Jonathan Amiel, BA’98, BCL/LLB’02, has never practiced law, but he’s used his legal education every single day for 20 years as a busy senior executive.
“I believe that having a law degree is a competitive advantage in business,” says Amiel, President and CEO of Maroline and Managing Director of Saturnia Asset Management.
That’s just one reason he’s compelled to give back to McGill’s Faculty of Law. “I received such a tremendous education from McGill Law. To this day, I think it’s probably the most valuable skill development that I have ever experienced.”
Jonathan Amiel, BA’98, BCL/LLB’02, President and CEO of Maroline and Managing Director of Saturnia Asset Management.
Investing in student well-being
Amiel recently helped fund the Faculty’s Local Wellness Advisor, whose role is to promote mental health awareness and support early intervention within the law student community.
Amiel is no stranger to giving back. He has been a member of the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation’s board of directors for 15 years, recently completing his term as the board’s Chair.
“I was inspired to give back [to McGill] when I found out about the opportunity to invest in student well-being. The Faculty produces talented legal minds, but it’s important for these individuals to be healthy in both mind and body. I think the future for work, whether in business or law, is a better balance between one’s career and self, family and friends.”
Access and prevention
Heleen Loohuis and Shrabani Debroy, BA’14, MA’16, are the Faculty of Law’s two Local Wellness Advisors who help students find that balance and other support. Thanks to Amiel’s gift, the faculty is able to have two advisors, one full-time and the other part-time.
“Students are very busy, and for us to be here in the faculty really facilitates access to mental health services,” says Loohuis, whose office is located in Old Chancellor Day Hall.
She and Debroy offer a rapid point of access to mental-health support, from the urgent to the preventative. They are part of McGill’s Student Wellness Hub, which officially launched this past fall and offers students a place in the Brown Student Services Building to access physical and mental health services. The Hub team includes doctors, nurses, psychiatrists, counsellors, social workers, and dietitians, as well health promotion and outreach staff.
The current Local Wellness Advisor team at McGill.
“I’m really excited by the outreach and preventative type of work we get to do,” says Loohuis. That work includes hosting events and running workshops on topics like active listening and managing anxiety.
She and Debroy work closely with units across the faculty, from the Student Affairs Office to the Career Development Office, to help students, for example, prepare for the potential stress of large professional networking events, common in the legal field.
Future cohorts
“The faculty really welcomed us, and I think it’s a service they were hoping to provide for students and that they believe in,” Loohuis says.
She finds it especially gratifying to work with first-year students, who as of their first week in the faculty were hearing about the role of the Local Wellness Advisors. “They know that we are here for them, that they can make one-on-one appointments with us, but that they should also be proactive in terms of mental-health support,” Loohuis says.
“Hopefully the next few years we can continue to promote our services as of Day 1.”
Like the Student Wellness Hub they are a crucial part of, the Local Wellness Advisors will continue to evaluate the services they offer.
“The role is very new so we’re still molding it, learning a lot, and communicating with other Law faculties’ mental-health professionals to see what is offered and what we can offer here,” says Loohuis.
Find out more about student health and wellness at McGill.