It has now been two years since the launch of the Member Wellbeing Action Plan (the Plan)— our five-year roadmap and shared commitment to sustaining the psychiatric workforce at every stage of their career.

As we reach the end of 2025, it’s a good time to take stock of the areas that have gained momentum this year, and those where our continued advocacy remains essential.

Here’s a snapshot of what’s been happening and where we’re heading next.

Year two in review

From fresh resources to strengthened workforce advocacy at a branch and bi-national level, we’ve seen progress and our own members driving initiatives that embed good wellbeing cultures in psychiatry, healthcare leadership and everyday practice. 

Several key sessions at the Gold Coast Congress , with a focus on real-world issues affecting doctors’ wellbeing and the stability of the workforce.

• Ethics in action: Launching the 2025 Code of Ethics and exploring opportunities in practice - presentation with Prof. Richard Harvey and Dr Izaak Lim.
• The role of the psychiatrist in physician and staff wellbeing programs in health care - panel with Dr Sarah Michael, Dr Maura Kenny and Dr Kelvin Leung.
• How depression made a doctor – presentation by Dr Dinesh Palipana OAM.
• Presidential Symposium on the psychiatry workforce - panel discussion with Dr Elizabeth Moore, Ivan Frkovic & Associate Professor Mathew Coleman.

Introduction of Wellbeing education as a new category to the 2025 College CPD program.

• Launch of the Retiring well web resource, with wellbeing as a key consideration for members planning the next stage of their careers and transitioning to retirement. 
• ACT Branch Conference, ‘Connections and Community’, hosted in March 2025 with keynote speaker Dr Kym Jenkins presenting on ‘Keeping ourselves connected benefits the community’. 
• Ongoing state-based advocacy by the College branches, including the launch of the South Australia Psychiatry Workforce Plan in April 2025.
• Update to Position Statement 80: The role of the psychiatrist in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand published in May 2025, highlighting the challenges faced by the profession including workforce shortages, stigmatisation, and barriers to access related to funding.
• Connect to Mind, Story & Community resource published to promote psychiatry to First Nations PIF members and highlight culturally safe supports available on the pathway to Fellowship.

What’s on the horizon 

In the next phase of the Plan, our focus is on refining priorities to deliver targeted, concrete changes. This will include a refresh of some long-term actions to ensure they remain contemporary and continue to align with our members' evolving needs. You can read more here about which key areas of the Plan the Member Wellbeing Subcommittee have decided to revise and consolidate. 

Other developments include:

• Wired Differently: Neurodiverse Voices in Medicine, a College member webinar that offers insight to the lived experience of neurodiverse doctors, which will be recorded and released in 2026. 
• Repeating our Member Wellbeing Survey, which was last conducted in 2020 and helped to inform our Member Wellbeing Action Plan. 
• A new training module for supervisors on discrimination, bullying, harassment and respectful interactions.
• A comprehensive refresh of the Wellbeing Support for Members hub to move it beyond the pandemic context and in line with what our members need now, including aggregated information to support the psychological safety of the psychiatry workforce.
• Review of the A Better Culture report, to identify areas that we can take forward as a College to contribute to improving workplace cultures.
• Implementing the recommendations from our 2024 Trainee Support Needs Survey, which was the first survey of its kind within the College to identify ways to better support those experiencing personal and/or professional difficulties during training.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed their energy and ideas, shared experiences, and worked together to support each other this year. 

We’re always eager to hear about initiatives or individuals in our community who are making a positive impact on doctors’ health and wellbeing. We’d be excited to highlight and celebrate these efforts in our upcoming communications. By continuing to share and learn from each other, we can keep making progress.

If you or someone you know is doing great work in this space, please reach out to our team:

•    Lex Cooper - Project Officer, Diversity & Wellbeing (lex.cooper@ranzcp.org) 

•    Sam Dipnall - Senior Manager, Membership Development (sam.dipnall@ranzcp.org)

Be well, and please contact us at support@ranzcp.org if you need any support