lectures. Chair and former president of the NSW Court of Appeal, the Hon Keith Mason AC QC, said there was clearly a higher risk of lawyers and law students suffering from depression.
“The Tristan Jepson Memorial Foundation aims to get the message out there about depression, we are not trying to take over but to have all the organisations involved listening to each other,” Mason said.
“This website is critical to enabling us to fulfil the role we have set for ourselves. We believe that the more information, education and resources available to people experiencing stress or depression, the better the outcome for everyone: people themselves, their family, their community. From awareness and education comes action."
In the Brain and Mind Research Institute’s 2008 Survey of Lawyers and Law Students, 35% of law students studied suffered from high to very high levels of psychological distress, with almost 40% reporting distress levels severe enough to warrant clinical or medical intervention. A significant proportion of the lawyers surveyed were also found to suffer from elevated levels of anxiety and depression, with 31% falling in the high to very high levels of psychological distress.
Mallesons Stephen Jaques has also announced $100,000 for the mental health charity SANE Australia, to support its 24 hour SANE Helpline. Mallesons has been the principal supporter of the information helpline since 2007 and has been involved with the charity since 2004. Costing $50 an hour to operate, the SANE helpline assists over 10,000 families a year.
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