Law firms across the City are holding events and launching initiatives to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Week, which begins today (May 13).

Mental Health Awareness Week is intended as a time for businesses to promote better mental health in the workplace, to focus on challenges around wellbeing and devise initiatives that can offer mental health support and training to staff throughout the year.

This year, Gowling WLG is launching new 'Doggy De-Stress' sessions aimed at alleviating symptoms of poor mental health where, according to a spokesperson, the firm "will welcome well-trained, calm and mature dogs provided by Doggy De-Stress Ltd into a designated space".

The initiative has so far been well attended, with 60 Gowling staff participating in the first of several sessions to be held throughout the year.

Meanwhile, Magic Circle firm Linklaters has completed a three-month trial of health and wellbeing AI platform BetterSpace, which aims to transform the way people look after their mental health by offering users wellbeing solutions, mindfulness apps and digital coaches for fitness activities.

The pilot started in October ahead of World Mental Health Day and involved 50 employees, with 84% of users reporting that they experienced a "recognisable benefit to their mental wellbeing".

Taylor Wessing is offering staff free premium access to meditation app Headspace, following a popular three-month pilot with 100 licences released in October.

Since the firm signed an annual subscription in January, staff have clocked up more than 27,000 minutes of meditation on the app, according to a firm spokesperson.

This year's initiatives come amid growing pressure on the legal sector at large to address deep-seated mental health challenges that have over the years gone largely overlooked. Last year, 91% of respondents to a Legal Week survey said that long working hours were negatively impacting their mental and physical health. And in November, Law.com published a letter written by the widow of a Sidley Austin partner who committed suicide, in which she warned of the dangers of a working culture in which "it's shameful to ask for help".

Small adjustments have the potential to dramatically improve our day-to-day professional life and support mental wellbeing

Headspace

Mental health first-aid training is gaining traction in firms too. Clifford Chance has started running mental health first-aid training for both legal and business support staff, with a spokesperson saying the firm expects to have 50 employees fully trained by the end of this month.

During the past year, Clyde & Co and Osborne Clarke have also been training staff to become mental health first aiders, with OC providing additional mental health champion training for about 70 people.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is unveiling a training programme for management this week, to help them identify poor mental health indicators in both themselves and others.

The Magic Circle firm is also one of nine new signatories to the Mindful Business Charter, joining six months after its launch. The charter, which was developed by Pinsent Masons and Addleshaw Goddard in association with Barclays, is aimed at implementing improved communication, respect for rest periods and considerate delegation of tasks to improve mental health in the financial services sector.

Other firms to have recently signed up to the charter include Capsticks, CMS, DWF, Herbert Smith Freehills, Michelmores, OC, Stone King, and Weightmans.

The nine law firms to have initially signed the charter include Ashurst, Baker McKenzie, Clifford Chance, Eversheds Sutherland, Hogan Lovells, Norton Rose Fulbright, and Simmons & Simmons.

Pinsent Masons senior partner Richard Foley said in a statement: "Just six months since [its] launch, the Mindful Business Charter has already started to promote a cultural shift in our daily working practices.

"Small adjustments have the potential to dramatically improve our day-to-day professional life and support mental wellbeing. By working together we can foster positive change."