Malcolm Gladwell has written a book called, The Tipping Point. Gladwell wants to know what made Paul Revere’s ride successful. How did Hush Puppies, sometime in the late 90’s, become high fashion? What caused the crime rate in New York City to fall almost in half in five years and for the murder rate to drop 64.3%? […]
Every now and then the Lawyer Assistance Program gets a call from a law student at one of our seven North Carolina law schools. The student would rather talk without giving his or her name. The LAP person answering the phone says that’s OK and asks what the concerns are. Usually the student is facing […]
Close your eyes and think woman alcoholic or woman lawyer alcoholic. What image comes to mind. Probably not any. There is not the image of the dirty, sleeping-under-the-train trestle wino image we often have for the male alcoholic. That image is inaccurate, but at least we have one. There is not the more accurate image […]
Close to ten years ago, the members of the Consortium for Professional Recovery Programs began discussing a collaborative project to survey North Carolina professionals. This consortium, comprised of representatives from medicine, law, dentistry, pharmacy, psychology, nursing, and social work, met regularly to discuss methods to improve the behavioral health issues experienced by their professionals. The […]
“I’m one of them,” quipped Jesse in a staccato voice. “One of whom,” replied the professional counselor. “Oh, you know, one of those lawyers branded a success. It looks like it’s working; that is, on the outside. But, on the inside it’s not happening!” Jesse continued, “I’m thinking: ‘Is this really what I want from my career […]
We’ve all heard the phrase “dry drunk, ” referring to a person who is alcoholic and who has stopped drinking, but who has not done anything to address the underlying emotional and psychological issues, which his or her drinking medicated. Recent experience suggests there may also be something similar for the person who suffers from […]
One of the great difficulties these days with contracting a serious illness is that the disease makes us tired, emotional, vulnerable, and uncertain at a time when we most need to be mentally sharp, resourceful and diligent in order to reach out and determine the most effective treatment. This is especially true with diseases like […]
Writing a short column about how to have good mental health is a challenge. Each reader who may benefit sees his or her problem from a different perspective. These different perspectives reflect the multi-faceted nature of a problem like depression. Depression is a disease that is physical, emotional, and spiritual. If I am suffering from […]
In the years between 1984 and 1993, the Mecklenburg County Bar Association in Charlotte, NC lost eight members to suicide. Put in the context of my arrival as the bar’s first executive director in 1984, this translates to eight suicides in nine years. Seven men and one woman took their lives in that span of […]
In a recent column, I mentioned the results of Mary Howerton’s doctoral research. Mary is the former director of the Mecklenburg County Bar and a member of the Lawyer Assistance Program Board. Her doctoral research, concerning the quality of well-being of lawyers in North Carolina, revealed that over 27% of the lawyers in her study […]
Recently, I had a professional appointment with a surgeon friend and we got into an interesting discussion about self-esteem. My friend made the statement that self-esteem had to be earned. He shared a personal example that when he plays tennis with his teenage son, he never lets his son win, ignoring his wife’s idea that […]
Keith Yamashita is the hot item right now in advising corporations that have hit a brick wall. He is a 37-year-old principal in a business consulting firm on the West Coast known as Stone Yamashita Partners. His skill has been in identifying structural and systemic problems in a company or its leaders. His firm has […]