Women and Career: data, psychoanalytic reflections and current initiatives 2024

The idea of the conference comes as a reflection on the challenges faced by women as part of the workforce both in NHS and academia. This is an opportunity to listen to our female leaders in healthcare services and universities, make some time for reflection and have the opportunity to engage in some groundbreaking opportunities for professionals that are parents but do not want to give up their ambitions.

This online event is a joint event with London Division and Leaders Plus.

View the full event programme.

We are delighted to announce the following speakers:

Dr Philippa Greenfield – Joint RCPsych Presidential Lead for Women and Mental Health

Dr Philippa Greenfield is a Consultant General Adult Psychiatrist in Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust. Her clinical interest is in complex trauma and psychosis. Alongside her clinical work, Dr Greenfield holds roles of Trauma Informed lead and a Named Doctor for Adult Safeguarding in her NHS Trust.

She has been an elected member of the RCPsych Women and Mental Health Special Interest Group, since 2000. In this role Philippa has provided leadership in the College on addressing Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG). She represents the RCPsych and continues to co-chair the National Intercollegiate and Agency Domestic Violence and Abuse (INCADVA) forum and set up and co-chairs its subgroup ‘Responding to Perpetrators of Domestic Abuse in Healthcare’. Dr Greenfield will represent the RCPsych on the newly formed NHSE ‘Domestic and Sexual Violence’ Clinical Reference Group and has contributed to national policy in health care responses to domestic abuse and given evidence to the Government APPG, addressing this topic.

Dr Greenfield has taught nationally to health and cross-sector organisations on the need for Trauma Informed Organisational Practice and has co-developed a strategy and model for Trauma Informed Organisational Change in her own NHS Organisation, supported by her longstanding work with carers and lived experience leads. Dr Greenfield is a member of the RCPsych Working Group on the Effect of Suicide and Homicide on Clinicians.

Her extensive work to address gender equality in the workplace, has included co-authoring publications such as the ‘RCPsych Gender Pay Gap Action Plan’ and using multi-platforms (academic publications, social media, Press, podcasts and Webinars) to raise awareness and campaign for change.

Dr Catherine Durkin – Joint RCPsych Presidential Lead for Women and Mental Health

Dr Catherine Durkin is a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist and the Clinical Lead for the Women's Service Line within the Health and Justice Directorate within Central and North West London Foundation Trust.

Clinically, Dr Durkin works across three women's prisons leading on safety and quality and inputs directly into HMP Downview. During her time working with women in custody, Dr Durkin has been a strong advocate for raising the profile of the complex mental health needs of women in custody including giving regional and national presentations and giving evidence to the Justice Select Committee, Women in Prison review in 2021.

Dr Durkin has been instrumental in establishing the neurodiversity pathway within Health & Justice and is the lead clinician working with neurodevelopmental disorders within the women's estate. She is currently undertaking research into gender-specific screening and diagnostic tools for women with ADHD in custody alongside facilitating broader research interest to support the health needs of women in prison.

Dr Durkin has a particular focus on the impact of trauma and adversity which underpins the mental health needs of women in custody and she has been developing trauma-informed training to support staff to work in a trauma-informed way.

Professor Paola Dazzan – Professor of Neurobiology of Psychosis, Kings College, IoPPN Vice Dean

Paola Dazzan is Professor of Neurobiology of Psychosis, Theme Co-Lead for Psychosis and Mood Disorders at the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre and has additional responsibility for international partnerships.

Her main area of interest is the study of neurobiological risk factors for psychosis in the early illness stages, and in elucidating the relationship between brain, social and biological risk factors for psychosis across the life span, from pregnancy, through adolescence to adulthood.

Dr Shubulade (Lade) Smith CBE – RCPsych President

Dr Shubulade (Lade) Smith was elected President of the RCPsych in 2023. She holds this role until 2026 and leads RCPsych on behalf of its members and associates.

Lade is a Consultant Psychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and Visiting Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Kings College London.

Until July 2023, Lade was the Clinical and Strategic Director of the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health at the RCPsych, providing medical leadership for the team developing mental health guidelines.

Lade was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in June 2019 for services to Forensic Intensive Psychiatric care. In November 2019 she was awarded Psychiatrist of the Year by the RCPsych.

Lade’s priorities as President are:

• Nurturing and Supporting Psychiatrists: so we can retain and strengthen our workforce.
• Addressing the Treatment Gap: fight for resources to deliver therapeutic care.
• Fairness for all: tackling inequality for patients and staff, and,
• Raising the profile of psychiatry.

Mary Twyman – Psychoanalyst (Retired) British Psychoanalytic Association

Mary Twyman completed her training at the BPAS in 1977 and then worked as a psychoanalyst in private practice, continuing with NHS work as a senior member of staff in the Adult Department of the Tavistock Clinic. Teaching and supervising at the Tavistock ran alongside other teaching roles for the BAP and other psychotherapy institutions in the UK and Europe.

Mary will talk about her career with a focus on the balance between professional life and family responsibilities

Verena Hefti MBE Founder and CEO, Leaders Plus

Verena Hefti MBE is the CEO and Founder of the award-winning Social Enterprise Leaders Plus. She set up Leaders Plus in order to support leaders with babies and young children to continue to progress their careers.

She believes that no one should have to choose between becoming a CEO and enjoying their young children. She stands for supporting parents to fulfil ambitious career dreams which she believes is essential to achieving gender equality at the top.

She won several awards for her work with Leaders Plus including the Prime Minister’s Points of Light Award. She was also awarded an MBE for services to working parents in 2022.

Previous to Leaders Plus, she ran leadership development programmes and events for 10 years in Switzerland, Denmark, and the UK. Her last role before Leaders Plus was as Regional Director at Teach First, where she redesigned leadership development conferences and delivered leadership training to 400 Teach First participants.

She graduated with an MA with distinction in Social Anthropology from the University of Manchester where she studied gender equality in depth.

Verena is the podcast host of the popular Leaders Plus podcast Big Careers, Small Children - A Podcast for Ambitious Working Parents.

Please kindly note, the event will be recorded, and the recording made available within two weeks of the event. The recording will not be automatically available after the event has taken place. 

The recording will be sent out to delegates via email. The link will be sent to the email address used at the time of registering. If you are unsure whether your email address is up to date, please update this via your membership account. 

We would encourage those who register to attend on the day of the event, should they wish to ask questions to our speakers.

The recording of this webinar will be available to view for delegates who register to attend until 7 April 2024.

This event is taking place online via Zoom. To take part you will need:

• access to a reliable internet connection
• a PC, laptop, tablet or phone
• Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge browser or Zoom installed on your PC, laptop, tablet or phone.

Please note – it is up to the participant to ensure that they have the correct requirements in place prior to booking the event.

Joining instructions for the event will be sent out the week of the event.

Prior to registering for this event, we would ask that all delegates read our terms and conditions for booking an event.