Joseph E. Ankus.

I was startled when the speakerphone blared in my office to announce that my lunch had arrived. Even though it was late in the afternoon, I wasn't particularly hungry.

I met the deliveryman—Steve—in the lobby. As he had done many times, Steve handed me a neatly folded paper bag that contained the same three things: a turkey sandwich on rye, a bottle of water and a small bag of chips. I thanked him and wistfully watched him amble to the elevator. He was smiling and softly whistling a tune. I don't remember the song—but I remember he was relaxed and happy.

I wasn't. I trudged back to my desk and closed my office door to eat my lunch.

According to legal legend, I was living the associate's dream. I was at one of the largest and most prominent firms in Miami, lived in a high rise apartment, drove a nice car, made a top salary, worked with the kindest and brightest attorneys and had interesting work that needed my  attention.

I forgot to also include that I was miserable, stressed out and anxious almost every day.

After a relatively brief period of time at the firm, I made the classical “fight or flight” decision that all psychology students learn about in freshman year. I fled from Big Law to embark on another career—that of a legal recruiter. The year was 199—long before emails, the internet and Google encroached (or, depending on your perspective, enhanced) our already busy lives. I loved my new job and continue to enjoy it today. I am grateful I made the change and learned some crucial life lessons along the way.

Ironically, my decision to leave Big Law wasn't based on the substantive law itself but rather the suffocating feeling of not being able to give clients immediate answers, making sure I didn't make any mistakes and otherwise unsuccessfully managing overwhelming feelings of having to be professionally perfect 24/7.

As a legal recruiter for over 25 years in South Florida, I have worked with thousands of attorneys and have noticed a steadily increasing need for basic mental health education. For far too long, the topics of depression, anxiety, substance abuse and suicide have been the proverbial, but neglected, “elephant in the room.” In 1991, the topic was essentially taboo to discuss in the legal profession.

I have had many discussions both “on and off” the record about people's personal struggles with mental illness. The common denominator of all these conversations—almost without exception—was that each call ended with me encouraging the lawyer to get professional help without feeling shame, fear or stigma.

Based on my personal experiences, I was inspired to do my part to educate attorneys about these topics and served as a member on the Florida Bar's special committee for mental health & wellness. Our committee delved deep into this topic and everyone on the committee was committed to enhancing attorney wellness. To this end, I became a certified mental health first aid instructor—with the goal of teaching law students and attorneys the fundamentals of mental health education to benefit themselves, their colleagues, families, friends and clients.

I know, firsthand, how stressful both law school and the practice of law can be. Despite the fact that I am not a therapist, clinician or mental health professional, I use MHFA to teach the basic tools necessary to be a bridge between someone who may be in crisis—before professional intervention—and to offer appropriate resources for self-help. To be clear, MHFA is not used to diagnose, counsel or treat mental illness. That is the responsibility of trained professionals—but we encourage and support people to reach out and get the help they may need. The resources are there- they just need to be accessed without fear or shame.

The MFHA course is designed by mental health professionals for laypeople. It is MHFA's mission is to destigmatize mental illness and to provide basic mental health education. Hundreds of thousands of individuals have been trained in MHFA and the number of participants is growing. I created my company—Attorney Mental Health Education, Inc.—to train  this effective, simple and evidence-based protocol. To date, my students have enjoyed the material and have a more open mind about mental illness education and their role in destigmatizing same. They also have more confidence to discuss mental illness when appropriate.

The eight-hour course, which can be divided into two four-hour sessions, covers a wide range of topics and provides fun and practical “hands on” training exercises so that participants can practice communication techniques in a safe and encouraging environment. The Florida Bar has approved mental health first aid training for 9.5 hours of CLE which further cements mental health's education as being part of being a well -rounded practitioner.

For more information about MHFA and other helpful resources, visit his website at www.attorneymentalhealtheducation.com

Joseph Ankus is a member of the Florida Bar and was an associate at two major law firms before becoming a legal recruiter in 1991. He founded Davie-based Ankus Consulting.