My Experience and What It Brings

My current and previous roles have given me wide-ranging experience in medical education, leadership, and system-level improvement.

I am 

• Deputy Chief Medical Officer, West London NHS Trust

• North West London Higher Trainee Leadership & Management Tutor

• Chair, RCPsych London Division

Since achieving CCT, I have also been:

• Less Than Full-Time (LTFT) Training Champion

• Director of Medical Education (DME)

• Mentor to new consultants

Across all of these roles, the most meaningful and enduring has been my work as a clinical and educational supervisor. I have supervised foundation doctors, GP resident doctor, core and higher resident doctors, and even now — despite the demands of my DCMO role — I continue to educationally supervise two higher resident doctors at West London NHS Trust. Watching them grow, guiding them through key decisions, and seeing them become confident future consultants remains one of the greatest privileges of my career.

My Work with the College

My relationship with RCPsych began as a new consultant when I attended a StartWell event (initiative designed to support doctors during the transition from psychiatric resident doctor to consultant — a period recognised as one of the most challenging in a psychiatrist’s career.)— and immediately felt the importance of structured support at a pivotal transition. I later became London Division StartWell Lead, shaping several iterations of the programme and helping new consultants navigate the complexities of their early years.

I spent three years contributing to the development of the RCPsych Leadership and Management Fellowship Scheme, one of the most enjoyable and impactful pieces of work I have done with the College. I now lead Module 2: Authentic Leadership, which remains one of my favourite days of the year. I also mentor our West London Fellow.

Beyond this, I teach on the RCPsych Internal Diploma for Older Adult Mental Health, focusing on dementia, and have spoken at RCPsych International Congress about my experiences of postnatal depression and the challenges faced by women in medicine. I have delivered teaching and training across numerous national and regional conferences, supporting medical students, trainees, and trainers at various stages of their careers.

Commitment to Equity, Mentoring, and Real-Life Medicine

Outside the College, I work closely with LeadersPlus, having delivered sessions on parental guilt and the realities of balancing parenthood with a medical career. I have supported their fellowship programme and helped shape a successful NHS leadership fellowship. I also work with the Careers Office as an ambassador, grounded in my own lived experience of growing up in a deprived part of East London and working throughout medical school to support myself.

Mentoring and coaching are core to who I am. I am completing a Coaching Diploma this year, not to add to my CV, but because I believe reflective, compassionate leadership is how we support both individuals and teams to thrive.

My Personal Journey – and Why It Matters

Before psychiatry, I completed two years of Acute Care Common Stem (ACCS) training. An FY2 placement in inpatient psychiatry had sparked my interest but my application for ACCS had already been submitted. During those years, I discovered three things: I missed continuity, I gravitated toward patients with mental health needs, and I witnessed the stigma that mental illness still carries within medicine. I left ACCS and reapplied for psychiatry.

My journey through training was not easy. As a core trainee, I was told by my first clinical supervisor that I “cared too much to succeed in psychiatry.” As a higher trainee, I had my son, experienced severe postnatal depression, and was admitted to a mother and baby unit in the same trust where I worked. Returning less than full time (LTFT) after maternity leave, I feared the stigma of my illness and doubted whether I could ever succeed in psychiatry.

I stayed — not because it was easy, but because of extraordinary supervisors and TPDs who believed in me even when I struggled to believe in myself. Their support kept me in the profession, and it is one of the reasons I am so committed to being that advocate for others.