{"id":3477,"date":"2026-10-19T09:05:54","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T13:05:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/fall-2026\/?p=3477"},"modified":"2026-10-21T14:03:43","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T18:03:43","slug":"carolina-law-students-fight-stigma-for-seeking-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/fall-2026\/carolina-law-students-fight-stigma-for-seeking-help\/","title":{"rendered":"Students Fight Stigma For Seeking Help\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Susan Hudson, University Communications and Marketing <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"members
The UNC School of Law Sound Mind Sound Body Organization is committed to building a supportive and welcoming community where students can talk honestly about pressures, challenges, and realities of law school. Members of the group met at the UNC School of Law Wednesday October 7, 2026. Pictured (from left to right) are: Jay Pittman 3L Cindi Gardner, Director of Student Services Avi Kripak 2L Annie Sheeder 3L Ben Richardson, 2L (Jon Gardiner\/UNC-Chapel Hill)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What if you are in law school and really need help \u2014 you\u2019re feeling depressed, dependent on alcohol or dealing with a personal crisis \u2014 but you fear it may be held against you in your career? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s something Carolina Law students must consider, because applicants to the bar are subject to a character and fitness investigation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe character and fitness investigation interrogates your life,\u201d said Jay Pittman \u201927. \u201cAnd if you\u2019re disclosing mental health struggles, will you have to defend that to get your license?\u201d That\u2019s why Pittman and fellow law students Annie Sheeder \u201927, Ben Richardson \u201929, Atharv Kripak \u201828, and Colleen Malley \u201927 have laid groundwork over the past several months to launch Sound Mind-Sound Body next semester. The mission of this student organization is to reduce stigma, encourage open, meaningful conversations, and connect students with campus and community resources that strengthen the broader School community.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group\u2019s founders work closely with Tora Taylor-Glover, a Counseling and Psychological Services licensed clinical social worker embedded in the UNC School of Law. They consulted with the North Carolina Bar Association\u2019s Lawyer Assistance Program, a confidential resource for law professionals and law students, and hope to bring the UNC School of Social Work\u2019s Mental Health First Aid training to Carolina Law. They\u2019re creating T-shirts, planning a kickball tournament and generally creating a safe space for law students looking for connection and support.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lucinda Gardner, Carolina Law\u2019s director of student services and former practicing attorney, knows the statistics about law school stress: 96% of law students face significant stress compared to 70% of medical students and 43% of graduate students. While law schools have implemented programming to support law student mental health, the concerning trend continues. The Dave Nee Foundation reports that depression rates among law students rise as they progress through law school. Before starting law school, about 8-9% of students experience depression. This figure climbs to 27% after one semester, 34% after two semesters, and eventually reaches 40% after three years of law school. FN [Law Crossing, 6 Law Student Mental Health Statistics by Francis Mundin, 1\/9\/2024]. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why she has championed the new student-led support group. \u201cLife continues when you come to law school, and oftentimes law students are not seeking support the way they should,\u201d said Gardner. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to find ways to destigmatize, to support and to decrease the barriers to conversations.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"members
The UNC School of Law Sound Mind Sound Body Organization is committed to building a supportive and welcoming community where students can talk honestly about pressures, challenges, and realities of law school. Members of the group met at the UNC School of Law Wednesday October 7, 2026. Pictured are:\nJay Pittman 3L\nAvi Kripak 2L\nAnnie Sheeder 3L\nBen Richardson, 2L\n\n(Jon Gardiner\/UNC-Chapel Hill)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Last year, third-year law student Sheeder reached out to Gardner after the death of her brother, who struggled with substance use disorder. Gardner later connected her to the Sound Mind-Sound Body organizers, including Ben Richardson who was also coping with the death of his younger sister. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was comfortable working closely with school administration, but that\u2019s not the case for a lot of people,\u201d Sheeder said. \u201cAnd I really wanted to be a liaison to connect people to what they might need when they\u2019re going through crisis or even if they just want a shoulder to lean on as they deal with law school stress.\u201d\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taylor-Glover likes the group\u2019s plans to incorporate fun events as well as sharing information about resources. \u201cIt gives them a bit of a break from their everyday routine of reading and studying and going to class. Being in a group helps build community,\u201d Taylor-Glover said. \u201cAs staff, we say the message, but sometimes the message comes through better when it\u2019s from people that are very similar to them \u2014 when it\u2019s from their peers.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pittman is \u201cclosing in on 18 months of sobriety,\u201d a feat they credit in part to help from Gardner and the Lawyer Assistance Program. But Pittman added that they probably would have sought help sooner if there had been a group like Sound Mind-Sound Body back then. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had a conversation with a student three weeks ago, and it just reaffirmed the need for something like this,\u201d Pittman said. \u201cThey asked me, \u2018How do you know if you\u2019re an alcoholic? Because I\u2019m struggling.\u2019 And we just kind of opened up that conversation for a while. I think it\u2019s important for people to see faces they recognize, and people they know, who have had those struggles.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sound Mind-Sound Body reflects Carolina Law\u2019s emphasis on belonging and community. Destigmatizing mental health issues is a crucial part of the community for these founding students. They want to make a difference for their peers as they go through law school and into practice. The goal is to give support and have everyone at Carolina Law thrive and be healthy advocates in their communities. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UNC School of Law\u2019s new Sound Mind-Sound Body student organization aims to help future lawyers lead a healthy, balanced life.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3645,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/fall-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3477"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/fall-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/fall-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/fall-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/fall-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3477"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/fall-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3755,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/fall-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3477\/revisions\/3755"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/fall-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/fall-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/fall-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/fall-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}