In the less than two months since the launch of Minds Over Matters, our yearlong examination of mental health in the legal profession, I've had dozens of conversations with industry professionals on a personal and organizational level. What has emerged is a disconnect between the institutional efforts to effect change and the individual professional's view on what is needed.

Both sides are well-meaning, but the problem of mental health struggles in the profession is complex and comes up against a business model that neither side has the power to significantly alter with the current resources and backing.

I routinely have heard two narratives in my conversations with legal professionals, and I'll share a specific set of back-to-back exchanges that really revealed the divide to me.

Generally, from the institutional perspective, they can talk about the programs they offer until they are blue in the face, but no one seems to know they exist, or the lawyers and staff don't take advantage of them. And then there is the issue of privacy and how much they can really do or track or force.

From the individual perspective, it's an issue of meaning and mixed messages. The programs can sometimes appear to lack the teeth to address the toughest of the issues. As one Am Law 200 lawyer told me, "The fruit my firm puts out and the yoga classes it offers are great in keeping people on track to stay balanced. But it does nothing once real depression hits." That's when lawyers and staff need to know the firm has the resources and, more importantly, an acceptance that professionals may need to take time away to properly address their illness.

A well-being conference I recently attended presented perhaps the starkest example of the disconnect. Two back-to-back exchanges had my head spinning a little bit. Now mind you, this is a room full of people all with the same great goal of improving the lives of those working in the legal profession. And they are doing amazing things, but often with different goals or a different lens through which they view the problem.

A Big Law professional with an HR lens who is focused on their firm's wellness initiatives said to me that the firm heard loudly from associates about the programs they wanted, whether it was meditation sessions or something else, and the firm went ahead and created those sessions. Only five people attended.

"What advice do you have to get buy-in from those who work in our firm to utilize these programs?" this person asked me. I immediately felt unqualified to answer. I mean, if you are giving them what they asked for, what more can you do?

I sheepishly walked away feeling bad for the law firm and bad for the person I could offer no sound advice to. As I turned around, an associate, so thrilled that we were undertaking the Minds Over Matters project, was waiting to talk to me. The associate was passionate about the need for something to be done, and this lawyer quickly went beyond sugarcoating, noting the lack of meaningful change in this space. More needs to be done, the associate said. Lawyers are so unhappy. It's such a difficult environment to work in. And the fixes being offered are "like a band-aid over a bullet wound," the associate said.

I can say that this associate is at a firm that has been vocal about its efforts on wellness. So if a disconnect is occurring there, imagine how associates feel at firms not openly talking about the issue.

I don't mean to spread hopelessness in writing this. Only to identify that contingents of people are working to improve the situation, but they sometimes aren't on the same page. Let's start a dialogue around how they can get on the same page. Organizations need to be honest with themselves as to whether their mental health and well-being programs are truly effective. Lawyers and staff need to meaningfully participate in the solutions to these challenges. But the mixed messages sent when a firm says "go use our meditation room but make sure you bill 2,000 hours or you won't get your bonus" need a broader fix that may require more people in the room than those focused purely on mental health.

Read more: MInds Over Matters: An Examination of Mental Health in the Legal Profession