Travers Smith is proud to be supporting Mental Health Awareness Week (8 – 14 May) with a series of seminars and workshops aimed at raising awareness of mental health challenges and promoting mindfulness and self-care.
Throughout the week, Fitness First and Virgin Active will be running sessions looking at the benefits of using exercise to combat stress; chartered psychologist Suzy Reading from Well Aware will be leading a workshop on examining attitudes and identifying barriers to self-care; and Gelong Thubten, who has been a monk since 1993, will be running a seminar focusing on how to manage and deal with stress through mindfulness meditation.
As part of our Mental Health Awareness Week programme, we will also welcome mental health campaigners Jonny Benjamin and Neil Laybourn who will be sharing their story following the global #FindMike campaign. The campaign led to Jonny being reunited with the Good Samaritan that talked him down when he contemplated jumping off Waterloo Bridge.
Mental wellbeing and resilience is an important topic for both the firm and the legal profession in general and Travers Smith is continuing to support charities and initiatives to help raise awareness of mental health. For example, last month, Tax Partner Emily Clark took part in a panel discussion organised by Oxford Women in Law, and hosted by Travers Smith, which focused on creating wellbeing and mental resilience in the workplace.
As part of its charities programme, between 2014 and 2016 the firm selected mental health charity Mind to be its first major charity partner and continues to support the charity, regularly providing resources and pro bono advice.