For Philadelphia lawyers, access to mental health resources is now just a few clicks away: the Philadelphia Bar Association announced a partnership this week with an online mental health care company to provide video counseling services to members.

While some local bar associations have struggled to keep membership up in recent years, these organizations are increasingly looking for ways to help their members through a global crisis.

The Philadelphia Bar Association said it has entered an agreement with Orlando-based eVideo Counselor to provide face-to-face video counseling with licensed mental health therapists. The resource gives bar association members and their family anonymous mental health support at discounted rates and insurance compatibility, and it is up and running as of this week.

The Philadelphia Bar Association's new e-conference initiative is just one of the ways the legal industry has worked to address mental health issues, which are prevalent in the profession. And other bar associations across the country have looked to serve as a resource for lawyer health and well-being, even before the coronavirus became a concern. The State Bar of Georgia offers six free counseling sessions per year as a benefit, and the State Bar of Texas has enrolled more laid-off attorneys through its private insurance exchange in recent months.

Nationally, the American Bar Association has stepped up its mental health resources in response to the coronavirus pandemic, and many law firms now provide their own resources and initiatives to combat stress, anxiety, depression and other mental health issues.

A. Michael Snyder, chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association, said he has been working to increase mental health resources since becoming part of the bar association's leadership about three years ago. After researching other state bar associations that offered video counseling, and finding one—the Florida Bar Association—he said he started communicating with its vendor, eVideo Counselor, to bring the resource to Philadelphia lawyers.

"In early January, we had a suspicion this [the pandemic] was going to happen, but increasing mental health resources is something that needs to be done, and has needed to be done for a long time," he said in an interview. "Law is a pressure cooker profession under the best of circumstances, and with what is happening now, that is amplified."

A 2016 Journal of Addiction Medicine study found that 21% of licensed, employed attorneys qualify as problem drinkers, 28% struggle with some level of depression, and 19% demonstrate symptoms of anxiety. Similarly, ALM's Mental Health and Substance Abuse Survey found that 31.2% of the more than 3,800 respondents feel they are depressed, 64% feel they have anxiety, 10.1% feel they have an alcohol problem and 2.8% feel they have a drug problem.

Snyder explained that as clients are under more stress to survive economically and operate based on different governments' shutdown mandates, attorneys are working under even more pressure, not only to find solutions for their clients but also to handle the same problems in their own profession.

"Lawyers are in the very undesired position of being pressed both by clients as well as professional and personal needs," he said. "I wish it was not of such urgency, but the timing of the video counseling roll-out was so perfect. We as an association have a certain responsibility of ensuring the health, professionally and personally, of members."

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