Owning Your Mental Health: Promoting Inclusivity and Acceptance in the Intellectual Property Professions

2. Owning your mental health Andrea Brewster (Lead Executive Officer, IP Inclusive) 6 September 2019

3. Inclusivity, acceptance and mental wellbeing

5. IP Inclusive: The mission statement To promote and improve equality, diversity and inclusion throughout the UK’s intellectual property professions.

6. IP Inclusive: What we do • Training and awareness-raising • Events • Resources • Support • “Communities”: IP & ME, IP Ability, IP Futures, IP Out, Women in IP • Best practice EDI Charter

7. IP Inclusive: What we do • Outreach • “Careers in Ideas”

8. IP Inclusive: For all IP professionals We welcome IP professionals of all types, at all levels of seniority, from all kinds of working environments and in all parts of the UK. …patent attorneys; trade mark attorneys; barristers and solicitors working in IP; staff within IP registering offices; patent and IP managers; IP administrators, secretaries and paralegals; IP licensing executives; information scientists, searchers, translators and any other professionals (including HR and management professionals) working in IP or with other IP professionals; those who provide representative, support or advisory services to IP professionals; and regulators of IP professionals.

9. Diversity and inclusion Diversity is being invited to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance.

11. Diversity and inclusion “Inclusivity” in the workplace is about people being able to bring their whole selves to work.

12. Inclusivity and mental health 1. A mental health problem might be something that people feel they need to keep hidden. 2. The effort of keeping some aspect of yourself hidden is not good for your mental health.

13. 2019 survey results • 155 CITMA & CIPA paralegals responded = 22.6% of membership category • 80.1% from private practice (51.6% from “large” private practice (>80 staff)) • Good range of career levels

14. 2019 survey results • “In the last 12 months, which of the following have adversely affected your work?” • High stress levels: 61.2% • Anxiety: 53.2% • Depression: 23.0% • 5.8% had been troubled by suicidal thoughts • That’s about 1 in 17 people

15. 2019 survey results • Stress levels in the last month: • Felt stressed “very often” or “occasionally”: 68.9% • Stress level “severe” or “extreme”: 20.5% • Felt unable to cope “very often” or “occasionally”: 42.3%

16. 2019 survey results • On the whole, paralegal stress and anxiety levels were higher than for student and attorney respondents

17. 2019 survey results • Main causes of stress & anxiety at work: • Deadlines: 46.8% • Ineffective/inappropriate management: 39.6% • Insufficient support: 35.3% • Insufficient control over workload: 32.4%

18. Being judgemental

19. 2019 survey results • Negative feelings at, or due to, work: • Fear of making mistakes: 61.2% • Feeling you’re not up to the job: 41.7% • Considering leaving your job: 35.3% • Feeling you don’t fit in: 19.4% • Needing to hide aspects of yourself or your life from colleagues: 19.4% • None: only 13.0%

20. The solution • Be less judgemental and more accepting: • of other people • of yourself

21. Accepting other people • Stop. Think. • What’s going on below the Waterline of Visibility??

22. Lunch at Liverpool Street

23. Self-compassion www.self-compassion.org

24. What’s in your Happiness Jar?

25. My Happiness Jar

26. Coping strategies • Look after your physical health: • Diet • Sleep • Exercise • Not too much alcohol • Take breaks • Connect with other people

27. 2019 survey results • Coping strategies: • Family or friends: 66.7% • Sympathetic colleagues: 44.2% • GP: 29.7% • Counsellor or therapist: 15.2%

28. LawCare www.lawcare.org.uk

29. Other sources of help • Samaritans 116 123 • www.samaritans.org • Mind • www.mind.org.uk • Mental Health Foundation • www.mentalhealth.org.uk • NHS mental health services • www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/nhs-services/mental-health-services/

30. Jonathan’s Voice www.jonathansvoice.org.uk (“Need help”)

31. Jonathan’s Voice www.jonathansvoice.org.uk (blog)

32. 2019 survey results • Side effects of stress: • Sleep problems: 64.9% • Near-mistakes: 43.1% • Actual mistakes: 33.6% • Severe fatigue: 37.1% • Considering leaving current job: 44%

33. What’s IP Inclusive doing to help? • Events on mental health and related issues, including webinars and regional events • www.ipinclusive.org.uk/events • Plus webinar recordings • IP Inclusive/Jonathan’s Voice Mental Health and Wellbeing web page • www.ipinclusive.org.uk/mental-health-and-wellbeing

34. IP Inclusive website www.ipinclusive.org.uk/mental-health-and-wellbeing/

35. What’s IP Inclusive doing to help? • Promoting mental health “first aid” training • Helping to organise courses • Training on things that affect inclusivity • Especially “unconscious bias” • Support networks (“communities”)

36. What’s in other people’s Happiness Jars?

37. 2019 survey results • Job satisfaction levels (when all going well): • 84.4% good or excellent • Only 1.5% “not so good” or “poor” • Current mood: • 22.2% uncomfortable, unhappy or very unhappy

38. Diversity and inclusion Diversity is being invited to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance. Acceptance is being able to dance like there’s no one watching.

39. Thank you for listening!

40. Biography: Andrea Brewster OBE Andrea is a Chartered Patent Attorney and European Patent Attorney. Until her retirement in 2015 she was a partner in the Somerset firm Greaves Brewster LLP, of which she had been a co-founder. A former President of CIPA, Andrea is a member of the Institute’s governing Council and serves on several of its committees, including the Education Committee, the Joint CIPA & CITMA Business Practice Committee and the IP Paralegals’ Committee (which she helped to establish). Andrea is the founder and Lead Executive Officer of IP Inclusive, an initiative that promotes diversity and inclusivity throughout the IP professions. In her spare time, she writes a light-hearted blog about her work: thenotsosecretdiary.weebly.com

41. How to find out more • www.ipinclusive.org.uk • www.careersinideas.org.uk • contactipinclusive@gmail.com • @IPInclusive • @bameipinclusive • @ip_out • @WomeninIPI • @CareersInIdeas

42. How to find out more • LinkedIn discussion groups: • “IP Inclusive” (linkedin.com/groups/8473869) • “IP Inclusive: IP Futures” (linkedin.com/groups/8792265) • “IP Inclusive: IP & ME” (linkedin.com/groups/12049564) • “IP Out Network” (linkedin.com/groups/8488373) • “IP Inclusive : Women in IP” (linkedin.com/groups/8557958)