1. What did you want to be when you were young?

A mother, for sure. I didn’t think I would get the opportunity to be a doctor, but I loved my teachers and wanted to be one. Now I’m all three! Ta-da!

2. Describe your medical journey.

It took me a long time to get through my undergrad degrees, and I had planned to do medicine in America, train in Alaska, then go to Canada to work in the Territories, in the beautiful snow, but it was going to be so expensive to train that I was delayed by having to save enough money to get through. I met my Australian spouse online socially, and the exchange rate and the relationship were both great, so I ended up doing Medicine in Sydney instead, 25 years ago, and never went to the Yukon!

3. Your first patient interaction – what did you learn from this experience?

I left home too young to work legally, and had many jobs in the grey economy in America. I was living below the radar with a group of undocumented people, and one of them came home with a nasty injury from a worksite… a piece of wood had stabbed him and broken off, and for some reason everyone agreed I was the one to look after him. We did kitchen table surgery, using what things people happened to have. I had to think from first principles – I need something to numb this… what do I have? OK, next problem! And he had such trust in me, even though he was really frightened. The next time someone was planning a border crossing they brought back a lot of medical supplies and I looked after people the best I could figure out how. Because that’s what doctors have always done, since we were living in caves together, doing the best we could with what we have collectively.

4. Why is Psychological Medicine a passion area for you?

I like to pull the weeds from the roots, rather than constantly pick at the surface of a problem and pretend the weeds will someday stop sprouting on their own. I like to fix things, and with medicine, if you don’t look after the whole person, you can’t really fix much.

5. Why were you drawn to ASPM?

I love doctor-educators, and it was such a pleasure to do training with ASPM. It was so nice to be able to talk deeply about the things I really care about, and to be in the company of people who can keep passionately working even when it is not at all clear that the goal is even achievable.

6. Psychological Medicine in general practice is hard work. Can you offer a word of advice/support for fellow mental health doctors?

Plenty of hard things are fun, and plenty of easy things are tedious. I tell medical students to stop worrying about finding the thing they are best at – generally, they’re multitalented, and they could do almost anything. Searching for what is best is a bit fruitless. I tell them to figure out what makes them tired and depleted, and then avoid doing that. Whole person care does not make me tired and depleted.