I work with the charity Doctors in Distress offering online support groups for doctors on the front line of treating Covid and also with doctors with long covid.

Doctors in Distress is chaired by Dame Clare Gerada, a charity whose main purpose is to reduce suicides within the medical profession, who are between 2 and 5 times more likely to take their own life than the general public. To find out more about how the organisation works to reduce the stigma of mental health and talking more freely in the workplace and/or the details of their free, confidential, virtual group discussions for Doctors with Long Covid (facilitated by myself) to share experiences and be empowered by others visit the Doctors in Distress website.

In 2020 Dame Clare Gerada released a book “Beneath the White Coat” looking into the current mental health emergency and its impact upon and among medical professionals and is supported by the best available evidence and illustrated through real-life cases. Recognising the increasing stressors in the role including the impact of the environment in which doctors work, the book examines some of the key emotional drivers for this unhappiness among doctors at work – shame, stigma, suffering and sacrifice – and offers practical steps to emotional and physical recovery.

Doctors in Distress in the News

16th Feb 2021 – Black Medics Forum Achievements: Doctors in Distress have run a series of facilitated group sessions for Doctors who identify as having Black African heritage. This is a summary of some of their achievements . Read More

18th Dec 2020 – Webinar: Supporting Doctors in Distress- are We Doing Enough? Doctors in Distress in partnership with AUTP (Association of Universities Teaching Psychiatry) held a webinar on the 15th December discussing how we should be supporting doctors at this time, are we doing enough for them ( ie Group Therapy for Doctors with Long Covid) and if what we are doing is what they need Read More

 

The Case that inspired Doctors in Distress

Doctors in Distress is inspired by the tragic case of a brilliant and compassionate consultant cardiologist who died in November 2018. He worked to the point of burn out and felt he had only one way out to escape his suffering. This charity was created to raise awareness on the value of medical professionals’ health and well-being and the need to care for those that care for us.

  • At current estimates, one doctor dies by suicide roughly every three weeks.
  • Doctors are two to five times more likely to die by suicide than the general population.

Female doctors in particular have higher rates, two and a half to four times increased rate of suicide compared to an age matched group.

For more information about the confidential, virtual group discussions I am facilitating for Doctors with Long Covid please contact Doctors In Distress