Mental illness and mental health issues have long carried a stigma in the professional world, including the legal industry. Now, following a year of nearly universal mental duress, that is changing. Atlanta partner Brian Galison spoke with The Daily Business Review on some of the initiatives that Nelson Mullins has taken to minimize this stigma.

Publishing regular health and wellness-related articles on the Nelson Mullins intranet and hosting similar virtual events are just some of the ways that the firm has started the conversation around mental health. Galison has regularly attended monthly meditation sessions. As a result, he's started meditating on his own time to deal with COVID-19 stress.

"I do think that it slows the speed with which my blood pressure rises due to stress," Galison said "There are times where it allows me to stop whatever I'm doing, take a breath, and bring my stress level back to normal."

On the stigma of mental illness, Galison believes that having more visibility for those issues in the national media makes a huge difference. "I think that people that are in the spotlight [today] are willing to talk about it themselves, which normalizes it for everybody else," he said.

For the full article, subscribers may click here.