The document outlines the implementation of the first mentoring scheme for foundation doctors in psychiatry in Norfolk, England. It discusses how mentoring can help support foundation doctors transitioning to their new roles and dealing with stress. The scheme matched foundation doctors with experienced psychiatric trainees as their mentors. Feedback found the mentoring helped increase motivation and confidence working in psychiatry and encouraged some to consider it as a career. The program has now expanded across Norfolk and Suffolk and provides a cost-effective way to support junior doctors.

1. Implementing the First Mentoring
Scheme for Foundation Doctors in
Psychiatry:
The Norfolk Experience
Dr Yasir Hameed
Specialist Registrar (ST6)
Adult and Older Adult Psychiatry
Glaven ward. Hellesdon Hospital.
yasir.hameed@nsft.nhs.uk

2. Outline
 Background
 The mentoring scheme
 Conclusion

3. Pre-talk Quiz
 Test your knowledge on recruitment to psychiatry and Foundation
doctors.
 On your smart phone, please google “kahoot it”
 Once on the quiz screen, enter the Game Pin
 Please use your full name

6. Background
 I graduated from Baghdad Medical School in 2002.
 I worked in Baghdad, Iraq from 2002-2005.
 Then moved to Yemen and worked in rural areas from 2006-2009.
 Moved to the UK in 2009 and trained as a psychiatrist since 2010.
 I benefitted from mentoring throughout my career.

7. Al Karama hospital in Taiz, Yemen (2006-2009)

8. Royal Preston Hospital (2009-2010)

9. Mentoring helped me immensely

10. What is mentoring?
‘The process whereby an experienced, highly
regarded, empathetic individual (the mentor)
guides another individual (the mentee) in the
development and re-examination of their own
ideas, learning, and personal and professional
development.’
Supporting doctors and dentists at work: an enquiry into mentoring, 1998, London :
Standing Committee on Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education, 1998.

11. Why Foundation Doctors in Psychiatry?
 Most Foundation doctors, especially in their first year (FY1) will lack
experience and will need a substantial amount of support from their
supervisors and their teams (RCPsych, 2015).
 Foundation doctors face significant levels of stress following their graduation
(Steele & Beattie, 2013)
 Perceived difficulty in dealing with patients with severe and enduring mental
illness (e.g., psychosis) and how to communicate with them.
 Doubts about their ability to be” good enough”, wondering if their skills meet
the expectations of their supervisors.
 Anxiety about becoming “de-skilled”, not doing physical health procedures
(e.g., arterial blood gases, insertion of difficult cannula).

12. Why Foundation Doctors (cont’d)
 Despite the support from clinical supervisors and Balint group, the
role of a mentor as an extra layer of support (sounding board) is
absent from all psychiatric placement in East of England and perhaps
nationally.
 It was felt that introducing the mentoring scheme will help to address
some of the above needs and provide the extra support needed for
Foundation doctors to manage the expectations of their role and help
them settling in their teams.

13. Mentoring for Foundation Doctors
 Many authors recommend a “buddy system” or peer support models to
maximise success in psychiatric placement for Foundation doctors (Goodyear
et al, 2013).
 A mentor can be seen as a friend, trusted peer, or a more experienced
colleague.
 Mentoring is an ideal support tool for doctors during role transition and it
provides a positive role model experience and “scaffolding” that is tailored to
the to the need of the Foundation doctor (Steele & Beattie, 2013)

14. Mentoring process (Alred et al, 1986)
Exploration
Developing
new
understanding
Action
planning

15. Benefits of mentoring
Benefits to the organisation Benefits to the mentee Benefits to the mentor
Improving the job satisfaction and
therefore the performance,
recruitment and retention of
employees.
Useful is an additional tool for early
recognition and resolution of issues
that face employees.
Helpful for the organisations to gather
feedback and improve working
conditions (plan ahead).
Helpful to ensure that the mentee has
clear aims and objectives (development
outcomes) at the start of their
mentorship.
Helping the mentee to be part of a wider
professional network and avoiding
isolation.
Help the mentee to use reflective
practice and improve their self-
awareness.
Mentoring is also very
useful for mentors as many
will feel satisfied by the
process of being a trusted
mentor
Opportunity to add skills to
their e-portofolio.
Publication/research.

16. Harms of mentoring?
 Mentoring can be perceived to “infantilise” junior employees rather than
empowering them.
 It might hinder creativity in new employees and inhibit them from
thinking “outside the box” as it re-enforce the message that “this is how
we do things here, and you should fit into our existing model.
 Some mentees may also become uncomfortable with the
influence or authority of the mentor and this may hinder
the progress of the mentoring relationship.
 Toxic mentors (and mentees)

18. Challenges to good mentoring
experience
 Time and resources constraints.
 Lack of continuity of mentoring (e.g. part time mentors/mentees).
 Lack of time or willingness to provide feedback and reflection on the
mentees progress and development.
 Personality clashes can be a major barrier to an effective mentoring
relationship.
 Lack of motivated individuals to be mentors.

19. The Mentoring Scheme
 The first mentoring scheme for foundation doctors in psychiatry in
East of England.
 Probably the only current mentoring scheme for foundation doctors
during their psychiatric placement in England.
 The idea is simple but innovative, using existing resources and without
any additional funding/expenses involved.
 Feedback collected during and after the mentorship.

20. Participants and methods
 The mentoring scheme was offered to the FY doctors who joined the
Trust in December 2015 (Norfolk only).
 11 FY doctors were invited, only 5 took up this opportunity.
 Mentors were psychiatric trainees (senior CTs and STs) who were
already providing mentoring for junior psychiatric trainees.
 Matching process.
 An initial meeting followed by at least once monthly face to face
meetings.

21. Objectives of the mentoring scheme
 To develop the confidence and motivation of foundation doctors to
work in psychiatric settings and enhance their active learning.
 To support their transition from student to qualified doctor.
 To reduce stigma associated with mental illness.
 To encourage recruitment to psychiatry as a medical speciality.
 Help the mentors to be able to build confidence in their mentees
through coaching of the mentors.

22. Roles of the mentoring scheme coordinator
 Establish a “mentors’ band”
 Match mentors to mentees (through a clear matching pathway)
 Provide written information and handout about the structure of the
scheme, the beginning and end of the mentoring process, and other
useful information
 Keep a record of the mentoring meetings
 Gather feedback from mentors and mentees at the conclusion of the
mentorship

23. Topics discussed during mentoring
meetings
 General guidance regarding job roles and responsibilities
 Advice regarding difficult scenarios/patients
 Assistance on completing the competencies on e-portfolio
 Advice regarding personal health and wellbeing
 Advice regarding bullying or harassment at work
 Support regarding career choices and leadership opportunities.

24. The assessment process
Difficult to objectively assess the impact of mentoring, but the majority of
literature on mentoring considers satisfaction of the mentees and mentors as a
very important measurement of success of any scheme.
The motivation of the foundation doctors, their views about mentoring, the
support they got and likelihood of choosing psychiatry as a career was assessed
through online questionnaire at the end of mentoring mentorship.
The motivation of the mentors, their experience and feedback to improve the
scheme was also be assessed through their responses to the end of mentoring
questionnaire.
Throughout the mentoring process, continuous feedback collected and acted
upon as soon as possible to improve the mentorship experience.

25. Survey responses for the first cohort
(April 2016)
 Response rate was 80% from mentees and 100% from mentors. Results showed
that most mentees had regular meetings and contact with their mentors.
 Half of the mentors felt that their mentees were motivated to get the most of
the mentorship. Four stated that they feel they helped their mentee to
favourably change their attitudes to psychiatry and psychiatric patients. One
mentor stated that she/he influenced the mentee to choose psychiatry as a
future career.
 Two of the mentees strongly agreed that the mentoring process was very
helpful for their placement and that mentoring should be provided for every
foundation doctor in every rotation (not only in psychiatry).

26. Comment from FY doctor (December
2015-April 2016 cohort)
By coming to work in a speciality that we have
little experience in as an undergraduate, it is
difficult to try and get involved in teaching and
performing audits. With a mentor in psychiatry,
I was able to identify some possible areas of
development, including leadership opportunities for
foundation doctors.
There were also opportunities to be involved in
teaching as my mentor was involved in coordination of
students’ placement in the Trust.

27. The progress so far
 Nine foundation doctors in Norfolk benefitted from the mentoring scheme so
far.
 Two foundation doctors received intensive support through mentoring when
they faced challenging working conditions.
 Two foundation doctors considered psychiatry as a career.
 Appointment of Foundation Doctors Reps (in Norfolk and Suffolk)
 Two foundation doctors presented a poster about their mentoring scheme.
 The scheme now is running across Norfolk and Suffolk and support by all
stakeholders.

29. Conclusion
 Mentoring provides a focused opportunity to target the holistic needs
of the trainee. This not only may help encourage trainees to pursue a
career in psychiatry, but also provides the space for a trainee to learn
how to incorporate psychiatry into whatever specialty they choose to
pursue.
 Setting up a mentoring scheme can seem a daunting task, especially
at the current climate of limited resources and low morale. However,
based on our experience, it is a very cost-efficient and rewarding
project.
 “Start small and grow”

30. References
 Alred, G., Gravey, B. and Smith, R, 1986, Mentoring pocketbook. Alresford:
Management Pocketbooks.
 "But What Exactly Is Mentoring? Invited Commentary On…Mentoring Scheme for
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Consultants in Scotland." Psychiatric Bulletin:
Journal of Trends in Psychiatric Practice 33.2 (2009): 47. Supplemental Index.
 Goodyear, H, Bindal, N, Bindal, T, & Wall, D 2013, 'Foundation doctors' experience
and views of mentoring', British Journal Of Hospital Medicine (London, England:
2005), vol. 74, no. 12, pp. 682-686.
 Mentoring – CIPD Factsheet. Revised February 2009. Downloaded from:
https://www.shef.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.110468!/file/cipd_mentoring_factsheet.pd
f
 Royal College of Psychiatrists (2015). A Guide to Psychiatry in the Foundation
Programme for Supervisors.
http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/pdf/A%20Guide%20to%20Psychiatry%20in%20the%20Fou
ndation%20Programme.pdf
 Steele, R., & Beattie, S. (2013). Development of foundation year 1 psychiatry
posts: implications for practice. Advances In Psychiatric Treatment, 19(6), 410.

31. Thank you for listening and special thanks to our
mentors..
Jane Still
James Miller
Dawn Collins
Abosede Ighomereho
Nigel Gill
Srinaveen Abkari
Emma Bosier