The Minds Count Foundation is an independent, volunteer-run, charitable organisation. The Foundation’s objective is to decrease work-related psychological ill-health in the legal community and to promote workplace psychological health and safety.

 

Established in August 2008 as the Tristan Jepson Memorial Foundation (TJMF), the Foundation has been at the forefront of building greater awareness around depression, anxiety and mental health across the Australian legal community. In 2018, the Jepson family stepped down from the Board to hand the Foundation back to the profession, and the organisation continued operating as the Minds Count Foundation.

 

We continue to inform, educate and support organisations in the legal sector in developing psychologically safe workplaces. Through our initiatives, we recognise and champion new developments, research and operational best-practice in the area of depression, anxiety and mental health in legal workplaces.

Our Initiatives

TJMF Workplace Wellbeing: Best Practice Guidelines

In 2014, the Foundation launched the Workplace Wellbeing: Best Practice Guidelines (commonly known as the “TJMF Guidelines”) to which over 300 legal workplaces in Australia and overseas have become signatories. The Guidelines provide a comprehensive framework to support organisations in creating a psychologically safe and healthy workplace. The Guidelines have crossed professional boundaries, with healthcare workplaces, government departments and service providers choosing to become signatories.

Annual Lecture

Since 2006, we have presented the Minds Count Foundation Annual Lecture. The annual lectures provide a forum for the legal community to come together and discuss the issues we face as a profession regarding mental health and psychological safety. These lectures foster constructive conversation and create awareness in relation to mental wellbeing, while promoting innovative thought and strategic direction in the legal profession.

2024 Minds Count Lecture

Keynote speaker:
The Hon. Justice Jacqueline Gleeson of the High Court of Australia

Opening Address: The Hon. Chief Justice Mortimer of the Federal Court of Australia

Panel Moderator: David Field, Minds Count Director

Panel:
The Hon. Associate Justice Mary-Jane Ierodiaconou, Supreme Court of Victoria
His Honour Judge Frank Gucciardo, County Court of Victoria
His Honour Magistrate Andrew Sim, Magistrates’ Court of Victoria

Watch the lecture here

Proudly sponsored by:
Thomson Reuters
Herbert Smith Freehills
McCabes

 

With invaluable support from:
Federal Court of Australia
Swaab

2023 Minds Count Lecture

Keynote speaker:
The Hon. Justice Jayne Jagot of the High Court of Australia, former Minds Count Director

Opening Address: The Hon. Justice Stephen Burley of the Federal Court of Australia, Minds Count Director

Panel Moderator: Danielle Kelly, Director of Culture & Inclusion at Herbert Smith Freehills

Panel:
The Hon. Justice Jayne Jagot of the High Court of Australia, former Minds Count Director
Peter Dunning KC, President of the Australian Bar Association
Fiona McLeay, CEO & Commissioner of the Victorian Legal Services Board

Watch the lecture here

Proudly sponsored by:
Herbert Smith Freehills
McCabes
Thomson Reuters

 

With invaluable support from:
Federal Court of Australia
Swaab
Lawyers Weekly

2022 Minds Count Lecture

Keynote speakers:
Berkeley Cox, former Chief Executive Partner of King & Wood Mallesons
Margaret Cai, Solicitor in the Competition team at King & Wood Mallesons

Opening Address: Justice Jayne Jagot of the High Court of Australia, former Minds Count Director

Moderator: Jerome Doraisamy, Editor at Lawyers Weekly and Board Director of Minds Count

Best Mental Wellbeing Initiative in a Legal Workplace award winner: Shine Lawyers
Individual Leadership in Legal Mental Wellbeing award winner: Andy Liao

Watch the lecture here

Proudly sponsored by:
McCabes
Leo Cussen

 

With invaluable support from:
Federal Court of Australia
Swaab
Lawyers Weekly

2021 Minds Count Lecture

Keynote speaker: Zali Stegall OAM MP, former Olympian, barrister and currently Independent Federal Member for the seat of Warringah in Sydney’s North

Moderator: Rich Hirst, founder and CEO of Tenfold Australia

Best Mental Wellbeing Initiative in a Legal Workplace award winner: Thomson Reuters Australia

Watch the Lecture here

2020 Minds Count Lecture

Keynote Speaker: Lucy Brogden AM, Chair of the Australian National Mental Health Commission

Moderator: Gus Worland, Founder of Gotcha4Life, Australian television and radio personality

Closing Speaker: Justice Jayne Jagot, Federal Court of Australia and Minds Count Board Member

Best Mental Wellbeing Initiative in a Legal Workplace Award winner: Morrissey Law

Individual Leader in Legal Mental Wellbeing Award winner: Annette Kimmitt

Watch the lecture here

 

2019 Minds Count Lecture

Keynote speaker: David Westgate, mental health advocate for the Black Dog Institute

Best Mental Wellbeing Initiative in a Legal Workplace Award winner: Herbert Smith Freehills

Individual Leader in Legal Mental Wellbeing Award winner: Clarissa Rayward

Watch the lecture here

2018 Minds Count Lecture

Keynote speakers:
Peter Jones, Intellectual Property Partner at DLA Piper
Dr Brian Marien, Co-Founder and Chairman at Positive Group

Watch the lecture here

2017 TJMF Sydney Lecture

Keynote speakers:
His Honour Magistrate David Heilpern LLB, LLM
Dr Greg de Moore, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, based at Sydney’s Westmead Hospital
Julie Blyth, Clinical Advisor at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

Watch the lecture here

2017 TJMF Melbourne Lecture

Keynote Speaker: The Honourable Felicity Hampel QC

Watch the lecture here

Read the oration here

2017 TJMF Hobart Lecture

Keynote speaker: The Honourable David Porter QC

Read the transcript here

2016 TJMF Queensland Lecture

Keynote Speaker: Linda Lavarch, Australian politician and solicitor

2016 TJMF Sydney Lecture

Keynote speaker: General David Morrison AO, 2016 Australian of the Year

Watch the lecture here

2015 TJMF Lecture

Keynote speaker: Alex Malley

2014 TJMF Lecture

Keynote Speaker: The Honourable Justice Virginia Bell AC

2013 TJMF Lecture

Keynote speaker: John Brogden

2012 TJMF Lecture

Panelists:

John Colvin, Executive Chairman, Johnson Executive
Marcus Warner, Specialist Change Agent Consultant, Rogen Si
Matthew Stutsel, National Head of State Taxation, KPMG
Emma Buxton, Research Analyst, NSW Attorney General’s Department

Moderator: Julie McCrossin, freelance journalist and UNSW law alumna

2011 TJMF Lecture

Panelists:

Gareth Bennett, National HR Director, Freehills
Alex Boxsell, Legal Affairs Editor, Australian Financial Review
Dr Michael Diamond, Psychiatrist
Bruce Humphrys, Managing Partner, HopgoodGanim
Nigel McBride, Managing Partner, Minter Ellison (Adelaide/Darwin)
Patricia (Trish) McDonald SC, Selborne Chambers
Damian Sturzaker, Partner, Marque Lawyers

Moderator: Julie McCrossin, freelance journalist and UNSW law alumna

2010 TJMF Lecture

Keynote speaker: Professor Pat McGorry, Executive Director of Orygen Youth Health and Australian of the Year 2010

Watch:

Introduction

Keynote speech

Panel discussion 

Boardroom radio interviews

2009 TJMF Lecture

Keynote speaker: Robert McClelland
Moderator: Elizabeth Broderick
Watch the lecture here

2008 TJMF Lecture

Keynote Speaker: Professor Ian Hickie

Watch the lecture here

2007 TJMF Lecture

Keynote speaker: The Honourable Geoff Gallop
Moderator: Professor Ron McCallum

Newsletter

The Minds Count Quarterly is an email newsletter providing a curated list of resources relevant to mental wellbeing, focusing on recent developments in the field and practical information for members of the legal profession.

Subscribe to our newsletter here.