Law Times - Newsmakers

2014 top news, newsmakers, and cases 5 top newsmakers New OBA president opens up about mental health orlando da silva gets difficult issue on the agenda as he tells his story By yamri Taddese The new presidenT of the Ontario Bar Association got a lot of praise from the legal profession this year after he spoke publicly and candidly about his struggles with mental illness for the first time in a July interview with Law Times. When Orlando Da Silva became president, he said he thought about what unique contributions he could make to the profession. And against the advice of some of his closest friends, he decided to open up about mental health. "Close friends I've talked to have said, 'You mention this and they will think differently of you,'" said Da Silva as he prepared to take the helm of the OBA this summer. "And I thought, 'Well, OK. But can some good come out of that?'" So far, he says the experience has been "both difficult and rewarding." "There has also been an outpour- ing from students and members of the legal community who have had experiences with depression," he says of the reaction to his revelation. "As I have travelled the province, I have met a number of people in the legal community who have wanted to share their own personal struggles. Encour- aging people to speak out was my goal, and while it's been difficult to hear these stories, I am pleased that we are building a forum for the legal community to talk. Da Silva, a civil Crown counsel with the Ministry of the Attorney General, had kept his depressive disorder a secret, even from his family, until recently. He has suffered from the disease, sometimes requiring hospitalization, since he was just nine years old. He underwent the recurring bouts of depression quietly, he told Law Times, for fear of appearing a weak lawyer. Throughout his struggles, he never called a colleague or a mental-health service. And that's something he would like to see change. "There's something we got to do about it. There's something I got to do about it. I thought long and hard about it. I could just say like others that mental illness is important, to keep an eye out for it, rec- ognize the signs, or I could put my neck out there and say, 'I suffer from this and I know there are better days to come.'" A son of Portuguese immigrants from Kitchener, Ont., Da Silva said he hadn't met a lawyer until he went to law school. His father was a welder and his mother a home- maker. His story, he says, isn't about depression but the success he has enjoyed in spite of it and the sup- port he has received regardless of the stigma. Very recently, he told some colleagues at the OBA about his condition and was happy with the support he got in response. Da Silva's former colleagues, including Superior Court Justice Ria Tzimas, applauded his decision to tackle this issue. "I think Orlando will go down as a trailblazer on this issue. He's widely respected in the profession and I think the cache of being the president of the OBA can do noth- ing but I think help shine that light on those issues and the get the dia- logue going," said Tzimas. Lucy McSweeney, the children's lawyer for Ontario, was Da Silva's former boss at the Crown law office. She said his deci- sion to reach out to lawyers with mental illness by putting his own story out there was "enormously brave and enormously important." Despite the support, Da Silva says his experience has also suggested a need for the profession to do more. "The reactions from within the legal community sug- gest to me that there is more we can be doing to advance the conversation about mental-health issues within our sector and to support our community, particularly young lawyers and students," he says. Orlando Da Silva has suffered from depression since he was nine years old.

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