Resources for Your Wellbeing

Welcome to the 'things you can do to help yourself' section

We went into Orthopaedic Surgery because we enjoyed it. It is a great feeling making a major benefit to a person's life and we are lucky to get that experience a lot in our professional lives.

However, it is easy to underestimate how much of ourselves we give to our patients on a daily basis and if things go less well, we have to give more. It is also easy to get very busy and wrapped up in our work and for it to become overwhelming in itself or to have a negative effect on our personal lives.

We have not always been good at looking after ourselves over the years and many of us have suffered as a result. The first key thing to understand is that it is OK to feel this way and to look for some help - you reading this is perhaps your first step to accepting that. You are not alone even if sometimes you feel it.

The second key fact is that you do have a choice about how you work and the quality of that work is affected by your sense of wellbeing and thus your self-awareness. An elite athlete performs best when their balance of performance, training and rest (both physical and mental) is optimised. Whether a trainee, an SAS surgeon or an established consultant, you are also an elite performer. You have trained hard and continue to do so. To perform at your best needs you to be in the best physical and mental shape that you can be.

We hope you can find what you are looking for on the site - you have made the first and most important step in the right direction.

Where are you now?

To see how you are faring just now try taking the surveys below:-

What can you do about it?

This very much depends on who you are and where you are. There are many places to seek help and we are sure you will find something that suits you.

Follow the links below to the Royal Colleges of England and Edinburgh and the British Medical Association:-

From these, there are links to all sorts of other places like DocHealth and the Sick Doctors Trust where you can find something to help you.

If you need some urgent help or support, the Royal College of Surgeons of England runs a 24hr Confidential Support and Advice Service
Phone: 02078696221
Further info here.

Apps for Wellbeing and Self-Help:

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  • Headspace (Learn the essentials of meditation and mindfulness)
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  • Unmind (a workplace mental health platform)
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