How to build your psychological survival kit. With Will Mangar. Episode 52

12/27/23 • 40 min

Medicine is an incredibly rewarding profession, yet we also work at a time of constant change and uncertainty. We are all likely to face adversity at least sometimes. In this episode, Will Mangar tells me about the idea of the psychological survival kit. When faced with difficulties, we first need to have self awareness to recognise that something is amis, and then put in some circuit breakers that would take us towards wellbeing rather than away. This means proactively building the sorts of behaviours that are nourishing and sustaining for the long term, such as relationships, exercise and creativity. You can also watch us talk on youtube.
Spanning three decades, Will Mangar has worked as a family physician in general practice within the UK National Health Service. He has spent many of these years leading organisations within primary care. He has a special interest in men’s psychological health and wellbeing, and specifically with principles of meaningful purpose and its relationship with personal fulfilment and happiness in life. He devotes his professional time to his practice and raising awareness of men's mental health with the perspective of meaningful purpose through speaking, writing and broadcasting. You can find him on LinkedIn.

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What's a career in clinical oncology like? With Rachel Cooper. Episode 51

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Rachel Cooper tells me that clinical oncology is an exciting and ever changing career. There is much teamwork, varied ways of working, and plenty of research-based advances. Clinical oncologists have multiple treatment options at their disposal, and overall are able to make a difference to many patients and their families. Her top tip for anyone interested is to go and find local consultants working in clinical oncology, and spend some time in their clinics to experience what the specialty is like.
You can find out more here.
Rachel is a consultant clinical oncologist in Leeds Cancer Centre (LCC) specialising in the management of gynaecological and lower GI cancers. Rachel obtained her medical degree from Birmingham University and then completed her clinical oncology training at The Christie Hospital, Manchester and Cookridge Hospital Leeds. She obtained an MD during her training at The Christie, investigating measurement of tumour hypoxia in cervical cancer under the supervision of Professor Catherine West and Dr John Logue. Before taking up her current post she worked in Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey as a Visiting Associate Professor where amongst other things she continued her interest in gynaecological brachytherapy. She has a special interest in cervical cancer, in particular image guided brachytherapy and anal cancer.

Rachel has previously held several positions including in LCC training programme director and lead clinician and nationally Medical Director, Education and Training for the UK at the Royal College of Radiologists. Prior to this she was an examiner and then chaired the First FRCR exam board as well as sitting on a number of committees in the RCR and nationally such as the Radiotherapy Reference Group.

She is married to Mehmet, a Professor in Radiation Oncology and clinical oncologist at LCC and has one son, Emre. Outside of medicine she is Chair of Governors for a federation of three primary schools and loves, amongst many things playing tennis, swimming, all arts but especially reading and a good night out with family and friends!

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How do you make time for hobbies in a busy clinical career? With Natalie Lee. Episode 53

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Our careers are always busy, and finding time to do anything other than clinical practice can be tricky. But Natalie tells me that far from hobbies being something that takes time away from clinical work, hobbies actually give us energy that supports us in the clinical practice. There will never be enough time, so we need to make time. It doesn't have to be many hours for a major new achievement, just doing something small is a start.
Natalie Lee is a junior doctor working in Sydney, Australia. She graduated from the University of New South Wales, where her passion for creativity in medicine was born. Natalie was classically trained in violin and piano, and is also a singer-songwriter, with her music available on numerous platforms including Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube. She loves bringing music and medicine together for de-stressing, teaching and having fun. Her original song “Short Sighted” won the International Sounds of Physiology Competition in 2021. As a doctor, she continues to produce music and perform, and aims to inspire others to pursue their creative goals despite the constant rush of work and life.
You can find her on youtube, spotify, or instagram.
You can also watch our conversation on youtube.

Doctors at Work - How to build your psychological survival kit. With Will Mangar. Episode 52

Transcript

[00:00:00] Mat: Welcome to Doctors at Work. My name's Mat Daniel and this podcast is about doctors’ careers. Today I'm having a conversation with Will Mangar and we're talking about the Psychological Survival Kit. Now medicine is an incredibly rewarding profession, yet we also work at a time of constant change and uncertainty.

We are all likely to face adversity at least sometimes. In this episode, Will tells me about the idea of the psychological survival kit. Now