How Are Counseling Services Offered At Your Law School?

These services must be readily available during students' times of need.

depressed crying lawyerAs has been widely reported, lawyers and law students are prone to addiction and struggle with mental-health issues like depression, at higher rates than the general population. A recent study revealed that 20.6 percent of lawyers surveyed classified themselves as heavy drinkers, and 28 percent of those surveyed said they experienced symptoms of depression. As we’ve thoroughly documented here at Above the Law, these issues often begin to present themselves during law school, if not before, and that’s why it’s so important that law schools have mental-health services providers on hand and available when they’re needed most.

While some law schools offer counseling services on a full-time basis, others offer them on a part-time, independent-contractor basis. The Florida Coastal School of Law, for example, recently made the transition from offering full-time counseling services to offering counseling services on an as-needed basis. Dean Scott DeVito gave us some additional information on the change:

During my entire time at Florida Coastal (now going on nine years), Florida Coastal has provided on-campus mental health counseling resources to our students. (And we will continue to do so.) For the last few years those services were provided through a full-time mental health counselor. During the last year, our counselor provided students, on average, with eight to ten hours a week of counseling services. During midterm and finals, the counselor provided closer to twenty hours a week.

While our full-time counselor is an extremely valuable member of our community, we made the determination that we could not continue to employ a full-time counselor given that students are not using the full-time counseling hours available.

We are replacing the full-time counselor position with an independent contractor position. We have negotiated with our full-time counselor to provide those services on an as needed basis as an independent contractor. There is no limit on the number of sessions a student can meet with the counselor. The counselor will be on site for a minimum of four hours a week. Importantly, the number of hours available to students will be expanded any week where there is need for more than four hours to ensure student access to mental health services.

The switch from a full-time position to an independent contractor position will occur seamlessly so that there is no gap in counseling services provided.

We will continue to provide students with mental health counseling services and there is no discontinuation of services.

No matter how these counseling services are offered at law schools, the most important thing is that they are readily available during students’ times of need. How does your law school handle its counseling services? Please reach out to us via email or text at (646) 820-8477. Thanks for your assistance.

Most colleges and universities have counseling and psychological services resources that students can turn to if they are in crisis or would like counseling, even after hours. If you’re depressed and in need help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255) or a lawyer assistance program in your state. Remember that you are loved, so please reach out if you need assistance, before it’s too late. Don’t become a statistic — please seek help.


Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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