Lawyers can ask for support...it's legal

Join  us at the Lawyers Group. We support and learn from each other. We don't give advice but we listen and share experiences. Bring your legal, professional, family, emotional, addiction, work-life balance and other issues.

OBA - 20 Toronto Street - NEW 5:30 - 7:00
We emphasize confidentiality and we do NOT judge.

The Lawyers' Group returns

July 13 and 27, 5:00p.m. to 6:30p.m. at the OBA office – 20 Toronto St, Suite 200, (east of Yonge between King and Adelaide).

The Lawyers’ Group was formed some years ago and held regular meetings where peers explored the interaction between the practice of law and a lawyer’s mental health, emotional balance and alcohol and other substance use.

OBA has very generously provided this space to us at no cost.

The Group is not therapy or treatment. It is a self-facilitated group that provides a safe, confidential and respectful place for lawyers to discuss as frankly as each may choose issues that impact personal wellness – whoever is seen in group and whatever is said in group stays in group.

The group is open to current and former lawyers, judges and law students as well as others within the justice system. Topics have ranged from depression among lawyers to substance abuse by lawyers and the group provides a wealth of personal experience and wisdom in these areas. We also canvass pragmatic practice issues and the impact they have on well-being. As an example, we have explored how procrastination around practice management issues can cascade into troubling personal consequences.

Please feel free to be with us. At the OBA headquarters.

Rebirth of Peer Support Group of Lawyers - The Lawyers' Group

The Lawyers' Group returns

July 13 and 27, 5:00p.m. to 6:30p.m. at the OBA office – 20 Toronto St, Suite 200, (east of Yonge between King and Adelaide).

The Lawyers’ Group was formed some years ago and held regular meetings where peers explored the interaction between the practice of law and a lawyer’s mental health, emotional balance and alcohol and other substance use.

OBA has very generously provided this space to us at no cost.

The Group is not therapy or treatment. It is a self-facilitated group that provides a safe, confidential and respectful place for lawyers to discuss as frankly as each may choose issues that impact personal wellness – whoever is seen in group and whatever is said in group stays in group.

The group is open to current and former lawyers, judges and law students as well as others within the justice system. Topics have ranged from depression among lawyers to substance abuse by lawyers and the group provides a wealth of personal experience and wisdom in these areas. We also canvass pragmatic practice issues and the impact they have on well-being. As an example, we have explored how procrastination around practice management issues can cascade into troubling personal consequences.

Please feel free to be with us.

Winding UP - March 19, 2014

***WE ARE BACK***

The Lawyers' Group has been a big part in my recovery over the years and has reached many people.

The group is a concept really. A concept in that the group has no legal existence, no rule book, no fixed address, no leader. Rather, the Lawyers' Group has been a series of meetings where lawyers Help lawyers.

We are winding up after the meeting this Wednesday March 19, 2014 at 5:30. I hope to see lots of you there.

This website will carry on but will be checked less frequently.

Next steps

If you have attended the group or are a lawyer just finding out about the group feel free to email this account or contact the Member Assistance Program through Homewood Human Solutions.

Or read about our other resources for lawyers.
Thanks, Tim

Upcoming meeting times

The Lawyers' Group will meet:

March 5 & 19  2014
5:30 - 7:00

We meet the first and third Wednesday of the month at the OBA Conference Centre at 20 Toronto Street, Toronto, Ontario. The Conference Centre provides an accessible, comfortable and confidential space for open sharing and support.

The Lawyers' Group will continue to help lawyers deal with stress, family, addiction, mental health and other issues in a peer support environment. Learn more about the Lawyers' Group.

The Lawyers' Group remains independent, confidential,  and open to all lawyers. Attendees do not have to be members of the OBA or any other organization.

Please share the new location widely as we have moved twice. This will be a long term location.


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August 21 - Lawyers' Group returns to the OBA Conference Centre

The Ontario Bar Association has kindly agreed to support the return of the Lawyers' Group to the OBA Conference Centre at 20 Toronto Street, Toronto, Ontario. The Conference Centre will provide an accessible, comfortable and confidential space for open sharing and support.

MEETINGS begin: August 21, 2013 --- 5:30-7:00

The Lawyers' Group will continue to help lawyers deal with stress, family, addiction, mental health and other issues in a peer support environment. Learn more about the Lawyers' Group.

The Lawyers' Group remains independent, confidential,  and open to all lawyers. Attendees do not have to be members of the OBA or any other organization.

Please share the new location widely as we have moved twice this year. This will be a long term location


View Larger Map

Mad Pride Week: Celebrate - Mad Lawyers and Mad People

This week in Toronto and across the country is Mad Pride Week Toronto 2013, celebrating the best and worst of living with mental health issues ... MADNESS.

Mad Pride Week is important for Mad Lawyers and for all lawyers who advocate for a happier, healthier safer and fairer society.

Mad Pride Week is an arts, culture, and heritage festival created by psychiatric survivors, consumers, mad people, and folks the world has labelled “mentally ill”.

Here is a link to the schedule of Mad Pride Toronto.

Lawyers may wish to see the Dean of Osgood Hall Law School meet with a wild bunch of activists and patients while wearing a fun hat!

• THE MAD HATTER TEA PARTY! and LUNACY, LAWS, & LAWYERS: an update on key topics in mental health.

• Guest panelists:
• Anita Szigeti, Mental Health Lawyer, Toronto, Former Chair of the Mental Health Legal Committee
• Lorne Sossin, Professor and Dean of Osgoode Hall Law School at York University
• Lana Frado, Executive Director Sound Times Support Services