Episode 3 - Professor Thomas Telfer (Western University Faculty of Law)
Listen to the full podcast and Professor Telfer’s short guided mediation on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts.
We were honoured to have Professor Thomas Telfer chat with us about his experiences and teachings on the topic of anxiety and mindfulness.
As a member of The Faculty of Law at Western University, his research and teaching interests include bankruptcy law, contract law, and mindfulness. He is a frequent speaker on mental health issues and mindfulness and began offering a non-credit mindful course for first-year law students in 2017. This year, he launched an upper-year credit course at Western Law: Mindfulness and the Legal Profession. For his innovative teachings and contributions, he received a Leadership and Wellness Award Recognition in 2018.
What was the driving force behind your creation of the mental health and mindfulness course for first-year law students in 2017?
I really only discovered mindfulness as a concept in 2014, which was really late into my career. That year, I found myself in the hospital being treated for depression and anxiety. I noticed on my schedule there was a slot for mindfulness sessions 3 times a week. When I first went, I thought it was a complete waste of time. I believed my entire career was focused on productivity. And I discovered that mindfulness involved sitting in a circle and doing nothing. It was really counterintuitive to me. But over time, I gradually accepted the value of mindfulness and when I got out of the hospital, I was determined to adopt mindfulness as my own practice, but also to bring it to students.
What actually resulted in your depression back in 2014?
I think it was a combination of over-work, and lack of work-life balance, and always looking for the next thing, the next conference, the next publication. Without adequately spacing out those commitments. My work-life balance was skewed which led to my depression.
How did your support network help you through the process?
My wife was an absolute essential person in this whole process. She recognized that I definitely needed help. It was really my family doctor who identified my need to be treated for depression and anxiety.
But I must say that I had earlier episodes in my legal career right after I was called to the bar in 1990. I was struggling and I went to my family doctor in 1990. Who said that I was dealing with depression and anxiety and needed to be treated with medication. I completely rejected that diagnosis. Because I so feared the stigma that's attached to depression and anxiety. That someone would find out. That I would lose my job. I ignored that initial advice largely because of the stigma that I now know was associated with mental health issues.
You mentioned that there is a stigma associated with mental health issues. What did you do to help yourself break out from the stigma?
For the longest time, I hid my diagnosis. I did not speak about it publicly. It wasn't until a few years ago that my specialist approached me to help the hospital make a video about suicide. I was a survivor of a suicide attempt and was asked to appear in the video. That was the real breaking of the silence for me when I appeared in this video and then in the story. I found that I was able to share my story in public after that initial silence was broken.
Did you feel like people were shocked to see that you were experiencing this while on the surface they didn’t perceive you as having the issue?
Yeah, because in some instances you can simply get by and hide your symptoms. But at some point the symptoms overtake you and you really do need to seek professional care. Even when I was dealing with the symptoms, I was able to still work and publish. But over time the symptoms overtook me and I needed to receive medical treatment in the hospital.
How do you define mindfulness?
Mindfulness is really about stopping and taking a pause. To quote a great definition “mindfulness is paying attention to the present moment, on purpose, without judgment.” We're paying attention on purpose to the present moment. I think that's important here. We're not trapped in thinking about the future or of our to-do list because living in the future creates a source of anxiety. Regrets about the past can also create a sense of anxiety and even depression. Mindfulness really helped me focus on the present moment. It allowed me to complete the task at hand without being obsessed with my to-do list in the future.
To contrast mindfulness with mindlessness helps understand the definition. For instance, you go for a walk from A to B. When you arrive at your destination B, you realize that you don’t remember anything that you saw or heard along the way because your mind was trapped in a spiral of thought. That's an example of what is not mindfulness. Being able to focus on the present moment, mindfulness will allow you to focus on what you are seeing or hearing on your walk.
Is that something that you teach to your students as well?
Absolutely. In my first-year class, I lead a guided meditation, and students react to that. Similarly, with my upper-year credit course, students are required to listen to meditations outside the class. The guided meditation is a conscious practice of being in the present, but you can also take your practice outside of the guided meditation and engage with any activity. A mindful walk, a mindful shower and so on. It’s similar to going to the gym by strengthening your mind to be able to focus on the present moment.
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At Beyond the A, we understand that anxiety and mental health is a serious issue. While we do not purport to be experts, our mission is to open up the conversation and provide you with the tools and resources to excel in your career and beyond. If you are seeking immediate help, please contact a healthcare professional or access our resources page.
Given the sensitivity of the topic, we are always open to further conversation about it. Email us at info@beyondthea.co and someone from our team will get back to you.