Normalizing Attorney Well-Being by Eliminating Stigma

Join Verrill’s Jonathan Dunitz at the Maine State Bar Association’s 2025 Summer Bar Conference in Bar Harbor. Jonathan will be featured on the Normalizing Attorney Well-Being by Eliminating Stigma panel. One of the major barriers to attorney well-being is the stigma associated with mental health, substance misuse, and any number of other conditions that impact our health. Until we stop stigmatizing mental health, substance misuse and other conditions, the statistics for attorney wellness will continue to be staggering. With the number of attorneys in Maine shrinking, we all need to be at that top of our game for ourselves, our families, our clients, our colleagues, and our firms. This panel will address the stigmas associated with illness, provide ways to start tearing down the walls that prevent so many of us from taking care of ourselves and our colleagues, and will demonstrate that getting the help you need is a best practice for a successful life in the law.

Featured panelist Justice John O’Neil, Krystal Williams, Esq., Caitlin LoCascio-King, Esq., and Elyssa Smith (a trauma-informed life coach with a Ted Talk on Procrastination, which you can all watch later: Why You Procrastinate – and How to Stop it for Good | Elyssa Smith | TEDxBabsonCollege – YouTube).

For more information, please click here.