Initiatives the firm will be running this week include:

• A webinar for our lawyer community on self-care and wellbeing delivered by Dr Judith Mohring, who will draw on her clinical experience of working both with lawyers and the victims of trauma to provide tools to recognise the symptoms of trauma, improve psychological resilience and reduce the impact of traumatic work.
• A webinar for our business services employees delivered by psychologist Dr Cristy Leask on anxiety in the legal sector, including practical support for ourselves and our peers.
• An interactive and informative discussion, facilitated by activist Alexander Leon and a representative from Opening Doors, about how people from minority groups disproportionately experience poor mental health, and the role we all have to play in helping address these inequalities.
• A panel session by grief expert Lizzie Pickering and our Bereavement Support Group leads, Emily Lang and Danny Riding, on the experience of bereavement and loss, as well as how we can support others through the process. Lizzie will also be running 1-1 in-person sessions.
• Access to Calm's 5-Day Work Smarter Challenge, which provides tools and resources to help reduce work stress, enhance mental resilience and work smarter all around.

The mental wellbeing of our employees is highly important not only in May, but all year round. As such, we have a number of ongoing initiative to help support our employees and offer them the guidance they need in order to deal with mental health challenges, build resilience and generally feel supported at work. These include:

• Providing fortnightly benefits and wellbeing updates, ensuring there is a high level of awareness of initiatives put in place to support employees and partners across the firm.
• Offering weekly virtual sessions focused on breathing for relaxation techniques and teaching some neck and shoulders self-massage techniques.
• Providing ongoing free access to The Sleep School's online resources and apps, alongside two upcoming sessions to be run in the summer.
• Providing free counselling services to all employees and partners, alongside a 24/7 helpline facility.
• Providing free membership of Calm.com, facilitating access to mindfulness and meditation sessions, relaxing music, sleep stories and more.
• Provided a wealth of resources in a dedicated "Your Wellbeing" Hub.
• Supporting employee-led groups, the Menopause Awareness Group and Bereavement Support Group, informal networks which can provide support to those dealing with the mental impacts of the menopause and loss respectively.
• The firm is a signatory of the Mindful Business Charter and several departments have taken steps to implement the Charter in their teams.

Travers Smith's Chief People Officer, Moira Slape, commented: " I am proud that the schedule of events Travers Smith has planned for this year's Mental Health Awareness Week are tailored to suit the different needs of everyone across our business. As a firm we remain committed to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of all our people. This encompasses a wide range of initiatives, from robust support systems for those seeking support to benefits aimed at boosting wellbeing, such as access to the Calm app."