Mission Statement

The Psychiatry Training Centre strives to contribute to the achievement of world's best practice in the care of mentally ill patients of the Network, by the rotation of doctors throughout the Network who are trained with careful adherence to the requirements of the Royal Australian & New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) Regulations.

The Psychiatry Training Centre is committed to ensuring the provision of high quality postgraduate training and supervision to enhance doctors' knowledge and skills, always attending to the personal needs of the trainees.

Network B

Network B comprises an excellent network of hospitals and community services with units of world repute, spanning four Local Health Districts (Northern, Central Coast, Western and Far Western).

Our training Network covers a wide area, demographically and geographically providing numerous opportunities for living close to work, whether one prefers urban, suburban, semi-rural or rural settings.  We offer over 92 accredited training posts and four relief posts throughout the training Network. Training opportunities include a variety of sub-specialties such as Addictions, Aged Care, Child & Adolescent, Consultation Liaison, Rehabilitation, Forensic and Community Psychiatry.

Training is enriched by the variety of positions in the public sector but also by training in the private and NGO sectors, offering experience in terms such as Mood Disorders, Eating Disorders, Perinatal Psychiatry, Aboriginal Mental Health and Psychotherapy.  There is a strong academic presence at Royal North Shore Hospital, which has a leadership role in research in psychological medicine. The editors of both RANZCP journals work within Network B.  We have a long tradition of training quality psychiatrists and many of those who trained locally now provide supervision to current trainees.

Network Director of Training (NDoT)

The primary objective of the NDoT role is to provide leadership and coordination for a networked program of basic and generalist advanced psychiatry training. The NDoT supports the role of the Network Governance Committee (NGC), acting as the delegated officer for the NGC, by liaising with Site Coordinators of Training to ensure that standards of training and teaching are of the highest quality.

Role of the Site Coordinator/s of Training

The role of the Site Coordinator of Training is to assist the Network Director of Training by providing development and guidance to the Networked Training Program and psychiatry trainees at site level.

Psychotherapy Educator

The role of the Psychotherapy Educator is to provide workplace-based education to trainees in relation to their general understanding of psychological issues across their caseload, and to improve psychiatry trainees' knowledge, skills and attitudes regarding the use of psychological therapies.

Education Support Officer (ESO)

There are five Education Support Officers (ESOs) for the five basic and generalist advanced psychiatry training networks in New South Wales.

The ESO provides a high level of support to the Network Director of Postgraduate Training in Psychiatry to develop, coordinate and evaluate training program(s),  educational activities and exam practice, and is responsible for the smooth running of the Psychiatry Training Centre.  The ESO plays a pivotal role in meeting service needs by recruitment of psychiatry doctors on a rotational basis to fill the 90 plus accredited training posts throughout training Network B, and in liaising and reporting to the numerous external and internal entities to facilitate the optimum training and education experience for psychiatry trainees and other medical officers – both domestic and international, who wish to either formally train in psychiatry or who wish to have experience in a psychiatric placement.

The ESO also provides support to the Network governance structures as required.