Are you a trainee or consultant interested in Promoting Recruitment into Psychiatry?

Here are 9 ways that you can contribute

Every practising Psychiatrist is a potential role model and inspiration to students and trainees. Every contact we have with school students, medical students and young doctors as important. To make sure you make every such contact count, consider doing the following:

1. Make yourself aware of the Student Associate grade and promote it amongst your students.

2. Support your local Psychiatry Society - offer to speak or help them find speakers.

3. Consider supporting your PTC reps to start a Buddy Scheme in your area if none exist. The PTC has guidance on the setting up and running of buddy schemes and will be able to identify trainees happy to take part.

4. Consider providing workplace based experience for school students. The College position statement on providing work experience placements can be found on the College website.

5. Consider running a Psychiatry Student Selected Module.

6. Support the development of Summer and Autumn Schools.

7. Read an Autumn School best practice model from the South West Division.

8. Be a Foundation trainer or even provide a Taster.

9. Encourage Foundation doctors to continue to engage with the College and promote the forthcoming FD membership grade and Foundation webpages.

10. Remember that “every moment counts” in nurturing future psychiatrists, whether they are school students, medical students or Foundation doctors.

Position Statement on Work Experience in Psychiatry

We are keen to increase work experience placements for senior school pupils in order to encourage students to consider careers in psychiatry from earlier in their careers. This statement outlines the College's support for psychiatrists and organisations that offer year 12 and 13 students the opportunity for work experience in psychiatry and provides advice on how organisations can set up a process for organising work experience placements in psychiatry.  
 
Foundation Programme Taster Templates in Psychiatry

We are working to increase exposure to psychiatry in the Foundation Programme.  One way to achieve this is to increase access to taster weeks in psychiatry.  Each College Faculty and Section has produced a template for a taster week for foundation doctors in its specialty.  We ask Consultant Psychiatrists around the UK to consider setting up and offering a taster week in psychiatry for foundation doctors, using the appropriate template. If you are willing

Tell us about recruitment initiatives in your region

We would love to hear from you about any initiatives that you know of or that you are involved with locally, such as psychiatry summer schools or supporting medical school psychiatry society events.  Please email careers@rcpsych.ac.uk with details.