Share, Support, Prevent and Recover
News and Articles
Share, Support, Prevent and Recover
September is National Suicide Prevention Month. It is also National Recovery Awareness Month.1 They go hand in hand, especially for lawyers. We owe it to ourselves, each other, the public interest and the rule of law, to promote prevention and recovery in our community.
Also published in September 2026 newsletter of the M. Margaret McKeown Federal Bar Association for the Western District of Washington
“Suicide Prevention Month reminds us that talking about suicide isn’t harmful — silence is. One honest conversation can be a turning point in someone’s life.”2 It encourages all of us to shift from a culture of silence and stigma about suicide, to one of openness, understanding, and support.
National Recovery Month celebrates the gains made by those in recovery from substance use and other mental health challenges. It emphasizes that with the right treatment, support, and resources, recovery is possible for everyone. It underscores that recovery is more than overcoming present challenges—it’s about building a lifetime of wellbeing, with health, home, community, and purpose as its pillars.3
Suicidal ideation, attempts, substance use disorder, and other mental health challenges (e.g., anxiety, gambling disorder) are frequently “co-occurring” and inter-related.4 They are all especially high among lawyers. They take root in a legal culture still marked by maladaptive perfectionism, shame, stigma, fear of reputational and economic consequences, and isolation.5
Over Nine Washington Lawyer Suicides a Year: Let’s Talk About It
The most recent Washington State Department of Health data available for suicides by profession identifies 55 suicides by lawyers in our state during the six-year period between 2018 and 2023 (> 9 a year). It further shows:
- →twice as many struggled with mental health issues than physical ones
- →18 left a suicide note
- →13 had a history of suicidal thoughts, plans or attempts
- →11 of the 55 had disclosed their suicidal intent to someone beforehand6
Legal professionals also report higher rates of suicidal ideation that the general adult population (GAP) — 11.4% compared to 4.3% GAP. Lawyers also more often report this occurs for “several days” or “more than half the days.”7
Substance Use and Other Mental Health Challenges: Let’s Talk About It Too
As many as one in three practicing lawyers experience substance use disorder. As many as 70% will experience it in their lifetimes. Studies show lawyers suffering other mental health challenges at the following rates:
- →Stress and Anxiety: 42%-70% (cf. 6%-7% of General Adult Population (GAP))
- →Depression: 28%-45.7% (cf. 7.1% GAP)
- →ADHD: 12.5% (cf. 4.5% GAP)8
Help Exists in Reaching Out to Each Other
As few as 7% or less of lawyers reach out for help. Among law students it is only 4%. Those most at risk are lawyers in their first 10-15 years of practice.9
As reflected in the recent state-wide lawyer survey conducted by the Washington State Bar Association, in its Well-Being Task Force Final Report (2026), lawyers are reluctant to turn to the WSBA for help.10 The state bar is perhaps seen as disciplinary and monitoring of discipline, and therefore lawyers, law students and judges are reluctant to trust that structure. Public and private sector legal employers have informed me that Employer Assistance Program (EAP) resources appear under-utilized even when offering employer-paid professional counseling sessions.
On the other hand, studies are clear that the most effective prevention and recovery efforts include lived experience peer support.11 Nothing breaks down stigma, shame, isolation, and fear of discipline or reputational harm — projections which keep lawyers from seeking help — like peer support.
WaLAL provides peer support by Washington lawyers, for Washington lawyers. We are entirely independent of any bar association, employer or any other entity. Our well-trained volunteer peer support counselors have diverse lived through experiences and provide confidential and free one-on-one peer support to our fellows facing similar challenges. CLE credit is accorded for attending WaLAL peer support training sessions.
Notes
1See e.g, National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI), www.nami.org; id. (downloadable Suicide Prevention Toolkit). See also e.g., Center for Disease Control (CDC), https://www.cdc.gov/overdose-prevention/php/toolkits/national-recovery-month.html
2NAMI, supra n. 1 (emph. added). See also information and resources available through the National Federation for Suicide Prevention (NFSB), https://afsp.org
3CDC, supra n. 1 (emph. added).
4See e.g., Sareen, J., et al., Anxiety Disorders Associated with Suicidal Ideation and Suicide Attempts in the National Comorbidity Survey, Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 193, 450-454 (2005); Briggs et al., Pathological Gamblers and Alcoholics: Do They Share the Same Addictions?, Addict. Behav. (2019).
5See e.g., Joanna Litt, Big Law Killed My Husband: An Open Letter From a Sidley Partner’s Widow, American Lawyer, Law.com (November 2018) (“[H]e would rather die than live with the consequences of people thinking he was a failure”); Volk, Professor Finds Hope After Heartache of Husband’s Suicide, UW Magazine (March 2014) (story of UW Professor Jan Stuber’s loss of her husband, a Seattle-firm corporate lawyer, to suicide and her focus on public policy of destigmatization of mental-health issues and suicide prevention).
6WA State Department of Health, WA Statewide Suicide Deaths, 2018-2023 (“Lawyer”) (WA State Death Certificate data and WA State Violent Death Reporting System data).
7ABA/Hazelden Betty Ford, The Path to Lawyers Well-Being: Practical Recommendations for Positive Change (2016). See also e.g., Johns Hopkins Univ. Study (1990) (identifying lawyers with highest incidence of depression among over 100 occupations, and 3.6x > than GAP); American Lawyer, 2024 Survey of Mental Health in the Legal Profession (survey of over 2000 private law firm attorneys) Krill et al., Stressed, Lonely and Overcommitted: Predictors of Lawyer Suicide Risk (Feb. 2023) (results from joint study of ~2000 lawyers from CA and DC), published in Healthcare); Benjamin, Reclaim Your Practice, Reclaim Your Life, 52 Trial (Journal of the American Association for Justice, at pp.30-33 (Dec 2008); Benjamin et al, The Prevalence of Depression, Alcohol Abuse, and Cocaine Abuse Among US Lawyers, 13(3) Int’l J. Law & Psychiatry (Feb. 1990); Beck and Benjamin, Lawyer Distress: Alcohol-Related Problems and Other Psychological Concerns Among a Sample of Practicing Lawyers, 10 J. Law & Health 1-60, at 45 (1996).
8See id.
9See id.
10WA State Bar Association, Well-Being Task-Force, Final Report (May 2026), at 4, 18 (WSBA Resource Utilization) (only 43.5% survey respondents had used WSBA well-being resources and “[o]f those endorsing suicidal ideation, 85% indicated their work somewhat or significantly contributed to these thoughts.”).
11Davidson, et al., “Revisiting the Rationale and Evidence for Peer Support,” 35, 6, Psychiatric Times (June 201(Mental Health America (MHA), Evidence-Peer-Support-May-2019.pdf; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Servs. Admin. (SAMHSA), Value of Peers (2017 pdf).
Confidential · Independent · Free
Talk to a volunteer lawyer peer counselor
info@walal.org
We respond within 48 hours and usually the same day.
Reach outIn this article
988
Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
In immediate distress?
Please contact the 988 Hotline
This is a three-digit number in the U.S. that connects callers, texters, or chat users directly to trained counselors in the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline network. It is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, and conversations are free and confidential. You do not need to be suicidal to use this important service. It supports a wide range of emotional and behavioral health concerns, including depression, substance use, loneliness, relationship issues, and stress from disasters. You can dial 988. You can text 988. You can visit 988lifeline.org for live chat. You can videophone using American Sign Language if deaf and hard of hearing.
Published in
For the Good of the Order
September 2026 newsletter of the M. Margaret McKeown Federal Bar Association for the Western District of Washington
Reprint this article
Bar newsletters, sections, and firms are welcome to republish
Republish in full at no cost, with the byline and the WaLAL tag kept intact. Editors: a 100-word abstract is packaged and ready to drop in. Questions to info@walal.org.
About WaLAL
Washington Lawyers Assisting Lawyers (WaLAL) is a 501(c)(3) local non-profit with dozens of well-trained, volunteer lawyer peer counselors of diverse lived-through experience, offering confidential, independent, and free peer support to those facing similar challenges. Contact info@walal.org or www.walal.org for more information.
