Posted: Friday, 4 January 2019 @ 13:43
Further to the general election and the loss of her party's majority, it is plain by looking at the demeanour of Prime Minister Theresa May when she is talking in Parliament and elsewhere that she is personally suffering and that she has experienced a profound loss of self confidence.
She may have good reason to be in this state of mind but this mentality is not good for her and for the sake of her party and the country she needs to work a way to get out of it.
From my perspective as a lawyer and a mediator, every client that I have dealt with (particularly in employment law where the trauma of losing your job is massive) there is one dynamic which enables a client to move on and indeed start to thrive irrespective of the strength of the legal position in difficult situations.
That dynamic which enables one to do well is the willingness of that person to take care of him or herself and to think of a personal way forwards.
I had clients who on the face of it have had no more than fair cases but have been able to get good sometimes great outcomes in such legal situations and elsewhere purely because thaf they have come to terms with the trauma, have attached meaning to it but above all are able to move through it, and not be bitter about it.
The lawyer can help in such a scenario if they spend "thinking time"(genuinely thinking of long term outcomes) and help plot a result(s) which matches what the client really wants.
Yes support systems such as friends, family, interests and religion may be useful(and a sign of self care) but again the key dynamic is the willingness of the client to accept the situation and the genuine (not superficial) willingness to back him or herself and to project a way through.
Thus - for someone Theresa May and the personal humiliation that she may be suffering, my advice for her is to simply the accept the situation as it is (warts and all)- and seek to move on and stop beating herself up.
In extreme scenarios, her position could go the way of PM Anthony Eden who resigned Post Suez due to ill health or it could go the way of US President Abraham Lincoln who became one of the most respected leaders ever after a series of personal and political problems.
Despite odds against her, her defeat/victory is not certain and that is the only "truth" in town..