Each May is recognized as Mental Health Month, a national movement to raise awareness about mental health.

After the state of Missouri and City of St. Louis announced stay-at-home orders in mid-March, the staff of The Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis (BAMSL) grabbed paper and digital files we thought we needed to sustain us working at home for a couple of weeks — and worked through the challenges of learning how to connect to the BAMSL server remotely.

Anxiety robs you of the present moment and places you in the future, where you have no control. Anxiety often is in response to some vague distant danger (often imagined). Eventually, with anxiety, your focus becomes more internal than external — you start to check for physical anxiety symptoms — which, of course, leads to more anxiety. In contrast, fear is in response to a concrete external object or situation that is in the range of possibility and the focus is more external – what out there is scaring you.

Although this is not the start to the BAMSL 2020-21 bar year that we all envisioned, I am honored to serve as your president during this transition.

The Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis (BAMSL) kicked off its 2020-21 bar year on Fri., May 1 a little bit differently than previous years. BAMSL's 2020-21 Board of Governors and Young Lawyers Division (YLD) Executive Board were sworn in virtually via Zoom at noon on May 1, the same day that Law Day annually is commemorated nationally.

I am honored to be serving as president of BAMSL for the 2020-21 bar year. I thank my predecessor, Sara G. Neill, who has done a phenomenal job of leading BAMSL for the past year, but particularly through the last three challenging months.

Are you tired of being compassionate? Do you find yourself doing too much for your clients? Are you spacing out during meetings? Then you might be compassion fatigued.

Many of you are seeking ways to assist those in our community who are in desperate need of food right now. Our St. Louis Attorneys Against Hunger Committee has some opportunities for you to donate food or help fund local efforts to feed area schoolchildren and their families impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. There also are opportunities to volunteer your time — the organizations are providing masks and gloves for your safety.

Struggling with maintaining physical fitness during the COVID-19 pandemic? Have you tried a workout through your favorite streaming service?

If you are reading this article, you are already aware of one of BAMSL's core communications tools — the St. Louis Lawyer magazine. BAMSL communicates with its members through publications, such as this and the St. Louis Bar Journal, social media, the Web site (for the general public and the members-only section), the weekly LegalPulseSTL e-newsletter, the weekly CLE Bulletin email, customized emails and even through media relations. So how do these forms of communications assist the average BAMSL member and help to Build Better Lawyers?