Health and Wellbeing

Counselling and Crisis Services

The Victorian Bar funds two independent counselling services to members and their families.

The services include 24-hour crisis support and counselling help lines:

Re-Vision Group                    (03) 9650 5540 or 0417 351 677

Psychologists are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to deal with any crisis situation.

Converge International        1300 687 327

Trained consultants are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to deal with any crisis situation.
 

Wellbeing at the Victorian Bar – Online health and wellbeing portal

Barristers perform a vital function in the community, providing advice and advocacy essential for defending the rights of those before the court. Sometimes, the daily pressures that barristers face, both personally and professionally, can be overwhelming.

The Victorian Bar is committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing of members. The Bar launched its health and wellbeing portal in February 2021. The portal is a landmark initiative designed to enable barristers to access the information and support they need to manage various difficulties that they may face during their careers quickly and easily.

The Victorian Bar acknowledges the financial support of the Legal Services Board + Commissioner in developing the portal.

The portal is available here.

Mission Statement

The Committee’s primary goal is to promote the good health and wellbeing of barristers.

The Committee’s objective is to:    

• educate, inspire and support barristers to achieve and maintain good physical and mental health as they pursue a high standard of legal practice; and
• give barristers information, support and access to health care services, focusing on the special requirements of barristers.

The Committee is responsible for:

• the administration and review of the Bar Care facility provided to barristers by the Bar’s psychological and other service providers (but without seeking or being entitled to know any information provided to the Bar’s service providers by barristers); and
• the review and formulation of recommendations to the Bar Council as to what services should be provided to barristers under the Bar Care facility.

The Committee is also responsible for:

• providing information to barristers about particular aspects of health and wellbeing
• organising events and seminars to promote the physical and mental health of barristers; and 
• considering and organizing training programs for barristers to promote good health and well-being. The Committee will report to Bar Council at least annually and as often as Bar Council requires

The Health and Wellbeing Committee recommend that barristers who are in any way concerned about their psychological well being should seek professional help.

Wellbeing at the Victorian Bar survey report

The Wellbeing of the Victorian Bar survey report covers the findings of a survey undertaken in June 2018 by 856 Victorian barristers.

The survey covered two key areas:

• Quality of Working Life, Workplace Wellbeing and Personal Wellbeing; and
• Conduct including discrimination, sexual harassment and workplace bullying

It used two benchmarks:

• the 2017 Barrister Wellbeing Survey of 1,088 (non-Victorian) Australian barristers; and
• a sample of just under 6,000 academics from 10 UK universities

Headline results were mostly encouraging and were in line with or exceeded the benchmark samples. Three in four respondents agreed or strongly agreed they were satisfied with the overall quality of their working lives. More than four in five respondents agreed or strongly agreed they enjoy their work. Four in five reported overall satisfaction with their jobs. Two-thirds agreed or strongly agreed they felt good or content with life as a whole.

The full report and Wellbeing at the Victorian Bar presentation slides may be accessed via the below links: