Sustainability in your practice

There are many ways in which you can make your practice more sustainable.

Top ten sustainability tips

Our top ten tips for being a sustainable psychiatrist include some great suggestions for practice that combines environmental, social and economic sustainability.

Inspiration for other ways to help

There are also many local opportunities for sustainability projects that you could lead on with your clinical team that could also make a difference to clinical care.

• Consider a QI project with a focus on sustainability. For some inspiration, why not take a look at some of the fantastic projects that have already taken place across the country?
• Ask your ward or team to run a 'Green Ward' competition, facilitated by the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare.
• Set up a community orchard or rewilding site (such as The Orchard Project and NHS forest) on your hospital site.
• Develop a Nature on Prescription scheme; the European Center for Environment and Human Health and University of Exeter's handbook on Nature on Prescription has lots of ideas on how to develop and implement a successful scheme in the new social prescribing landscape.

You never know – your project could get recognised in the Commitment to Sustainability prize in the Royal College of Psychiatry’s annual awards or the annual NHS Sustainability Awards.

If you're a trainee or medical student

As a trainee or medical student, why not consider inviting local speakers, or green practitioners to local and regional teaching programmes. You can also review papers looking at health and climate change and sustainable healthcare interventions at your local journal club

Training opportunities

Finally, why not look to build on your own skills and expertise through training modules in sustainable healthcare such as:

• CSH education and training
• BMJ online modules on sustainable healthcare
• The College's eLearning Hub also offers several free modules.