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The Mississippi Lawyer Winter 2016 11 By Chip Glaze Director The Mississippi Bar Lawyers Judges Assistance Program Q Chip how long have you been at LJAP A Ive been the LJAP Director for five years now having served previously as its first Katrina Outreach Coordinator and as Clinical Director for five years previous. The time period feels like a lifetime and yet seems to have passed in a flash. I guess thats because our work is so chaotic and fast paced that at times it seems well be overwhelmed. Then we see the process work in attorneys lives so its simply incredible. Paraphrasing the Peace Corps advertising tagline I can honestly and enthusiastically say that it is the toughest job Ive ever loved. Having previously worked in several areas of the mental health field and practiced law Id never found passion in the work I did. I had some great jobs but at LJAP Ive found my vocation my calling. Q Why do you like this type of work A Ive always felt most at home work- ing with individuals and families trying to find what most would call recovery from the perilous chaos of addiction the insidious grip of depression or just the unmanageability of life. Even before I found my way into my own recovery from alcoholism I was always most comfort- able trying to assist others in that place of crisis. At LJAP I am afforded a unique opportunity to consult to intervene in some cases and to walk alongside those in desperate need. For this opportunity I am humbly grateful. Q What is LJAP A Let me emphatically say that LJAP is NOT not by a long shot. I am the Program Director but all that LJAP does would not be possible without the Bars support the incredible work of our Office Administrator and Monitoring Coordinator Carolyn Barrett and most importantly the tireless service of dedicated LJAP volunteers. These selfless men and women those who have served before them and those yet to serve are LJAPs heartbeat. The connec- tion one lawyer to another in individual and group meetings by phone or email or in service to those still suffering this is where recovery of any sort finds growth. The connection to the healing power of healthy recovery community saves lives and LJAP affords that in so many mean- ingful ways. Q Give us a brief history. A At its inception what we now call LJAP was an all-volunteer group most of them attorneys who were themselves in recovery from alcoholism. These men and women set out to help others who were still struggling in addiction. As early as 1974 lawyers like Joshua Green Julian P. Alexander Jr. and Kenneth Franks were helping lawyers afflicted with the illness of addiction get help for their ill- ness. On December 10 1982 a group of lawyers met with Dr. Doyle Smith of the Impaired Doctors Program to discuss the problem and what if anything the Bar might do about the problem. The com- mittee members were Virgil Gillespie Chairman Gulfport William Griffin Greenville Kenneth I. Franks Jackson Daniel P. Self Jr. Meridian Leonard A. Blackwell II Gulfport Burwell B. McClendon Jr. Jackson and William E. Wilroy Jr. Hernando. In FY 82-83 the first Impaired Lawyers Committee was appointed as an Ad hoc Committee of The Mississippi Bar. In 1990 a part-time Director position was created and Helen Ridgeway was hired. At the end of Ms. Ridgeways tenure Elizabeth de Gruy Rives was hired as the programs sec- ond part-time director. In 1993 the third Focus... Lawyers Judges Assistance Program Continued on next page