Resources and useful links
Below is a hyperlinked index of the resources referred to throughout our Health and Wellbeing Hub.
Self-assessment (know and check warning signs)
- Black Dog Institute’s TEN digital mental health check-up
- Think Mental Health – Mental health self-assessment checklist (K10)
- Know the early warning signs
What is wellbeing?
- World Health Organization‘s definition and descriptions of wellbeing
- Five drivers of personal wellbeing by the New Economic Foundation (UK)
Wellbeing in a legal context
- Being well in the law: A guide for lawyers
- The Law Society of WA’s Report Psychological distress and depression in the legal profession and Summary of the report
- 2021-2025 Mental health and wellbeing plan and Mental health and wellbeing committee recommendations
- MindsCount: Best practice workplace wellbeing guidelines (a free and comprehensive framework for legal workplaces), 13 workplace factors (elements required to safeguard legal employees’ psychological health) and their annual lecture series
- Staying well in the law video produced by Resilience@law and the Black Dog Institute
- Promoting and protecting mental health in the legal profession (simple coping strategies)
Past Brief articles
- Disclosure of mental illness and implications for your practising certificate
- Wellness and mental health
- Best practice mental health initiatives in commercial legal practices
- Fire-proofing ourselves against burning out from our clients
- What crisis? How planning can alleviate the pain of workplace traumas
Pro-active self-care online resources (videos for being active or staying calm during the workday)
Ted talks (recommended in the Being Well in the Law report)
- Brene Brown – The power of vulnerability
- Nigel Marsh – How to make work-life balance work
- Dan Gilbert – Why we are happy, Why aren’t we happy?
- Matthieu Ricard – The habits of happiness
- Philip Zimbardo – The psychology of time
Books (recommended by lawyers for lawyers or those working in the law)
- The Wellness doctrines: for law students and young lawyers
- The Sleep diet
- Getting to yes
- Happy lawyer happy life
Free online lectures
- The science of happiness – University of Berkeley
- The science of generosity: Do good feel good – University of Pennsylvania
- Mindfulness and resilience to stress at work – University of Berkeley
- Building personal resilience: Managing anxiety and mental health – Harvard University
- Managing happiness – Harvard University
- The foundations of happiness at work – University of Berkeley
Mindfulness apps
- Smiling Mind aims to make mindfulness accessible to all, including through a free app.
- The Headspace App provides a range of meditation sessions, including on sleep, work, focus, stress, and anxiety.
- Calm is an app that provides guided sessions on meditation and mindfulness.
Resources for staying connected
- Beyond Blue – 30 ways to connect and overcome loneliness
- 5 Ways to Wellbeing – How to stay socially connected (i.e. in contact with family and friends and how to make new social connections)
- The Modest Man – 18 ways to stay connected when life gets busy (strategies to maintain closeness during life’s busiest seasons)
Online resources for providing support (helping colleagues and others)
- Mental Health First Aid is training which teaches people the skills needed to help anyone they are concerned about. MHFA provide a range of training options for individuals and workplaces and can be contacted on 03 9079 0200 or by email at mhfa@mhfa.com.au, or click here to register for the Law Society’s Mental Health First Aid Training two-day course in February 2026.
- Beyond Blue provides advice on how to support others suffering from mental health problems.
- R U OK? provides resources for creating a safe and supportive culture, initiating difficult conversations and looking after colleagues in the workplace. They also have a short video to provide practical tips for how to ask a work colleague if they need help.
- SANE Australia is for people with recurring, persistent or complex mental health issues and trauma, and for their families, friends and communities. They have produced a How to help in a crisis resource guide and Guidance for supporting someone at risk of suicide
- The Bar Council of England and Wales’ Mental health and wellbeing at the bar has a useful guide about How to have a wellbeing conversation.
- The Black Dog Institute has a produced some useful short video, Working towards wellbeing – talking about what really matters, to provide some quick tips on starting that conversation.
