Vol 86 Issue 5
The Definitive Source for Osgoode News
October 28, 2013
COULD THIS BE A SOURCE OF MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES AT OSGOODE? THE CO-PRESIDENTS OF THE MENTAL HEALTH LAW
SOCIETY THINK SO.
Mental health at law school
ROMA LOTAY and
ALICIA JAIPERSAUD
Contributors
We need to talk about it. Why is mental
health such a taboo topic, especially among law
students? The fact is, many of us are going
through the same thing, so we should talk about
it.
So, let’s have the talk. What is it about law
school that makes law students believe they do
not belong? Why do so many of us feel that we
got in by fluke? What are the pressures that
law students are facing?
In our first year at law school, we are introduced to the curve. Many of us are used to getting As and, all of a sudden, we receive our first
semester grades and begin classifying ourselves
as B students. We are told by upper year students that most people get Bs and it is not a big
deal, but for some reason, that doesn’t help. We
think by not getting any As, there are no job
opportunities for us. This is simply not true.
We change our study strategies practically
every week because we let the chatter around us
get to us.
In our second year at law school, we somewhat learn how to accept the curve and are a
bit more confident with our study habits, but
become obsessed with something else – OCIs.
The atmosphere in class suddenly changes. We
think if we don’t get a summer position, our
careers are over. Once again, this is simply not
true. It is not the end of the world if you don’t
secure a summer position. Life really does go
on.
In our third year at law school, we are supposed
to finally see the light, but do we really? Many
students are still worried about securing an
articling position.
All these problems are common to most, if not
all, law students. Yet we are still quite reluctant to have an open and frank discussion about
these issues. Why is that? One possible reason
is our fear of judgment. As students, we are
told about the importance of professionalism
and constantly engage in managing our image
to ensure we are always presented in the best
possible light. In this competitive atmosphere at
law school, we often worry that talking about
our own mental health issues are a display of
weakness that could harm our future career
prospects. The unfortunate stigma surrounding
mental health issues still exists in society and,
in some ways, law school may increase the fear
of being susceptible to this stigma.
Along with this image-managing, we are often
afraid about fitting in. We become preoccupied
with the whispers around us that we begin to
amend our behaviour to try to convince others
– and ourselves – that we belong. We begin to
compare ourselves to our conceptions of the
ideal law student: the straight-A individual
who secures a rare first-year summer position,
participates in OCIs and acquires a prestigious
second-year summer position, articles at that
» continued on page 9
In this issue...
All about the Senate
pages 2, 3, and 11
Elephants
page 5
Jurisfoodence
pages 8 and 13
Last minute costume ideas
page 16