{"id":7804,"date":"2019-11-26T18:25:03","date_gmt":"2019-11-26T10:25:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gallhk.com\/well-being-and-mental-health-in-family-law-in-hong-kong\/"},"modified":"2022-01-21T14:26:41","modified_gmt":"2022-01-21T06:26:41","slug":"well-being-and-mental-health-in-family-law-in-hong-kong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gallhk.com\/cn\/well-being-and-mental-health-in-family-law-in-hong-kong\/","title":{"rendered":"\u9999\u6e2f\u5bb6\u5ead\u6cd5\u7684\u5eb7\u4e50\u4e0e\u5fc3\u7406\u5065\u5eb7"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>\u6267\u884c\u5408\u4f19\u4eba\u517c\u5a5a\u59fb\u53ca\u5bb6\u4e8b\u6cd5\u603b\u76d1\u9ea6\u51ef\u7433\uff08Caroline McNally\uff09\u63a2\u8ba8\u4e3a\u4ec0\u4e48\u5bb6\u5ead\u6cd5\u5f8b\u5e08\u8981\u5e2e\u52a9\u540c\u4e8b\u5e94\u5bf9\u5fc3\u7406\u5065\u5eb7\u65b9\u9762\u7684\u95ee\u9898\uff0c\u5982\u4f55\u53d1\u73b0\u540c\u4e8b\u6216\u5ba2\u6237\u662f\u5426\u9700\u8981\u5e2e\u52a9\uff0c\u4ee5\u53ca\u5982\u4f55\u8ba9\u9999\u6e2f\u6446\u8131\u5fc3\u7406\u5065\u5eb7\u95ee\u9898\u65b9\u9762\u7684\u803b\u8fb1\u3002<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A Rise in Awareness<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Working as a lawyer can be emotionally challenging. A recent\nsurvey undertaken by Lexis Nexis found that almost 66% of lawyers in the UK\ncurrently experience high levels of stress. More than 75% stated that stress\nand mental wellbeing are major issues for the profession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Due to the nature of their work, family lawyers can be\nparticularly vulnerable to high levels of stress. Over the past 12 months,\nhowever, there has been an explosion in awareness of wellness and mental health\namong family lawyers in the UK. The Law Society recently hosted a panel\ndiscussion with UK NGO Support Through Court to discuss the topic and agreed\nthat \u201cfamily lawyers are not going to be equipped to guide clients down a path\nto order and resolution unless they themselves stay well, healthy and\nemotionally protected\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is now recognised that there should be a collective\nresponsibility to safeguard and promote the wellbeing of employees, and the UK\nis making progress towards destigmatising mental health issues and offering\nguidance on how to support anyone who is living and working with a mental\nhealth condition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Hong Kong\u2019s Precarious Position<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The World Health Organisation estimates that 1 in 4 of us\nwill be affected by mental or neurological disorders at some point in our lives.\nThis places a special burden on employers in Hong Kong, where there are\nwidespread stigmas and cultural factors that hinder people from talking openly\nabout mental health. It is seen as a taboo topic and is often incorrectly\nlinked to people being \u201cweak\u201d and to family backgrounds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A recent study by mental health NGO Mind Hong Kong on Hong\nKong\u2019s attitude towards mental health found that 25% of respondents currently\nwork with, or have worked with, someone with a mental health problem. 61% have\nexperienced depression \u2013 a significantly higher number than the typical 1\/7 of\na population. This, coupled with the fact that Hong Kong only has 4.6 public-sector\npsychiatrists per 100,000 (roughly half the average ratio among other\nhigh-income countries), leaves the city in a precarious position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Identifying Risk Factors<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is important for family lawyers to be able to pinpoint when\nsomeone \u2013 be it a colleague or a client &#8211; is suffering from a mental health\nissue so they can step in and offer support.&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Hannah Reidy, CEO at Mind Hong Kong and a UK-trained\nclinical psychologist, suggests keeping an eye out for early risk factors including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Changes in behaviour<\/li><li>Distraction and inability to focus on work<\/li><li>Sleep and energy levels shifting<\/li><li>Loss of appetite<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Small changes can help safeguard mental wellbeing. Dr. Reidy also\nsuggested simple steps such as switching off your phone before bedtime or\nincorporating regular exercise into your day can help lead to improved\nconcentration and elevated mood. If the symptoms seem more severe, gently\nencourage the person you think needs help to seek professional advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hong Kong has extremely high levels of \u201cpresenteeism\u201d, or people coming into work when they are ill, which\narguably is associated with increases in reported mental-health conditions. It\nis also likely to have a negative effect on an organisation\u2019s productivity,\ngiven that ill employees are likely to work less effectively and take longer to\nrecover. According to a survey conducted by&nbsp;Bupa Hong Kong, 90% of\nrespondents were sick in the past year, with 68% still admitting they went to\nwork. Unlike absenteeism, where it is clear when staff are not at work, the\nsigns of presenteeism are often not as apparent. Virgin Pulse found that\npresenteeism can lead to 57.5 days (almost three months) in lost productivity,\ncompared to 4 days lost on average to absenteeism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the Mental Health Foundation New Zealand, businesses\nthat fail to pay attention to mental health risk incurring substantial costs.\nWorkplaces that prioritise mental health see better engagement, reduced\nabsenteeism and higher productivity, while employees demonstrate improved\nwellbeing, greater morale and higher job satisfaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Supporting Yourself<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is not just about helping others \u2013 family lawyers need to attend to their own wellbeing. They sometimes take on clients\u2019 distress in a way that can be harmful and influence their private lives and their families. The role of a family lawyer involves a balancing act between empathising with clients and giving them the best possible support, while at the same time maintaining a healthy perspective. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, what makes a good family lawyer? Common perceptions are\nthat they are empathetic yet detached and objective. Lawyers\u2019 mindsets may need to be more flexible and reflective,\nand less analytical. If they want to help their clients, they should first help\nthemselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Farrer &amp; Co Senior Counsel Simon Bruce, a family lawyer\nwith many years of experience, says it is now commonplace in the UK for firms\nto have programmes that promote wellness and set standards for sound mental\nhealth. His employer, for example, has its own Wellness Charter which outlines\na series of guiding principles in relation to areas such as individual\nresponsibility, culture, holiday and technology, including: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Requiring all holiday allocations are taken,\nincluding at least one block of ten days holiday per year<\/li><li>Imposing regular monitoring by line managers<\/li><li>Supporting agile working eg: working from home,\naccommodating child pick up\/drop offs etc<\/li><li>Encouraging work\/life balance and creating a\npositive culture of wellbeing at the firm<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Other legal firms in the UK offer wellness innovations\nincluding counselling of all staff twice a month by a trained expert. The\nsessions are paid for by the firm and are confidential. Some firms offer yoga\nand pilates classes to lawyers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another positive step forward is that the family courts in\nthe UK have been invited by the President of the Family Division to produce\ntheir own guidance on well-being.&nbsp; The\nguidance for the Central Family Court is found below and states that \u201cEveryone\nis entitled to respect, all the time\u201d.&nbsp;\nIt also states:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cUrgent means urgent.&nbsp;\nMaintaining that a hearing is urgent when it is not is queue-jumping (or\nworse) and adds to stress\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is significant work to be done to promote wellness amongst family lawyers in Hong Kong. But with stronger support from the family law community and employers in helping professionals establish personal boundaries, develop tools for resilience and be comfortable talking about mental health, we\u2019ll be taking a big step towards removing a harmful stigma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"20\" height=\"25\" class=\"wp-image-6207\" style=\"width: 20px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gallhk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/icon_pdf.jpg\" alt=\"\">  <a href=\"https:\/\/gallhk.com\/Publications\/Well-beingInTheCentralFamilyCourt.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Well-being in the Central Family Court (opens in a new tab)\">Well-being in the Central Family Court<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u6267\u884c\u5408\u4f19\u4eba\u517c\u5a5a\u59fb\u53ca\u5bb6\u4e8b\u6cd5\u603b\u76d1\u9ea6\u51ef\u7433\uff08Caroline McNally\uff09\u63a2\u8ba8\u4e3a\u4ec0\u4e48\u5bb6\u5ead\u6cd5\u5f8b\u5e08\u8981\u5e2e\u52a9\u540c\u4e8b\u5e94\u5bf9\u5fc3\u7406\u5065<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[264],"class_list":["post-7804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles-cn","tag-264"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gallhk.com\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gallhk.com\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gallhk.com\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gallhk.com\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gallhk.com\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gallhk.com\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7804\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gallhk.com\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gallhk.com\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gallhk.com\/cn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}