This episode from the series In Conversation: on the rural pathway to Fellowship explores the holistic nature of care by examining the firsthand stories of trainees and their approach to cases in rural settings. The podcast seeks to explore trainees dealing with cases in rural everyday circumstances and how these cases impacted their training experience.

This podcast series was made possible by funding from the Australian Government through the Specialist Training Program. The Specialist Training Program is an Australian Government initiative to support specialist medical training in settings beyond traditional public teaching hospitals, including regional, rural, and remote and private facilities. 

Dr Anna Norris has worked in Victoria and Tasmania for the majority of her medical career and was lucky to complete her first three years of the RANZCP Fellowship programme at NWMH in Melbourne/ Naarm. She immensely enjoyed a six-month CAMHS rotation in Alice Springs/ Mparntwe in 2018 and learnt a great deal during this time. Anna went on to move to London and finish a postgraduate certificate in Psychoanalytic Studies at the Tavistock Clinic; COVID-19 thwarting her plans for the associated master’s when she headed back to Australia, seeking, somewhat naively (!), to avoid the pandemic. Since then, and following the birth of her first child, she has been loving living and working in Tasmania, including with the Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Service in Hobart/ nipaluna. She is engaged in CL Psychiatry advanced training and has interests in mitigating the effects of psychological trauma, maternal and infant psychiatry, and psychodynamic psychotherapy. In her spare time, she dances to the Hokey Pokey with her daughter, makes chili-laden one-pot vegetarian meals and is trying to learn the trick of dead lifts at the gym.

Dr Timothy (Tim) Styles completed his medical studies at the University of Western Australia and commenced postgraduate training in psychiatry in 2019 after seeking diverse exposure to medical and surgical specialties as a junior hospital doctor. Tim has been fortunate to work across a number of geographic regions in WA and at several different metropolitan health services during his training. As a medical student, Tim had a placement in Wiluna in the Mid-West region of WA. As a trainee, he worked in Broome at the Kimberley Mental Health and Drug Service. Tim is undertaking certificate training in Psychiatry of Old Age, and has special interests in rural psychiatry, neurostimulation, and an increasing enthusiasm for psychotherapy. In his spare time, Tim enjoys playing tennis, loyally (blindly) following his AFL team, and taking his two-year-old Springer Spaniel to the beach. He is also a keen (and sometimes experimental) cook with slight hoarding tendencies when it comes to culinary gadgetry – which greatly exasperates his wife.

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This podcast is provided to you for information purposes only and to provide a broad public understanding of various mental health topics. The podcast may represent the views of the author and not necessarily the views of The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists ('RANZCP'). The podcast is not to be relied upon as medical advice, or as a substitute for medical advice, does not establish a doctor-patient relationship and should not be a substitute for individual clinical judgement. By accessing The RANZCP's podcasts you also agree to the full terms and conditions of the RANZCP's Website. Expert mental health information and finding a psychiatrist in Australia or New Zealand is available on the RANZCP’s Your Health In Mind Website.