Depression

Tailoring Suicide Prevention for the Legal Community

Programs must meet the needs and characteristics of the community.

Posted July 20, 2009

Last week, I posted about postvention, which is the response of a community after a suicide occurs that has as one of its goals to help prevent future suicides. I received a comment on the post from "J.D.," a lawyer who asked: "How does effective postvention occur when the community doesn't want to discuss the suicide?"

J.D. shared the story of a law school classmate's death by suicide, and the lack of response by fellow students. Though free counseling was made available by the school, students did not engage with the counselor and, in fact, joked about the student's death as a way for other students to rise in ranking.

J.D. went on to raise the point that, within the legal community, there may exist stigma that holds back those who are distressed, depressed, or suffering from other forms of mental illness from seeking help. Some law school applicants and students may fear that disclosing mental illness may keep them from being admitted to the Bar. J.D. posted a link to an article in the American Bar Association (ABA) Journal that notes that practicing lawyers are at high risk for suicide: "The likelihood of depression is 3.6 times higher for lawyers than other employed people, and the reasons include the pressures of the job and characteristics that make lawyers good at their jobs."

Over the course of the week, I thought more and more about the particular issue J.D. brought up: "I wonder how effective any prevention/postvention response can be where the culture of the community is averse to 'help.'"

Our conversation reinforced one idea that those of us working in suicide prevention hold about implementation of prevention programs: Programs must meet the needs and characteristics of the community in which they are being implemented. We call this process "tailoring," and when I think of the pants that fit me best, the concept makes perfect sense. The general idea of a program may have a solid base, but without some tweaks to make it fit perfectly, it just might not work for real people.

Above the Law, a self-proclaimed legal tabloid, featured the release of a free program by the ABA, entitled "What Lawyers Need to Know About Suicide During a Recession: Prevention, Identity and Law Firm Responsibility," which frames the issue as one of importance to the legal community because of the at-risk populations with which lawyers may work, and because lawyers themselves are at high risk for suicide.

Given J.D.'s perspective, I wonder what kind of results the program may see - I even wonder how many have downloaded the free program. I do hope that the program, created by lawyers for lawyers, fits the legal community. Does it address the psychological underpinnings of the behavior that makes lawyers successful at their jobs but which may jeopardize their personal lives? Does it clarify that admittance to the Bar is not contingent on "perfect" mental health? Finally, can it help decrease stigma around mental illness and aid help-seeking, and how so? All of these questions are bottom-up - what do we know about this community that can help inform the kinds of suicide prevention programs created with this community as the audience? If asked about any community for which a program is being created, these kinds of questions can help build an effective program grounded in the realities that shape the community.