Chambers is awarded a Bar Council Certificate of Recognition for its work on wellbeing

5 Stone Buildings is delighted to announce that we have been awarded a Bar Council Certificate of Recognition for our work on wellbeing. We are now one of 62 chambers and other organisations holding such certificates.

In 2014, the Bar Council commissioned research which identified mental health and wellbeing as an important issue for the Bar to deal with. Since then, the Bar Council has established the very valuable Wellbeing at the Bar initiative.

Chambers’ submission to the Bar Council in support of our application for a certificate referred to the work we have done in establishing support  mechanisms within chambers, including the development of a Wellbeing Policy and the mentoring of junior barristers. A number of our members have taken the lead on wellbeing: Amanda Hardy QC and Eliza Eagling sit on the Bar Council’s Wellbeing at the Bar Working Group and they also are members of the Chancery Bar Association’s Wellbeing Sub-Committee together with William East. The ChBA Wellbeing Sub-Committee developed a best practice policy on wellbeing together with the Institute of Barristers’ Clerks, which has since been the model for many chambers’ internal initiatives.