Why did you choose to train in North West London?

I chose North West London as I fancied a change of scene from Medical School (UCL) and Foundation Training (South Thames), but still couldn’t muster up the courage to leave the M25….I was also watching a lot of Made in Chelsea at the time and thought working in Kensington could be fun… As I’ve progressed in my training and worked at different sites through the scheme, I’ve realised that North West London entails a mixture of quite affluent and deprived areas providing a rich environment for training. I enjoyed my Core Training so much here, that I decided to stay in the trust for higher training. 

What have been the best aspects of your training experience?

I have been really fortunate in this scheme to gain clinical experience in some exciting sub-specialties of Psychiatry including: Addictions, Psychotherapy & Liaison Psychiatry which I have really enjoyed. I’ve also been both a local trainee rep & a scheme rep - which has given me a much greater insight into medical education and training. 

Why was Psychiatry your chosen specialty?

When seeing patients as a medical student and a junior doctor, I quickly came to realise that I liked finding out more about patient’s lives than just their symptoms. I enjoyed the holistic approach to psychiatry and being able to spend more time with patients. As cliche as it sounds, two patients never have the same story - which means everyday is different.

What would your advice be to new trainees to get the most out of their training experience?

When you’re a psychiatry trainee there’s more to work than your day-to-day clinical activities. You have protected time for psychotherapy, ECT, education etc. and so I would recommend new trainees to maximise these opportunities to learn new skills. Furthermore, I would say that Psychiatry generally has really supportive and interested seniors - so if you find yourself particularly interested in certain fields, get in touch with the supervisors and see if there are opportunities for more clinical experience, Quality Improvement Projects or even research.