It takes someone with a calming personality to put patients so much at their ease that they feel free to discuss themselves openly.

One such person is Dr Leit-Chin Siew, in his first year as a consultant with NorthWestern Mental Health.

"I had always considered it as an option during medical school,'' he says. "I had not actually done a specific rotation in mental health but all medicine has psychosocial issues involved.''

The training to become a Fellow is a minimum of five years but many trainees take longer to gain a wider, more thorough experience within the field. Mandatory rotations include general adult psychiatry, consultation-liaison, old age psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry.

As a consultant for NorthWestern Mental Health, Dr Siew works in the acute adult ward which is co-located in the RoyalMelbourneHospital. As well as general adult psychiatry he has a particular interest in psychotherapy.

NorthWestern Mental Health serves a very large population _ probably the largest and one of the most diverse in Australia. Besides the inpatient ward there are numerous outpatient clinics where by far the majority of their patients will come for treatment. Because of its size, trainees from

NorthWestern can try rotations in most areas: eating disorders, forensic psychiatry, neuropsychiatry, private hospitals and community psychiatry. The internationally renowned Orygen, a centre for adolescent psychiatry is located here with its innovative and exciting research centre.

Although the examinations for basic and advanced training are extremely stringent, the pass rate for NorthWestern trainees is very high.

"We have an excellent team of dedicated consultant psychiatrists,'' says Dr Siew. ``A large part of what we do is teaching from first year registrars to advanced trainees and we address their learning needs at all levels. Interviewing is an essential skill and people entering psychiatry must be prepared to both learn and develop their interpersonal skills with patients, their families and colleagues.''

As interview technique is one of the most important skills, trainees are given plenty of opportunity for guidance. Consultants observe trainees interviewing patients and give valuable feedback afterwards. Tutorials are provided for trainees from the most experienced consultants.

Dr Siew finds psychiatry endlessly fascinating. "Every person you manage is unique,'' he says. ``It gets more interesting the longer you do it. It's intellectually challenging and quite rewarding at the end of the day to know you may have made a difference in people's lives. The sort of person who chooses psychiatry would be one who has an interest or curiosity about people. You have to be very competent and well-grounded in general medicine, but also able to see the whole person, the social, cultural, medical and psychological factors.''