As a psychiatrist of five decades, I have worked in a range of areas from general to geriatric psychiatry in the hospital system to private practice and women’s mental health. For the past decade I have maintained a strong interest in clinical research in private practice, with a primary focus on migrant mental health and domestic violence.

For me, CPD is not just a paper requirement – it is essential in allowing me to gradually develop my expertise over multiple areas of psychiatry, whilst maintaining the highest standard of my work.

Over the past 15 years I have been developing expertise in areas from acute intervention to prevention of mental illness through trauma and domestic violence. This required reading into the latest evidence in research, understanding and being knowledgeable about the public health system, and making new professional contacts both in and out of psychiatry.

This new learning, coupled with new contacts and prevention of mental illness has proved to be an exciting idea that has kept me motivated in learning, collaborating, self-reflecting and eventually publishing my work.

I founded a community-based NGO that has won a dozen grants and has contributed significantly to the landscape of primary prevention of domestic violence in South Asian migrants. I have a strong group of professionals (of all backgrounds) who have all received training to run the prevention projects and work as a team to engage with the community.

These meetings (involving both peers and other professionals) allow for discussions that aim to enhance education and practical skills. This type of work requires a lot of reading, reflection, and discussions so that all projects can be evaluated, and the materials published.

Find out more about the Family Violence Psychiatry Network.