LAWYERS

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COLAP Is Here For the Colorado Legal Community

The stress of practicing law – with its competition, long hours, perfectionism, exposure to traumatized clients, incivility, and adversarial relationships – can negatively impact even the most competent lawyer. In fact, research shows that lawyers suffer from mental health, substance use, and well-being issues relating to stress and burnout at a higher rate than the general public, and yet lawyers are less likely to ask for help when it’s most needed.

Reaching out can be difficult when you are used to helping others and focusing on their problems or concerns rather than your own. COLAP understands how challenging it can be to acknowledge that a situation or problem has become unmanageable. When you make the call to COLAP, your issues or concerns will be held in the strictest of confidence and will be addressed by seasoned experts and professionals open to discussing whatever stressors or difficulties you are facing.

Reasons Lawyers Contact COLAP

Feeling stressed or overwhelmed, traditional coping strategies are no longer working
Compassion fatigue, secondary trauma, or burnout
Persistent fatigue and low energy
Difficulty concentrating or focusing
Apathy and isolation
Increased irritability or impatience
Health or sleep difficulties
Escalating behavioral health concerns, including mental health, substance use, and addiction issues

Therapy referral for you, your spouse/partner, child, or other family member
Work product is declining and/or communication with clients or colleagues is becoming difficult
Career-related concerns, including contemplating a career change or retiring
Self-medicating with substances (drugs or alcohol)
Self-medicating with processes (internet, gaming, gambling, shopping, eating, pornography)
Concern for staff, a colleague, or family member

What to Expect

A specialized and licensed clinician, experienced in working with lawyers, will schedule your free and confidential consultation. We provide education, practical strategies based on evidence and research-based techniques, tailored resources, and collaborative support in planning your next steps. During the consultation, COLAP staff will:

Ask about your concerns to learn more and get a complete understanding of the personal and professional issues that might be contributing to the situation,
Provide education, when appropriate, to help facilitate understanding about the issues and concerns you identify,
Identify resources that may be beneficial to you and the legal professional in your life, and
Help strategize a plan for supporting both you and the member of the legal community you are concerned about.

Confidentiality

All communications with COLAP are privileged and held in the strictest confidence.

Members of the legal community can be reluctant to seek assistance for behavioral health, well-being, and career-related issues. The Colorado Supreme Court addressed this concern by making COLAP a separate and independent agency.

In addition, pursuant to Rule 254, the court mandated that all communications with COLAP are “privileged and held in the strictest confidence.”

COLAP is prohibited from disclosing any information without a signed release from the individual it pertains to, and information shared with COLAP cannot be used as evidence in complaints, investigations, or in legal or disciplinary proceedings. Reaching out to COLAP cannot negatively impact your license, career, or personal relationships; but not reaching out might.