Talk to someone
The RANZCP has a directory of private psychiatrists working in Australia. Some psychiatrists you can just call up and book a private appointment (with no medicare rebate) – but many will want you to talk to your GP about getting a referral (which will qualify you for a medicare rebate): https://www.yourhealthinmind.org/find-a-psychiatrist
Steps from the RANZCP for getting help: www.yourhealthinmind.org/get-help
Lifeline has an online crisis-chat service available from 7:00pm – 4.00am (Syd time) 7 days a week: www.lifeline.org.au/get-help/online-services/crisis-chat
Assess your mental health
‘Are you ok?’ is a website designed and made by junior doctors to promote the health and wellbeing of junior doctors! Contains self assessment tools, vignettes, and ideas to help reduce stress. www.jmohealth.org.au
The greater good science centre at Berkley university with numerous self assessment quizzes such as emotional intelligence, stress 7 anxiety and mindfulness. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/quizzes
This Way Up has the K-10 and other assessment tools, information sheets and online courses thiswayup.org.au/
The Pursuit of Happiness has a strengths-based happiness quiz and lots of resources on the ‘science of happiness’ www.pursuit-of-happiness.org
Mindtools has heaps of resources and self-assessments, including the burnout self-test www.mindtools.com
Authentic happiness has heaps of questionnaires, videos and resources about positive psychology www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu
CALM (Computer Assisted Learning for the Mind) is a website with resources about resilience, relationship and meaning; and heaps of mindfulness resources! Developed by the University of Auckland Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences www.calm.auckland.ac.nz
Learn about your mind
Dr Dan Siegel is a renowned American psychiatrist – he coined the term ‘Mindsight’ and the field of Interpersonal Neurobiology. He has free resources on his websites, and lots of bestselling books! www.drdansiegel.com
Dr Russ Harris (author of ‘The Happiness Trap’ and Australian ‘Acceptance and Commitment Therapy’ guru) has a youtube channel with heaps of short and insightful videos about how your mind works! view his channel here
Dr Kristen Neff is a world leader in the research on self-compassion! You can assess your level of self compassion here. She has also provided a number of useful free resources (including free meditations) on her website: self-compassion.org
Mindfulness
A directory of mindfulness resources is available at https://www.freemindfulness.org/download
Smiling Mind – A free mindfulness app
Tara Brach is practitioner of insight meditation (a type of Buddhist meditation) – she has heaps of free talks and meditations available online: www.tarabrach.com/guided-meditations
Medicine-related blogs & articles
The wellbeing of physician relationships Western Journal of Medicine
The painful truth: physicians are not invincible Medscape
Emotional survival skills for physicians in training American Psychological Association
The comics revealing medical school’s hidden flaws and hard lessons The Atlantic
Insights on residency training NEJM Journal Watch (need to create an account to access)
Reading novels at medical school blog at nytimes.com
Prompts for reflection
TED talks – no doubt you’ve heard about TED! They have heaps of interesting and thoughtful videos! www.ted.com
The School of Life has lots of ‘tools for a thoughtful life’ – free youtube videos and blogs, and well-priced books! www.theschooloflife.com
Dumbo Feather ‘conversations with extraordinary people’ is a website with interesting blogs, videos and podcasts www.dumbofeather.com
Sounds true is a nexus of ‘spiritual guidance’ with lots of resources on mindfulness, buddhist teachings, and relationship advice www.soundstrue.com/store/
General resources
thedesk.org was specifically designed for students – it does require registration, but it has heaps of tools and educational modules! www.thedesk.org.au
Headsup.com is geared towards creating a mentally healthy workplace, with lots of great resources for organization leaders and health professionals https://www.headsup.org.au/your-mental-health
R-Cubed (real resilience resources) aims to provide GP registrars, med students and young doctors with real strategies to build resilence during busy times www.rcubed.org.au
