President’s update: Shaping the future member experience

As we continue our journey of reform across the College, one of our most important priorities is ensuring that we remain responsive to the needs of our members and strengthen the connections that bring us together as a profession.

Reform is not simply about changing governance structures, policies or processes. It is also about how members experience their College every day: how easily they can access information, fulfil professional requirements, connect with colleagues and contribute to the future of our profession.

Our ambition is to build a more accessible, connected and future-ready College, with members at the centre of everything we do.

Every member engages with the College differently. Some are navigating training requirements and examinations, others are completing CPD, participating in advocacy, contributing to Faculties, Sections and Networks, or accessing trusted information to support clinical practice.

Whatever the purpose, engaging with the College should be straightforward, efficient and meaningful.

Improving the everyday member experience

Our Digital and Communications team has been working towards this goal, informed by extensive member research over recent years.

The feedback has been consistent. Members want to find trusted information quickly, complete essential tasks efficiently, connect with colleagues and access support without unnecessary complexity.

This work extends well beyond our website. It encompasses the College’s digital platforms, communications, educational resources, professional development systems and increasingly, how our information is accessed through emerging technologies, including AI-powered search.

Importantly, this is not simply a technology project. It is part of our broader College reform agenda and our commitment to improving how we support members throughout their professional lives.

For members undertaking CPD, improvements are already underway to simplify requirements, redesign aspects of the Professional Development Plan process and improve access to certificates and statements. Integration between our events and CPD platforms will also allow CPD hours earned at College events to be automatically recorded as draft activities in MyCPD, ready for members to review, add reflections and submit.

For trainees, we are examining the entire training journey, rather than addressing individual webpages or communications in isolation. Our focus is on clearer requirements, more accessible support and greater certainty as trainees progress through their training.

For our Faculties, Sections and Networks, upgraded webpages are nearing completion. These will better showcase the expertise and contributions of our member groups, improve access to resources and help the important work of our committees reach a wider audience.

We are also redesigning our Find a Psychiatrist service in collaboration with consumers. With more than a million views annually, this service is an important connection between the College and the public. Improving it will help people seeking psychiatric care find appropriate services more easily.

Beyond our internal systems, we are strengthening the College’s external digital presence through refreshed website content, more accessible advocacy resources, improved social media engagement and greater visibility of trusted College information in emerging AI search environments.

These improvements also support our broader responsibility to ensure that evidence-informed psychiatric expertise remains accessible in an increasingly complex information environment.

Listening to members and measuring our progress

As part of our broader College reform agenda, we must ensure that these improvements translate into meaningful changes in members’ everyday experiences.

This means continuing to listen to your feedback, being transparent about our progress and evaluating whether the changes we introduce are genuinely making it easier to engage with the College.

Our success should be measured not simply by the systems we modernise or the initiatives we deliver, but by the difference they make to our members, including how effectively we support professional connections and strengthen our sense of fellowship.

Connecting our members and strengthening our Fellowship

While digital improvements are important, the strength of our College ultimately lies in its people, professional relationships and shared commitment to psychiatry.

Earlier this month, more than 150 members came together in Adelaide for the Faculty of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Conference. Our bi-national conferences, Branch events and specialist meetings continue to provide valuable opportunities for learning, collaboration and professional connection.

I encourage you to explore upcoming events, including the International Forensic Psychiatry Conference in Bengaluru, India, from 2–5 November.

I also extend my thanks to our Branches, Faculties and Sections for welcoming Psychiatry Interest Forum members to their events and conferences in recent months.

We continue to expand our mentoring opportunities. The Section of Leadership and Management is piloting its Stepping into Leadership stream, while internationally, the Fiji National University Mentoring Programme is supporting six registrars from Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu and Kiribati undertaking the Master of Psychiatry programme.

Our international capacity-building work is another important expression of our commitment to strengthening psychiatry and professional connections across the region.

Last month, 68 health practitioners, nurses, counsellors, students and community workers completed a 15-week foundational course in child and adolescent mental health through the Online Pacific Health Exchange: Learning for Impact and Action (OPHELIA) program. This initiative supports mental health professionals in lower-resourced Asia-Pacific countries where access to specialist training remains limited.

Celebrating our colleagues and supporting one another

Nominations are now open for 21 RANZCP awards, closing on 31 October. I encourage you to nominate colleagues whose contributions to psychiatry, education, research, leadership or service deserve recognition.

Finally, my thanks to Dr Susannah Bond, Dr Jessica Yang and Executive Dean of Education Professor Andrew Teodorczuk for hosting our R U OK? Day webinar, The knowing-doing gap in doctor wellbeing: A call for psychiatric leadership.

It was a timely reminder that supporting our colleagues and looking after our own wellbeing must remain central to our professional culture.

A College built on connection and fellowship

I write this from the World Congress of Psychiatry in Stockholm, where meeting colleagues from across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand has been particularly heartening. The strong sense of fellowship, shared purpose and connection reminds me that our College is much more than its structures, systems and processes. It is the professional home we build together.

As we continue to reform and strengthen our College, I want our members and the sense of connection and fellowship that brings us together to remain at the heart of this journey. Your experiences, feedback and contributions will continue to shape our priorities and help us measure whether we are delivering meaningful improvements.

My hope is that we build a College that not only makes it easier for members to access the support and resources they need, but also strengthens the professional relationships, collegiality and sense of belonging that make our Fellowship so valuable.

Dr Astha Tomar
President