Alisha finds Big Opportunities in Small Towns

For north Queensland born and bred, budding psychiatrist Alisha Thomson, moving to a capital city for work was never high on her wish list.

Fortunately for the James Cook University (JCU) medical graduate she’s able to complete her specialist training without having to forgo the benefits of a regional lifestyle.

“There’s a very large perception that you have to do your specialist training in a major city, and it does depend on the college, but for most you can start or complete some, if not most, of your training in a regional centre,” said Dr Thomson.

“Within psychiatry I can complete my five year Fellowship in Townsville.  I think it is important for me as a psychiatrist in training to go and experience other units, but that doesn’t mean that I have to go to a big city. I can go to Cairns, Toowoomba or other regional areas for my training experience.”

Dr Thomson’s drive to become a psychiatrist stems from witnessing a close family member’s firsthand experience with a mental health condition.

A five week mental health rotation as an intern at the Townsville Hospital quickly turned into a dedicated career path. She credits the opportunity to pursue her passion for psychiatry so early in her career with having followed a regional pathway.

“I was a year and a half out of university when I got promoted to a principal house officer which is something that I don’t think occurs as frequently in big cities, whereas in Townsville and other regional areas you do get those opportunities earlier in your career.

“I am making an assumption, but usually in a big city you wouldn’t know the director of your service group, or if you did you probably wouldn’t be able to go and sit down in their office just to have a friendly chat.” 

Dr Thomson also believes regional hospitals, even those as large as the Townsville Hospital, offer a level of support and sense of community that is unmatched by their metropolitan counterparts.

“In a big (metro) hospital you are a little fish in a big ocean.  I don’t believe that that you would receive the same sort of personalised training, or the same kind of unique opportunities.”

It’s also a level of support that Dr Thomson has experienced firsthand, for just as she was embarking on her specialist training she received an unexpected cancer diagnosis which required months of intensive treatment and took her away from clinical practice. 

While this could have derailed her plans, she credits support from The Townsville Hospital with helping keep her career on track.

“I think I was off work for about 8 months, but I still kept in touch with the team.  I kept them updated on the course of the illness.  I couldn’t wait to get back to work, to doing something, but I wasn’t allowed to work with patients because of my compromised immune system.”

It was at this point that the hospital stepped in to assist.

“They actually made a position for me in mental health as a non-clinical registrar, and they let me pick the scope of the projects that I worked on.”

After her initial return, Dr Thomson was approached by the Director of Clinical Training about the role of Medical Education Registrar, a position she had previously expressed an interest in.

“It’s generally a senior registrar position. I don’t believe it would have been as easy to get without having known the Director of Clinical Training and the hospital having known my work ethic, which only happens in a close knit hospital.”

Since returning to work fulltime, Alisha Thomson has combined her non-clinical mental health registrar position with the education registrar post.  Soon she’ll return to her fulltime role in psychiatry, but has no intention of abandoning her regional roots.

Just as she is keen to pursue career outside the capital cities, Dr Thomson also recommends the regional pathway for others looking to combine specialisation with a regional lifestyle.

 “There are opportunities within the public sector to progress your career. Junior consultants can get academic or research portfolios. There are also opportunities within service groups to use initiative to drive change improving patient care but also the working lives of colleagues in the department. These opportunities can lead to early career progression.”

Dr Thomson said easy access to great mentors and sound advice is another benefit of working in the regions that can’t be matched.

 “People in regional areas are generally very approachable.  For instance last weekend I was walking along the river and the Clinical Dean was going for his jog. We ended up having a half hour discussion as we walked about education at the Townsville Hospital.”

“I was late home.”

But it’s obvious from her laugh that she didn’t mind.