Meet Dr Ruth Mason-Battley, Stage 2 Child and Adolescent psychiatry Registrar at Te Whatu Ora - Waitematā in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland), New Zealand.

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself

Kia ora, I’m Ruth, I was born and raised in West Auckland and live with my partner and our very spoiled dog, Raz. 
I’m currently working in child and adolescent psychiatry in the community. In my spare time, you’ll find me out on bush walks, working on my latest art or crochet project, or catching up with friends and whānau (family), usually while fuelling my caffeine dependence.

2. What inspired you to choose a career in Psychiatry? 

I’ve always been curious about people’s stories. I enjoy that in psychiatry, gaining an understanding of the life of the person you’re working with is a core part of the work. In my final year of med school, I did my elective in psychiatry and really enjoyed seeing a variety of mental health subspecialties.

I also remember taking far too long with my assessments in GP, ED, and medical placements — I was always drawn to the mental health presentations and wanted to understand the full picture of what was going on.

3. In 2023, you won the Trainee Takeover of Australasian Psychiatry cover art competition, can you tell us more about the piece of art that was showcased? 

In medical school, I was fortunate to work a summer job with the University of Auckland Department of Anatomy and Medical Imaging. For this, I created and adapted several educational neuroanatomy illustrations using digital media (see some examples below). As part of this project, we needed a cover for the course manual. I wanted to make something that used the neuroanatomy knowledge I’d learned, but in a more abstract, traditional medium. That’s how Connections was created.

4. We know you’re both a talented artist and pursuing a career in psychiatry. Do you feel that art and psychiatry complement each other in any way? 

I think that practicing art and having creative outlets is great for mindfulness, decompression, and maintaining perspective. And my previous work illustrating has certainly helped with my knowledge of neuroanatomy! 

5.What is one piece of advice that has helped you throughout your career thus far?

Like many in medicine, I have my fair share of perfectionist tendencies. Learning to balance this with the idea of aiming to be a “good enough” health professional (to borrow a phrase from Winnicott), especially when faced with workforce pressures, has been helpful advice over my training so far.

6. How do you balance work, health and life at this stage in your life?   

Graduating at the end of 2019 and working as a junior doctor in the covid era was quite a learning curve, there were certainly challenging times where work/life balance was more difficult. 
 This year I’ve opted to work part-time, to change pace, and to prioritise time for life outside of work and study. It’s been great to have more time for my art again as a result.

Here are some of Dr Mason-Battley's paintings:

Tea and Toast in Tokyo  

Cycling through Otago