Wellness Toolkit: Resources for Retirees and Seniors
CLIA recognizes the importance of promoting wellness for the profession. To help, we have compiled a repository of wellness resources based on the findings of the National Study on the Health and Wellness Determinants of Legal Professionals in Canada prepared by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada, the Canadian Bar Association and the Université de Sherbrooke.
Our online Wellness Toolkit houses resources to assist you in detecting warning signs in yourself and others, provide more information for those in higher-risk groups, and tools to deal with risks specific to the legal profession.
This post focuses on a high-risk group identified in the Study: Retirees and Seniors. As the LAWPRO article, Retirement, Identity, and Mental Health: It’s an Adjustment, notes:
Lawyers often pay lip service to looking forward to retirement. However, when pressed on the subject, many admit that their true feelings are mixed.
Those who equivocate may have good reason: for many professionals, the adjustment to retirement can be psychologically challenging. A 2013 study¹ showed that retirement increased the risk of clinical depression in British men by 40 per cent.
Related research has shown that professionals, and especially male professionals, draw much of their sense of personal identity from their work. When work ends, retirees can struggle with a loss of a sense of self.
Lawyers may feel that, in retirement, their views are no longer relevant; or even that their lives are suddenly without purpose. Making a happy and healthy adjustment to retirement requires reflection, planning, and a willingness to seek support when it’s needed.
Check out this article for strategies to help if you are considering retirement but are feeling conflicted.
Also see the other resources we’ve curated, including:
*Note that for resources that link to the CBA Well-Being Hour, you will need to scroll down or search on the page for the specific resource you are looking for.