The Alexander Blewett III School of Law has launched the Wellness Education for Law School and Life program to help students deal with the high levels of stress that go along with being a law student.

The UM law school has experienced three deaths in the past three years, including a suicide in March 2016. 

“Law school stress is nothing new,” associate professor and program founder Pippa Browde said. “And it’s nothing new at our institution.”

WELL will hold yoga sessions in the law school at noon on Mondays, as well as a series of mindfulness and resilience programs. It will also will bring in speakers to discuss mental health and drug and alcohol abuse.

Due to the small size of the UM law school everyone tends to know each other, WELL student representative Kevin Rechkoff said.

“Obviously when we have a loss it gets to us on a much more personal level because we’re in this building all the time,” he said.

By their third year, 40 percent of law school students will experience depression, according to a study done by the University of Sydney.

“We can’t control sometimes whether we win or lose for our client, and we can’t control the challenges that exist in this world,” Browde said. “We’re trying to prepare our students for that reality.”

Though Browde said the program wasn’t necessarily created in direct response to any of the deaths, it is meant to give students the tools they need to deal with their emotions in healthy ways and promote overall wellness.