Volunteers
Volunteers are the foundation of Lawyers’ Assistance Program and are the reason we refer to LAP as a program of “lawyers helping lawyers.” Our trained volunteers provide peer counseling when a lawyer, judge, or law student calls for assistance and they serve on intervention teams to help those legal professionals who may not realize they have a problem. LAP volunteers also serve as speakers who help educate the legal profession about addiction and mental health problems.
Our volunteers give their time and assistance because they believe their assistance is valuable and beneficial for the legal profession and because they find it personally rewarding to help others. LAP has volunteer opportunities for attorneys who are in recovery as well as those who are not in recovery.
Our next Volunteer Training Program will be Friday, June 4, 2010 at Loyola School of Law in Chicago. To register for this event, call the LAP office at 312-726-6607.
Volunteers in Twelve-Step Recovery Programs
LAP has opportunities for recovering attorneys and judges to serve as either peer counselors or intervenors, or both. As peer counselors, they provide one-to-one support to colleagues who recognize they have a problem and would like to speak to a recovering attorney. As intervenors, they work in intervention teams to assist the colleagues, families, and friends of troubled attorneys in conducting interventions to help those who may not realize they need help.
Personal recovery in a twelve-step program such as Alcoholics Anonymous or Al-Anon provides an excellent foundation for understanding addiction. It also gives credibility to the hope offered the subject of an intervention that recovery is possible and can be successful. LAP feels so strongly about this factor that it requires that at least one member of an intervention team be in recovery from the illness afflicting the subject.
Persons in recovery do need to be aware that LAP intervention work is not the same as twelve step work. Successful intervention work requires a clear conceptual understanding of what the intervention is designed to do: get the subject to accept help.
Volunteers Who Are Not in Recovery
Though not personally affected by any addiction, those LAP volunteers who are not in recovery, but who have received LAP training, can contribute services as trained intervenors. Because these volunteers may not have firsthand understanding of the power of denial and the dynamics of recovery, they often find it helpful to read AA, Al-Anon, and other twelve-step literature and to attend open meetings of twelve-step programs.
These non-recovering volunteers do understand how addiction and mental illness can impair legal professionals. Like all our volunteers, they are a prime example of the good that comes when those within a profession are concerned for their fellow professionals and want to help.
Are You Interested in Becoming a LAP Volunteer?
All LAP volunteers participate in a six-hour training session before they provide peer counseling or serve on intervention teams. Treatment professionals from Rush Behavioral Health provide education in the form of lecture, demonstration (live and video), and role play.
Participation in a training session does not obligate you to become a LAP volunteers but is a prerequisite if you wish to serve in a volunteer capacity. Indeed, many legal professionals attend these events to improve their understanding of addiction and mental health as it affects the profession of law.
You may call or email the LAP office if you wish to be notified of the next volunteer training sessions. The next LAP volunteer Training Program will be offered on Friday, June 4, 2010 at Loyola School of Law in Chicago. See specific information under “Events.”