Carolina Law Students Tackle Mental‑Health Stigma with a New Peer‑Led Group

When you’re buried under casebooks, briefs and looming bar‑exam worries, the last thing you want to admit is that you’re struggling. Yet for many UNC‑Chapel Hill law students that’s exactly the dilemma they face.

“The character‑and‑fitness investigation will dig into every corner of your life,” says third‑year student Jay Pittman. “If you’ve battled depression or alcohol dependence, you wonder whether that will become a hurdle to getting your license.”

That uneasy feeling sparked a small, determined crew of peers – Pittman, Annie Sheeder, Ben Richardson, Atharv Kripak and Colleen Malley – to spend the past few months laying the groundwork for a new student organization: Sound Mind‑Sound Body.

The group’s mission is simple, yet ambitious: strip away the shame attached to asking for help, start honest conversations, and point students toward campus and community resources that actually work. They’re not doing it in a vacuum. The founders have teamed up with Cindi Gardner, the law school’s director of student services, and Tora Taylor‑Glover, a licensed clinical social worker embedded in the school through Counseling and Psychological Services.

Through those collaborations, Sound Mind‑Sound Body has already tapped the state bar’s Lawyer Assistance Program – a confidential safety net for legal professionals – and is planning to bring UNC‑School‑of‑Social‑Work mental‑health first‑aid training onto the law‑school floor.

“Life doesn’t stop when you enroll in law school,” Gardner explains, noting that 96 % of law students report significant stress, a figure that dwarfs the 70 % of medical students and 43 % of graduate students. “We need a way to normalize seeking help, not treat it as a career‑killing secret.”

To make the effort feel less like a clinical lecture and more like a friendly hangout, the organizers are designing branded T‑shirts, scheduling a kickball tournament, and brainstorming other low‑key events that let students step away from the books for a moment.

Sheeder’s own story illustrates why the peer angle matters. After her brother died from a substance‑use disorder, she turned to Gardner for support and was soon connected to the very students now leading Sound Mind‑Sound Body. “I was comfortable working with administration, but many aren’t,” she says. “I wanted to be the bridge for anyone who just needs a shoulder or a listening ear.”

Taylor‑Glover adds that peer‑driven messaging often lands better than top‑down notices. “We tell students the resources exist, but when a fellow classmate shares what helped them, the message sticks,” she notes.

Pittman, now approaching 18 months of sobriety, credits Gardner and the Lawyer Assistance Program for that success. He admits, however, that a support group like this could have nudged him toward help even sooner. “Just three weeks ago a fellow student asked me, ‘How do I know if I’m an alcoholic? I’m struggling.’ We talked, we listened – that’s exactly the space we’re creating.”

In short, Sound Mind‑Sound Body aims to be more than a club; it hopes to become a quiet, reliable refuge where future attorneys can be honest about their mental health without fearing that honesty will become a career‑ending scarlet letter.