Survive and Thrive was set up by the Inn’s Membership Committee in 2015 to put on events aimed at supporting members of the Inn at all stages of their practice at the Bar.
The 2025 Survive and Thrive programme got off to an early start with our first event, ‘Taking the Bar out of Barrister’, which took place on Tuesday, 21 January, to tie in with Dry January. The event sought to address the Bar’s relationship with alcohol and explore ways to reduce dependency on alcohol and support colleagues looking to do the same.
In February, we welcomed Selina Flavius, an award-winning financial coach and founder of Black Girl Finance, to the Inn to provide a framework for financial wellbeing at the Bar. Those attending found the event very valuable in helping them focus on their financial priorities at each stage of their career and how to achieve them. Selina kindly allowed us to record the event, and it is available to view on the Inn’s website for anyone who missed it.
On Tuesday, 29 April, two of our Benchers, Master David Ormerod and Master Colin Birss, were kind enough to deliver a workshop on generative AI, explaining what it is, how lawyers can use it and the pitfalls we need to be aware of.
Following last year’s successful series of interactive workshops aimed at supporting barristers to gain the ‘soft skills’ they need to build a successful practice, we welcomed back James Pereira KC, a practising barrister and certified executive coach. James ran three further workshops, ‘Setting Boundaries, Finding Balance’, ‘Learning to Listen’ and ‘Building a Reflective Practice’, all of which received fantastic feedback.
In the Michaelmas term, we look forward to hosting Professor Fushia Sirois, a Professor in Social and Health Psychology at the University of Durham, on Wednesday 29 October to lead a session on procrastination, and to our literary event ‘Why Barristers Write’ later in the year.
The Survive and Thrive steering group is always grateful to receive suggestions for future speakers or topics from members of the Inn, and we have managed to incorporate many such ideas into our programme. If you would like to provide feedback on any of our events, make any suggestions for future events, or are interested in joining the steering group, please feel free to contact me via our excellent administrator, Laura Hacon (L.Hacon@middletemple.org.uk).
On behalf of the steering group, I would like to extend thanks to Gabriel Dorey, who kept us all together for the past few years. We have been delighted to welcome Laura to the committee as our new administrator, supporting the work of the steering group. Finally, I want to extend my thanks to the rest of the steering group – Master Louise McCullough, Master Juliette Levy, Michael Harwood, Beatrice Collier, Master Felicity McMahon, Frank McGrath, and Zach Judge-Raza – for all of their efforts in continuing to make the Survive and Thrive programme a success.
Master Karen Reid has been Chair of the Survive and Thrive Working Group since March 2024. Karen was Called in 2010 and appointed Master of the Bench in 2024. She practises predominantly in housing and immigration at the 36 Group where she is joint head of the public and human rights team.
