News / Events: Coping techniques

Learning to support yourself and others Since the inception of the Wellbeing at the Bar initiative in 2015, I have been greatly impressed at how quickly the issue of wellbeing has been embraced by the profession and those who work with barristers. In 2015 the Bar Council’s wellbeing survey indicated that 2 out of 3 […]

Giraffes and hyenas… A personal perspective Don’t get me wrong. I am no David Attenborough. But when you’re invited to the Kruger Park in South Africa, it’s a bit hard to turn down. So, there I was a couple of weeks ago, driving from Johannesburg for 6 hours to get to the Phalaborwa Gate and […]

Learning to be your best self at work and at home When considering what to cover in this blog I cast my mind back to my previous piece, published in June last year. In some ways, not so long ago. In others, however, that seems quite some time past, particularly when considering what has been […]

The Bar and the Bench: Supporting One Another Wellbeing is a work in progress for all of us, one which we should be required to consider daily, like a mantra in order to achieve regular improvements. Another way we can seek to change or improve our wellbeing is by attending events which provide us with […]

A new kind of first aid: mental health first aid Determined, energetic and purposeful high achievers can be the most vulnerable to mental health issues because they push themselves so hard. Barristers, who often work alone, often with long commutes to courts, their self-employed status removing them from any managerial oversight, are particularly susceptible to […]

“Why do you want to be a barrister?” As I type this I am averting my gaze from my epic list of Things That I Need To Do. The most mundane jobs, such as weeding out dead briefs to send back to solicitors, can be immensely appealing when there are far more pressing tasks to […]

Barristers’ partners: a different perspective – what does the other side look like? I have recently joined the Wellbeing at the Bar Committee as a representative of Gray’s Inn. Having been an admirer of the website and of the pioneering work of the Committee, it was a great honour for me to be invited. My […]

For anyone practising at the Bar, the management of stress is part of your daily professional life. We all experience stress in different ways, with different symptoms and different tell-tale signs that the pressure is building up beyond what is sustainable. Learning how to deal with it comes from experience and over the course of […]