Counselling for Lawyers in Calgary

When the demands of a legal career become too much, therapy can help.

As a lawyer, you work in an environment where the demands don’t switch off. It’s a fast-paced career with constant pressure to perform, and over time, the stress can build until it becomes difficult to tolerate.

Specific work demands lawyers like you often face

• Your time is not your own. The pace is set by deadlines, deals, crises, and the expectations of people who depend on your judgment.
• You’re expected to be available and responsive late in the evenings and on weekends, performing at all times.
• You feel daily pressure from billable targets, multiple clients or partners or files competing for priority, and the need to demonstrate your value at every stage of your career.
• You face a constant stream of internal demands, limited resources, and expectations to provide clear answers.
• You solve complex problems that carry significant responsibility, and your decisions have important consequences.

Other work issues you may be facing

You may be considering a career move, a move in-house, a change of firm, or a shift in your professional direction. We can examine these decisions carefully to ensure they’re deliberate and aligned with your long-term goals.

You may also be sorting through how credit and advancement decisions are made. Not every lawyer has had the same opportunity to learn how the workplace functions.

Some lawyers have mentors who explain how credit is allocated, how files are assigned, and how advancement decisions are made.

Others must learn these things on their own. We can work on sharpening your political acumen so that your efforts are aligned with how decisions are actually made.

You can bring specific challenges to our therapy sessions, and we can work on them together.

Possible scenarios include:

• Not receiving credit for work you’ve done
• Being passed over for an opportunity
• Watching someone with a lower workload advance more quickly
• Uncertainty about how to position yourself for the next stage

When the stress of your job builds, your personal life can suffer

The demands of your work can take over everything else. Personal plans are often cancelled because something urgent has come up.

When you’re at home, you may be thinking about the files at work that are waiting for you. Time meant for your family, your relationship, your health, or sleep can be absorbed by the next demand.

There may not be an easy way to step back, rest, or take time off.

Over time, the pressure can affect your energy, focus, and ability to think clearly and efficiently. The strategies that used to work – pushing harder, working longer, being more organized – have stopped being enough.

Additional strains that may exist for women in law

The legal profession has historically not been designed to accommodate women’s full participation at every level.

Before becoming a psychologist, I worked as an engineer in a predominantly male environment. I had to learn the rules of the workplace to navigate it effectively and advance. In that respect, engineering and law are similar.

In our work together, we can examine how these dynamics affect your day-to-day experience and your long-term goals, and how to navigate them in a way that aligns with your values and supports a sustainable legal career.

I work with lawyers at all career stages

In private practice, I can help:

• Junior associates meet billable targets and understand the culture
• Mid-level and senior associates position themselves for partnership
• Income partners manage high expectations and performance demands
• Equity partners manage the isolation that senior roles can carry

If you’re in private practice, our work can focus on career and workload decisions, including releasing time accurately, positioning yourself with the right partners and files, positioning for partnership, and managing stress at the partner levels.

In in-house roles, I can help:

• Lawyers early in their careers adjust to constant demands
• Senior counsel balance high volumes
• General Counsel carry organizational risk and major decision responsibility

If you work in-house, we can address planning a promotion, navigating executive and board-level relationships, assessing and managing risk under resource constraints, and defining scope and boundaries within your role.

You can have a successful career and a fulfilling personal life

One-third of the clients I work with in my psychotherapy practice are lawyers, either in private practice or in-house roles. I also work with lawyers in smaller firms, in solo practice, and in government roles, where the pressures can be no less demanding.

The goal of our work together can be to help you achieve what you want in your career without compromising your health or losing sight of other parts of your life.

You don’t have to scale back your goals or become less ambitious in order to have a more balanced and fulfilling life.

During counselling, we can look closely at how your work is structured and how it intersects with your life outside the office.

Examples of what we can work on together

• If you need to protect your time more deliberately, we can prioritize tasks and identify work that can come off your desk.
• If your family needs you to be present for dinner, we can explore ways to protect that time while your work still gets done.
• If you’re a single parent and a major file arrives on your desk, we can discuss how to create reliable sources of support that will go the distance.
• If you’re burned out, we can discuss how to recover, with or without taking medical leave.
• If you’re having difficulty sleeping, we can work on strategies to help you sleep more peacefully.
• If you suffer from constant worry or anxiety, we can work toward relief.
• If you drink too much as a method of coping, we can look at your stress and find ways to help you reduce your alcohol consumption.
• If you’re struggling with episodes of depression, we can work on strategies to help you manage and recover.

We can address your issues in practical ways and plan for surges in your workload. You can become more effective professionally because your capacity will be better protected.

Sustaining high performance in a legal career

As a result of counselling, you can perform at a high level in a way that is more stable, deliberate, and sustainable. You can see further ahead, anticipate demands, and allocate your time in a way that reflects your actual priorities rather than reacting to the next urgent request.

At home, your availability can be more predictable, and you can be present in your relationships without carrying the office load with you. You can remain effective in a demanding profession over the long term without sacrificing your personal life.

Take the next step

If you’d like to look at your situation in a structured and practical way, you are welcome to book an in-person or online therapy session. We can review where things stand, what is contributing to your current situation, and what your options are.

If you identify with any of the issues described on this page, I’m likely a good fit for you to work with.

I work with lawyers in Calgary.