Speaking to Lawyers Weekly Monday, LSSAYL Chair Kim Eldridge said the project, known as the Wellbeing Initiative, is the culmination of 18 months of planning and aims to improve the overall health of South Australia's young lawyers.

"It's an initiative which involves numerous programs targeted at the physical and mental well-being of young lawyers," she said.

Eldridge hopes the program will lead to a greater understanding and awareness of the issues affecting the health of young lawyers, and believes it will go some way to creating a greater sense of well-being.

"[We] identified a gap in the support networks for young lawyers ... and we are just trying to close that gap as well as we can."

Part of the program includes an intensive boot camp to be run three times a week throughout March in conjunction with the EFM Health Club.

"We recognise that young lawyers might sometimes not go to the gym because they work late ... We have made sure that our programs are accessible to young lawyers, the hours they keep and the time restrictions they have. That is the type of thing that hasn't been around for young lawyers as yet," said Eldridge.

As well as focusing on the physical, the initiative includes a career counseling program aimed at assisting disillusioned young lawyers.

"We are introducing a career options seminar in September in which professionals from different areas of the law will talk about the options that are out there if you have been admitted for 3 - 5 years. We don't want young lawyers leaving the profession, which appears to be happening," said Eldridge.

"We want to get them to stay within the profession, but maybe get them to look at a different practice area."

The initiative will also play host to a comedy debate covering the topic, "Have lawyers lost their appeal?" as well as providing cooking classes - with details yet to be confirmed.

"We are really hoping that this initiative will allow young lawyers to start a dialogue about things [they] can be doing to make sure they are happy and healthy," she said.

- Claire Chaffey