1st Year Psychiatry Registrar

Important Contacts:

Dr Dominika Baetens – Deputy Director Clinical Services, Director Postgraduate Education

Dr Sarah Berriman, Lead Registrar

Mrs Marlene Perry, PA, Director Clinical Services

Important Dates:

Monday 7th May 2018 - Advertisement Available on St Vincent’s online Recruitment Site

Friday 15th June 2018 - Closing Date for Applications

Interviews – July 2018

1ST YEAR PSYCHIATRY REGISTRAR TRAINING POSITIONS ARE MATCHED THROUGH THE RANZCP SELECTION PROCESS AS WELL AS APPLICATION TO ST VINCENT’S RECRUITMENT WEBSITE

Overview:

The training program at St Vincent’s Mental Health is accredited with the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatry.

Our clients/patients

St. Vincent’s Mental Health (SVMH) emphasises strengths and recovery opportunities for individuals experiencing mental health issues and illness.

In doing so we acknowledge cultural diversity and recognise the role of psychosocial vulnerability and trauma but aim to foster a spirit of resilience which sees the individual driving their recovery professionally supported by their treating team.

St Vincent's Mental Health includes an adult area mental health service for the inner city areas of Yarra and Boroondara. The adult mental health service components are: the Footbridge Community Care Unit (CCU), the Prevention and Recovery Care (PARC), the 44-bed Acute Inpatient Service (AIS) located on the St. Vincent’s Hospital site, and two community mental health services (CMHS) at Hawthorn and East Melbourne (Clarendon CMHS). Community mental health services comprise the Triage and Crisis Assessment and Treatment (CAT) service, Extended Triage and MH-HARP/MH-PICT (Mental Health- Hospital Admission Reduction Program & Primary Intervention and Care Team), Continuing Care (CCT), Mobile Support and Treatment (MST) and Homeless Outreach (CHOPS) services. A Consultation & Liaison Service is provided to the health service. NEXUS Dual Diagnosis Service, the Body Image and Eating Disorders Assessment and Treatment Service (BETRS) and NEVIL Training Cluster are regional services. State-wide services are the Victorian Dual Disability Service, the Victorian Transcultural Psychiatry Unit and Dual Diagnosis Education and Training Unit. The Acute Inpatient Service includes 5 beds designated as the Koori State-wide Inpatient Service and linked to the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service.

A wealth of training opportunities

St Vincent's Mental Health is committed to supporting and complimenting specialist RANZCP training with the aim of developing psychiatrists with a broad range of experiences and knowledge well equipped to perform clinically as well as lead and develop the broader mental health area. St Vincent’s Mental Health offers a wide selection of core and subspecialty rotations. Trainees are rotated to Austin and Eastern Health for their child and adolescent mental health experience.

Our consultant supervisors

St Vincent's Mental Health maintains a consultant staff of approximately 30 with expertise in a wide range of specialties. We draw on a collegiate approach to form the background to a training experience which emphasises a comprehensive and inclusive manner of understanding and treating our patients including those at the margins of our community.

Our educational program

There is an extensive academic and educational program available to trainees at St Vincent’s Mental Health. St Vincent’s has a particular commitment to providing a comprehensive training program which includes quality experience in psychotherapy.

Grand round style and critical analysis presentations (both weekly) form the backbone of our general educational program. In addition to this some of our most senior psychiatrists provide a general grounding to our trainees by way of their weekly sessions.

Professor Castle leads our trainees through readings covering history and controversies in psychiatry, Assoc Prof Harari leads seminars in psychodynamic psychiatry while Dr Denis O'Loughlin (Director of Psychotherapy Training) supports our trainees through reflective practice sessions which are also facilitated fortnightly within the multidisciplinary sessions of Dr Jenny Randles.

Historically St Vincent's trainees have achieved high pass rates in their summative assessments and exams. Our OSCE preparation program has achieved a particular reputation among trainees for its success and rigor.

The introduction of new, higher junior consultant level standards has posed a challenge to all training programs.

We have increased consultant participation in the exam preparation program with the development of an electronically based written exam preparation further supplemented by face to face sessions. Case submissions have been supported by the provision of information tutorials to both supervisors and trainees as well as supervisor support for a double review process. All cases reviewed and submitted in this manner have passed.

Support for trainee welfare

Training and working in mental health can be an intense, confronting and stressful experience. Trainees may have to deal with commitments outside of the workplace or challenges in their own lives. Part of professional development is finding a balance to these competing -and complementary- interests. In addition to meeting clinical and training supervision requirements through the usual avenues we support our trainees by ready access to senior support. Monthly meetings by the DCS, Deputy DCS allow for the thoughtful discussion of training and frontline issues while an open door policy allows the clinical executive to provide more urgent support when needed. Our lead and senior registrars play an important role in providing mid-level and practical support to more junior trainees as well as orienting them to the importance of external resources including the use of green spaces (Exhibition gardens), local eateries and coffee shops.

St Vincent's health provides staff support in the form of counselling services (ACCESS) as well as through our STAR program (Support Team Action Response - a Critical Incident Stress Management peer support program).

At times our trainees seek additional support or consider psychotherapy or psychoanalysis to further their training experiences. We provide assistance in locating suitable therapists if desired by the trainee.

How to Apply:

The selection process for 1st Year Psychiatry Registrar positions is conducted by the Victorian Psychiatry Training Committee, RANZCP. This is done by way of short-listing applicants, selection interviews, consultation with referees, followed by a College match meeting (to match candidate and hospital preferences). Written applications should be submitted to both the VPTC and St Vincent’s by the closing date.

Refer to the RANZCP website for further information on psychiatry training and the College application process to the VPTC.

Apply