Creating and supporting an engaged community of psychiatrists and trainees is a fundamental component of our role as the peak representative body for our profession in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

As individuals, our connections to the College, our backgrounds and our professional interest areas vary greatly, however what links us together is our shared commitment to the discipline and practice of psychiatry and treating mental illness in the community.

The Membership Engagement Committee (MEC) acts as a focal point for listening to our members. It was established to ensure that your voices, experiences, and priorities continue to guide the direction of the RANZCP. Over the past year, it has become clearer than ever that meaningful engagement is essential to supporting our Fellows, trainees and Affiliates, and to strengthening the overall effectiveness of the College. The MEC plays a central role in this effort by advising the Board on strategies that enhance communication, participation, inclusiveness, and the overall member experience.

Key areas of focus for the Committee include:

• Improving communication channels so that members can more easily access updates, raise concerns, and contribute feedback to College leadership.
• Supporting member wellbeing and professional satisfaction, including identifying opportunities for peer connection, mentoring, and professional development.
• Enhancing engagement in governance, and promoting opportunities to participate in committees, working groups, and College initiatives.
• Ensuring equity and inclusion, with particular attention to the perspectives of trainees, early-career psychiatrists, Māori and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members, and those working in rural and remote settings.

Last year, over 1200 members shared your feedback and reflections through our Membership Engagement Surveys. You told us that the College has built a strong, professional community of psychiatrists, and that our work seeks to improve mental health outcomes; but that we need to be more responsive and better meet members’ diverse needs, engage in more advocacy, and focus on improvements to the training program and delivering better membership value.   

In response to this, the MEC identified 16 areas for action. Promoting local engagement through our Australian Branches and the New Zealand National Office, improving communications, better recognising members’ contributions and achievements, and increasing the overall value of membership (for example through strengthening our CPD offering and expanding access to relevant resources) have been the core focus so far.

We also heard that we need to cultivate many different engagement opportunities that span our members’ career journeys. From making sure that medical students have a great introduction to the profession through the Psychiatry Interest Forum, to improving how we welcome new trainees getting started in the College and training program, expanding College Associate membership to all SIMG candidates working towards Fellowship, enhancing how we support new Fellows when making the transition to consultancy and finding their career path, providing access to high-quality CPD and peer review groups for Fellows, delivering conferences and other educational events, supporting wellbeing and improving gender equity in psychiatry, all the way through to retiring well – we have and will continue to expand on our work to engage more effectively with all member segments.

In just the last year we:

• Welcomed a record 309 new Fellows to our College and psychiatry workforce.
• Celebrated 484 longstanding Fellows through our Member Recognition Program.
• Passed a milestone achievement of facilitating over 500 partnerships since launching the RANZCP Mentoring Program.
• Delivered 427 new trainee welcome packs and expanded these to include SIMGs.
• Helped 166 members by providing fee reductions to those experiencing serious illness, financial hardship or on parental leave.
• Finalised the Transition to Retirement project, with 10 recommendations to be implemented over time which will better support members who are approaching retirement.
• Completed a new survey of our trainees to better understand what supports they need when experiencing personal or professional difficulties, and contributed to a new trainee engagement strategy for the next two years.
• Reached the half-way mark implementing our Gender Equity Action Plan, with 18 out of 36 actions completed or completed and ongoing.   

The 2024 engagement survey also highlighted that whilst members see the College as a source of updates, information and resources, they were less likely to feel a strong sense of connection and belonging. How we connect and interact has changed and will keep changing, and we need to keep pace with this.

We rely on the collegiality and collaboration of our members to ensure we can deliver on our purposes and strategy. A healthy and vibrant College depends on the voluntary time, effort and care that so many of our members offer when they choose to give back to psychiatry, often through our governance and educational structures – by taking part in committees and working groups, and supporting the education and training of our future psychiatrists.

And yet, nearly 40% of Fellows and Affiliate members who took the survey told us that they are not getting as much as they could from their membership. That’s understandable as our energy and time is finite, and the College is just one part of our lives.

As we head towards a new year, I’d like for all of us to simply be aware of the many opportunities available across the College in 2026. If you’re interested, you might like to explore a different part of the College, get involved in our consultations, attend a conference or one of the more than 100 member events that are organised by the College locally each year, register for a free member webinar if you see a topic that’s of interest, volunteer as a mentor or nominate a colleague who’s doing great things via the RANZCP Awards Program.

It’s in these ways, through using our College as an interconnected community, we can all grow beyond our own spaces and appreciate each other’s a little more.

The Board is grateful for the work undertaken to date and for the contributions of the many members who have participated in surveys, forums, and consultation processes. Your insights continue to shape our priorities and help ensure that the RANZCP remains a strong, member-led organisation.

In the coming months, the MEC will continue its work on strengthening engagement, including new opportunities for two-way communication and for members to contribute to policy, education, and advocacy initiatives. We look forward to sharing further updates as this work progresses.

Thank you for your ongoing support, professionalism, and commitment to the College and to the communities we serve. If you have suggestions or would like to be involved in the work of the MEC, we warmly encourage you to reach out and get in touch with us at board_mec@ranzcp.org.