West Virginia Judicial & Lawyer Assistance Program

WVJLAP

If you are concerned about yourself or about a partner, associate, colleague, bar applicant, law student or judge, help is available here.

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Fall 2019

        LapQuest               

The Perfect Addict  

From childhood to adulthood, this attorney suffered with the disease of addiction. With the implementation of a 12-step program and admitting that he was powerless over his substance abuse issue, he was able to develop a better way of living.  He stayed focused, worked hard, and asked for a second chance from other legal professionals. Today this attorney is successful with his employment, and most importantly is also living happy joyous and free.

Read More

 

ABA Anti-Stigma Campaign

Stigma, shame, and fear. These obstacles frequently play a major role in an individual’s decision not to seek help when suffering from mental health and substance use disorders. Too often, lawyers, judges, and law students find themselves wrestling privately with frustration and despair as an addiction or mental health problem dominates their life and threatens their career.  To raise awareness about the nature of addiction and mental health distress in our profession and to challenge the biases and stigma that surround those problems, the ABA’s Commission on Lawyers Assistance Programs (CoLAP) created a profession-wide anti-stigma campaign that will feature a series of videos highlighting the personal recovery stories of lawyers, judges, and law students who have overcome these issues. These videos send the message that recovery from addiction and mental health problems is entirely possible for legal professionals. Our goal is to ensure that fewer of our colleagues face these challenges alone.

Watch Video

 

Emotional Sobriety by Bill Wilson

Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous wrote about emotional sobriety in a letter he sent to a depressed friend in 1956.  This letter was eventually published in The Grapevine in 1958 titled “Emotional Sobriety: The Next Frontier.”

Read Letter

 

Law Firm/Organization Impairment Policy

In 2019, the Policy Committee of the ABA Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs (CoLAP) and the ABA Working Group to Advance Well-Being in the Legal Profession developed this template to provide suggested guidelines to legal employers for responding to an employee who is experiencing impairment due to a substance use disorder, mental health disorder or cognitive impairment.

Read Policy

 

 

 

 

 

CONFIDENTIALITY

In order to assure a high degree of trust and confidence, Confidentiality is afforded by Rules of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals and WVJLAP operates independently of the Court, the State Bar and Office of Disciplinary Counsel. Information received concerning anyone seeking help or to whom assistance is offered is and remains confidential absent their Express Consent.  If you call as a concerned family member, friend, peer, partner or colleague your communications are also treated as confidential.  To review the West Virginia Supreme Court Rules of the West Virginia Judicial & Lawyer Assistance Program, visit the link below: 

Rules of the West Virginia Judicial & Lawyer Assistance Program

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