Psychiatry training is based in institutions where registrars work within multidisciplinary teams, a very different experience from working in solo private practice. Registrars learn to assess patients and write them up; these notes are generally written for the benefit of others who are also treating the patient. In the main, any necessary psychotherapeutic work can be referred to other practitioners. Psychiatrists working in private practice often remain faithful to this model.

But what about psychiatrists who have an interest in providing the psychotherapeutic treatment themselves? This short course sets out to give participants a taste of the way a psycho-therapeutically oriented psychiatrist thinks and works, taking into account the change in focus that is a necessary part of a psychological orientation – for example, working a way that is more about engaging the patient and less about eliciting factual information in an efficient manner.

The course itself will consist of a half dozen seminars and cover the kinds of themes that commonly arise when commencing private practice work. Loosely based on Nina Coltart’s ‘How to Survive as a Psychotherapist’, it is intended for senior registrars and early career psychiatrists who are interested in offering ongoing psychotherapeutic work as a part of a general psychiatric practice. The focus will be practical and clinical, allowing space for participants to raise their own concerns and to bring examples for discussion.