Officers' welcome

Hello! On behalf of the Psychiatric Trainees’ Committee (PTC) executive officers (Dr Chiara Cattra, Vice-Chair and Dr Daniela Borges, Secretary), I have written a few words to introduce ourselves and our strategy for the coming year.

I’m Laura Thorn, an Old Age Psychiatry higher trainee in Wales working Less Than Full Time and juggling life as a busy mum of two children.

I am delighted to be the chair of the PTC 2023-2024 and am excited to represent such a diverse, dedicated and hugely skilful trainee body in the UK.

Training can be demanding and at times anxiety provoking. We understand those struggles and we are here for you. We are here to represent you within the college working closely with the training and workforce team, and the Dean Professor Subodh Dave, and sitting on numerous college committees striving to make improvements in training to advocate for the trainee voice.

You are represented by a number of local trainees across the country who work hard and are keen to engage with you. Please take a look at our PTC representatives page to find out who your local representative is and a bit about them.

Who are we and what do we do?

The PTC is a committee of the RCPsych Council. We represent, and are elected by, trainees across the devolved nations (Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales) and the divisions in England. As well as local representatives, we also have a national Medical Student representative, Foundation Doctor representative, Military representative, Psychiatric Support Service representative and International Medical Graduate representative. The exams representative and editor of The Registrar are co-opted onto the PTC. The exams representative and editor of The Registrar are co-opted onto the PTC.

Our priorities for 2023-2024

We understand that working within healthcare at this time is difficult and we are all facing many different pressures. Balancing personal and professional responsibilities with the demands of training can be very challenging.

We are here to support and represent you on every RCPsych Committee and some external bodies too. Check out our 2023-2024 strategy.

This year our priorities are to support the wellbeing of trainees, as well as promoting and advocating equality and diversity, and education and training.

Connect with us

Keep an eye out for the PTC newsletter throughout the year, as well as the Registrar for opportunities to get involved and connect with us. We would love to see you at our annual conference which is a great way to learn, connect and network with trainees from around the UK. We will be at Congress too so don’t be afraid to come along and say hello.

Email us at ptcsupport@rcpsych.ac.uk or contact us individually on social media.

We look forward to representing you over the coming year and getting to know as many of you as possible.

Very best wishes,

Dr Laura Thorn, OA Higher Trainee
@lauravthorn
Chair

Dr Chiara Cattra, GAP Higher Trainee
@aidenera
Vice Chair

Dr Daniela Borges, GAP Higher Trainee
@danielasaborges
Secretary