KCL Psychiatry Society was set up in 2005 to promote psychiatry
as a career to medical students, support those students who wished
to pursue psychiatry as a career and raise the profile of mental
health issues amongst all student health professionals.
Psych Soc has started out by arranging a programme of lectures
which are lively and controversial, often featuring eminent
speakers. This year's programme has included talks on
psychiatry in the military, on eating disorders, the media,
homelessness and the law, by speakers including Professor Simon
Wessely, Professor Janet Treasure, Professor Tom Craig, Dr Max
Pemberton and Professor Michael Kopelman, with many more to
come.
We also run ICE (incremental clinical examination) revision
sessions in psychiatry for third year medical students at the end
of each rotation, as well as for fifth years preparing for their
finals. We run an annual psychiatry careers "speed dating"
style event, which will be joint with St George's Medical School's
psychiatry society, Mentis and an electives evening. In
addition we are setting up a Book Club, and piloting a partnership
between medical students at Hargeisa University, Somaliland and at
King's College London, via the KTSP THET (Tropical Health Education
Trust) project.
KCL Psych Soc works closely with the undergraduate psychiatry team
at King's College London School of Medicine, to improve the quality
of the psychiatry attachments for students. We are indebted
to the Department of Psychological Medicine and Psychiatry at the
Institute of Psychiatry for their help and support over the
years. This year we are piloting some teaching joint with
Rethink, to give second year medical students an opportunity to
meet service users before their clinical years. We are also
offering first and second years the chance to spend a day with a
psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital.
Most events are open to all, particularly students and staff at
King's College London, the Institute of Psychiatry and South London
and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. Thanks to the
generous support we receive from the Institute of Psychiatry, all
events are completely free, we charge no membership, and raise
money for relevant charities at many of our events, including the
poppy appeal, world AIDS day and Crisis and Manna. We are
happy to support and encourage interested students at other medical
schools to set up their own societies.
Please see our website and join us
on Facebook under "KCL Psychiatry
Society".
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Page last updated
on 9 February 2010 by C Cox