Avoiding the Traumatic Potential of COVID-19

• Author: Joseph P. Beckman

Published in Litigation News Volume 46, Number 1, Fall 2020. © 2 020 by the American Bar A ssociation. Repro duced with permissi on. All rights reser ved. This informati on or any portion the reof may not be copie d or disseminated in any form

or by any means or stored i n an electronic database o r retrieval syst em without the expr ess written co nsent of the American B ar Association.

MENTAL HEALTH & WELLNESS

By Joseph P. Beckman, Liti gation News Asso ciate Editor

Avoiding the Traumatic Potential of

COVID-19

s lawyers, we are problem solvers. We are d riven.

We are overachievers. We nd answers where ot h-

ers see ambiguit y. That does not m ake us im-

mune from the sort of physic al and emotional

ravages that have accompanied t he worldwide

spread of COVID -19. A presentation at the ABA Sect ion of

Litigation’s rst ever Vir tual Sec tion Annual C onference,

however, offered some guidanc e for these turbulent times.

The presentation , which ts squarely into my “be at”

as this publication’s “lawyer menta l health” writer, was

“Coping as a Lawyer and H elping Colleague s Through

the COVID -19 Pandemic.” The se ssion was led by Diana

Uchiyama, J D, PsyD, CAAD C, and executive d irector of

the Illinois L awyers’ Assistance P rogra m, and moderated by

Ruth A. Bahe-Jach na, Chicago, IL, man aging direc tor of the

Section of Litigation.

Uchiyama spoke fran kly about the changes her ofce has

seen since COVI D-19 began to sweep across the countr y

in mid-March . She then offered advice ab out how lawyers

might practice en hanced self-care, sugge stions for how to be

more attuned to sign s of dist ress from colleagues, and how

to help a struggli ng colleague.

The New Routine Is N o Routine

Lawyers are creat ures of habit. “Routines are actual ly good

for people. They’re good for the bra in. That you take a shower.

You exercise, however you can—some pe ople are morning

exercisers, some people a re nighttime. It doesn’t matter, as long

as you’re engaging in a routine,” Uchiyam a stresses.

“I think par t of [the gene sis of increased stress] is that we

all had routines of some sor t pre-COVID that have been ver y

much disrupted,” Uchiyam a obser ves. “We like to do things

in a certai n way,” she continues. “So we need to k ind of re-

structu re, reframe, and create new routines , and how impor-

tant is that, and how do we as a pr actical matter do that?”

No doubt. My work-from-home full ti me day started at

the same time. G one, however, was the need to dress in a

suit or business casu al (depend ing on the day). Saved was

© Getty Image s

32 | SECTION OF LITIGATION