A day in the life: A mental health doctor

Dr Sophie Nocton is a fully qualified doctor who is now training to specialise in psychiatry. She spoke to The Lowdown about making her career change into medicine, persisting, and the privilege of hearing people open up to you.

What is your role?

I’m a doctor based in West Yorkshire, training to specialise in Psychiatry.

How did you get into this career?

I didn’t take a direct route in this specialty. I took a bit of a meandering path which saw me complete an undergraduate degree in Human Sciences at UCL whilst also volunteering at the local hospital, where I saw my interest in medicine grew. I worked for a year in the nuclear energy industry, before taking the leap into a 5-year medical degree. I didn't take the right A Levels to study medicine, there weren’t any doctors in my family, so I never really considered it as a career. I made up for this by contacting medical schools during my undergraduate degree and they agreed to accept my application if I did some Biochemistry modules.

After qualifying as a doctor, I completed the two year Foundation Training Programme then I went on to complete my GP training. As I have now settled on Psychiatry as my specialty, this will be another 6 years' postgraduate training.

What does a typical day look like?

Where to start?! Currently I am working in Community Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. We start the day with a team meeting, getting updates on any young people who've been admitted to hospital with overdoses or self harm, and make a plans to review them to assess the risk, and formulate a safe plan going forwards. I enjoy our team huddles which allow us to remain close-knit as a team. In light of Covid, we have moved many of our appointments to online sessions, which has its benefits. Most of the young people we work with are very tech-savvy, so they prefer logging into an online session rather than having to come to our clinics.

I see any urgent cases in the morning, write my notes up and liaise with parents/carers/GPs/school/social workers, and then have an afternoon clinic of our longer-term, more established service-users. This is a 'normal' day. I also work in an Adult Acute Psychiatric hospital where I cover the wards out of hours (nights and weekends) and typical days there often encompass a mixture of seeing new patients as they're admitted to hospital, examining them and formulating a management plan before they are reviewed by the Consultant the following morning, and routine medical concerns from patients on the wards - anything from simple rashes to serious chest pain.

What is the best thing about your job?

Definitely the people. It's a real privilege that children, young people and adults open up to me: I have a window into their lives, their concerns, their thinking. Sometimes people tell me things that they haven't even told their closest loved ones. My colleagues are great too; I love working with like-minded people, not just doctors, but a whole team of nurses, physios, occupational therapists, pharmacists, receptionists, porters, cleaners. We're all invested in looking after our service users in the best way possible.

What’s the most challenging thing?

The biggest challenge with this role is seeing firsthand how stretched the NHS is, but mental health services in particular. This has been well-documented in the media, so you don't need me to wax lyrical here. What I will say, though, is that there is a collective view amongst myself and my colleagues that it feels morally wrong that when a young person is experiencing a mental health crisis, they can wait days for an inpatient bed to be found, and this is often far away from their home, their relatives, their friends. We know that the NHS is over-stretched, but those of us looking after the most vulnerable, should not have to face a seemingly impossible battle to get this person to safety, time and time again.

What do you do to switch off?

Sleep! I enjoy seeing friends and family, going for outdoor countryside walks and runs, riding my Peloton (a lockdown purchase, but little did I know it would keep me sane over those long winter lockdowns) and watching 'bubblegum telly' on Netflix with my rescue cat.

What’s your top tip for getting into this kind of role?

Persevere. Don't take no for an answer.

I was originally told I'd never be a doctor, that I was too kind/too squeamish/not clever enough. I was told I didn't have the right A Levels, but I didn't give up - I found another way. I also failed my first year of medical due to a number of personal reasons but the tutors were kind enough to give me a second chance. I was told I wouldn't be allowed to have a break between different aspects of my training but I escalated to someone more senior who would be able to approve it. This allowed me to spend 6 months' travelling which was so good for me helping me to avoid burnout and achieve a healthier work/life balance.