Top-tier law firm hires first national mental health manager

National law firm Clayton Utz has hired a consultant psychologist to help “refine and improve” how the firm approaches and delivers mental health initiatives.

Top-tier law firm hires first national mental health manager

Jerome Doraisamy

Last Updated: 25 October 2019 Published: 25 October 2019

Emma Howard, who has served as a corporate services manager and senior consultant psychologist for the Centre for Corporate Health and its sister company, Resilia, has been appointed to the newly created role of national health manager at Clayton Utz.

The hire forms part of the firm’s “continued investment in supporting its people to maintain good mental health”, CU said in a statement.

Reflecting on her appointment, Ms Howard said that she saw an opportunity to bring her experience in both clinical practice and in mental health training and education to help Clayton Utz continue to build on its health and wellbeing initiatives.

“I have worked with clients in a range of industries including banking, law and media, and fundamentally the challenges are the same. We need to keep people talking about mental health and give people the reassurance that they’re not alone and that there is support available,” she said.

CU deputy chief executive partner of people and development Kate Jordan added that the legal profession is generally getting better at encouraging people to be more open in having conversations about mental health but that it is “important to keep mental health front of mind, every day”.

“The legal industry is known for having higher rates of people who are experiencing challenges with mental health, such as depression and anxiety. That’s why we’ve really invested in building an integrated health approach around promoting positive mental wellbeing and methods of early prevention and intervention," she said.

“Recruiting Emma as our national mental health manager shows that we take our people’s mental health seriously and understand that we need to maintain the momentum around the work we’ve done to date in peer training and support and in de-stigmatising mental health in the workplace.”

Jerome Doraisamy

Jerome Doraisamy is a senior writer for Lawyers Weekly and Wellness Daily at Momentum Media.

Before joining the team in early 2018, Jerome is admitted as a solicitor in New South Wales and, prior to joining the team in early 2018, he worked in both commercial and governmental legal roles and has worked as a public speaker and consultant to law firms, universities and high schools across the country and internationally. He is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines self-help book series and is an adjunct lecturer at The University of Western Australia.

Jerome graduated from the University of Technology, Sydney with a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts in Communication (Social Inquiry).

You can email Jerome at: [email protected]