Erasing the Stigma

A former attorney, Megan O’Neill turned a casual interest in health and wellness into a lifelong passion and mission. In this episode of Erasing the Stigma, Megan talks to Mark Yacano about living a healthy lifestyle from maintaining proper nutrition to the importance of self-care. They dive into the emotions tied to nutrition, exercise and sleep and discuss how small changes can make a big difference.

Despite the belief that lonely people are introverts, the reality is that even when surrounded by people all the time, someone can still be lonely. Dr. Gabriella Rosen Kellerman explores loneliness with Mark Yacano in this episode of Erasing the Stigma. They look at what creates a sense of loneliness, why the legal profession ranks high on the loneliness scale and how the billable hour weighs factors into the conversation. They also discuss strategies for both law firms and individuals to combat the loneliness crisis.

Each year, ALM releases a survey that looks at the mental health of lawyers around the globe. This year, the results revealed some unexpected—but not shocking—truths about the stress and burnout levels of today’s law firm attorneys. In this episode of Erasing the Stigma, Gina Passarella, Michael Kasdan, Diane Costigan and Paula Davis sit down with Mark Yacano to review the findings and explore how law firms can help their people.

Optimal performance doesn’t just apply to athletes on a sports field. Intellectual athletes need to operate at their own peak levels of performance, too. Dr. Brian Yu shares with Mark Yacano the ACT therapy approach for accepting, acknowledging and working through problematic behaviors. In this episode of Erasing the Stigma, they discuss how these techniques can be applied to build resilience at work.

What role does sleep play in your performance at work? How about in your mental health? Dr. Jessica Payne, sleep and stress neuroscience expert, talks to Mark Yacano about the power of sleep, why we need it, how it impacts our mental health and the importance of the power nap.

Paula Davis, like so many, experienced burnout while practicing law, which led her to leave the practice and explore new avenues for helping people. She found her passion and turned it into a practice of helping law firms and organizations cope with stress and build resilient teams. Paula shares her ABC framework with Mark Yacano and digs into how to cultivate office relationships in a hybrid world.

When Libby Coreno was a young lawyer, she realized she was suffering mentally and emotionally in her career. She also noticed that her colleagues were, too. In this episode of Erasing the Stigma, Libby shares with Mark Yacano her personal journey and how she found her voice to speak up about mental health and well-being. She also discusses how she began the Humanized Lawyer Project.

When Dan Lukasik was introduced to St. Luke’s Mission, he hoped this would be a special place where he could find deeper meaning in his life. A simple ask to become a mentor was the answer. The relationship that he has development with a boy named George has changed Dan’s life. In this episode of Erasing the Stigma, Dan tells Mark Yacano the story of his relationship with George and explores how seemingly innocent acts can help combat mental health.

We’re only at the start of our mental health awareness journey—which is evident if you look at the results of the ALM 2022 Mental Health Survey. In this episode of Erasing the Stigma, Michael Kasdan and Gina Passarella join Mark Yacano to review the survey’s findings and discuss the current state of mental health in the legal industry and workplace.

By taking several small, simple steps, you can become happier in your legal career—just follow the lessons Nora Riva Bergman and Chelsy Castro share in their new book, 50 Lessons for Happy Lawyers. Mark Yacano explores some of the steps he found particularly impactful—including getting clear on your why—with Nora and Chelsy in this episode of Erasing the Stigma.

Burnout is a very real thing whether you are an associate or a partner. Career coach and former lawyer Annie Little knows firsthand and now helps lawyers navigate through the symptoms. In this episode of Erasing the Stigma, she discusses the systematic causes of burnout and gets to the root of the problem with Mark Yacano.

Men’s mental health is often a taboo topic in society. Michael Kasdan has experienced firsthand how nerve wrecking and embarrassing it can be to feel not right. Since taking his first steps in his mental health journey, Michael has learned he isn’t alone and that the stigma around males owning their mental health is long from erased. In this episode of Erasing the Stigma, he shares his story, experiences and advocacy with Mark Yacano.

Kristen Uhl Hulse, Senior Director of Attorney Development & Recruiting for Snell & Wilmer, believes there are new ways of developing young lawyers in this day and age of remote work. In this episode of Erasing the Stigma with Mark Yacano, she discusses reimagining mentoring, using strengths to build self-awareness and finding joy in your work by improving your mental health practices.

For Jay Williams, a mindful sales leader, thriving means figuring out what you value most and making sure the company you work for is giving you everything you need to get there. In this episode of Erasing the Stigma, he explains what thriving in the workplace looks like as he chats with Mark Yacano.

Lawyers often approach the practice of law as a solitary task, internalizing their challenges, stressing over their workload and giving in to self-inflicted beliefs. In this episode of Erasing the Stigma, Angela Han shares with Mark Yacano why burnout is so prevalent in the legal profession and how perception skews reality—and increases our stress levels.

We work hard to appear strong by putting on armor, but in reality, we are much stronger once we drop the armor and own our narrative. That’s what Niti Nadarajah has learned since her “aha” moment of realization that she was holding on to a lot and needed to let go. In this episode of Erasing the Stigma, she shares with Mark Yacano details of her personal journey and why she started writing about her life on LinkedIn.

“Thoughts are not facts.” Chelsy Castro’s interest in neuroscience and psychology led her for the legal profession to helping legal professionals develop healthy coping mechanisms to overcome the thinking errors we all project. In this episode of Erasing the Stigma, Mark Yacano chats with Chelsy who provides examples of our flawed logic and explores how to overcome these hurdles.

When her son suffered a traumatic brain injury, Francine Tone began studying brain science and discovered (through her research) how stress truly impacts lawyers. Francine shares with Mark Yacano her findings and tools for understanding what stress does to the brain and how to manage it.

There are myriad diets and nutrition program as well as fitness programs in the market today—but which ones to try? In this episode of Erasing the Stigma, Mark Yacano sits down with Roxie Jones, founder of BodyROX, to discuss nutrition and strength training. Roxie explores the elements of a balanced diet, supplements you should consider taking and equipment you should have to work out from home.

After a year of remote work and isolation, law firm lawyers are feeling the effects of COVID. In this episode of Erasing the Stigma, Mark Yacano sits down with Dr. Rachel Fry to discuss the impact of COVID on lawyers looking at how junior associates have struggled to transition into practice and older associates have experienced extreme burn out. She shares her observations and encourages lawyers to get passed the stigma and seek help.