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I had my career all planned out. Ambitious and conscientious, I focused on the end goal. In my mind, it was all about becoming a consultant. Then life happened and I realised that no paediatric career is truly linear. We all face challenges along the way, we just aren’t very good at talking about them! 

And so began my interest in the well-being and mental health of doctors. The RCPCH Thrive Paediatrics project has been a fantastic way of bringing this passion to life through story sharing, empowering, educating and developing resources to support paediatricians in improving their wellbeing and working lives. 

Over the last year, the Thrive Paediatrics team has grown a community of paediatricians and allied health professionals interested and active in the wellbeing space. Some of these people already have a wealth of knowledge and expertise, whilst others are very new to this topic. This variety has enabled rich conversations and sharing of experiences through our national drop-ins and Wellbeing and Innovation network pilot regions.

Three main themes emerged from discussions, which we’ve responded to through the creation of content for the , which launched at the beginning of October 2024, and which is especially for members. 

1. Evidence base 

We’ve heard countless stories of the pressure that the paediatric workforce is under. As a result, finding time to sift through the well-being evidence to support project proposals, business cases or applications for funding can seem impossible. We have therefore created a section of the resource hub that collates some of this evidence for you. 

With books, articles, podcasts and videos, there is something for everyone. Topics currently include burnout, civility, psychological safety and compassionate leadership. Since the launch of the resource hub, we’ve been told that people have also used these materials to help develop teaching sessions or presentations. The evidence is there for you to dip in and out of as you need it.

2. Roadmap in practice

The Thrive Paediatrics community has really benefited from sharing stories, experiences and solutions around wellbeing and working lives. We've therefore been collating examples of work people have done, mapping them to the RCPCH Roadmap for Transforming Working Lives of Paediatricians and offering ideas and inspiration for what you might try locally. 

3. Lived experiences

Through some of the stories that we’ve heard, it’s obvious that navigating adversity or difference during our careers can be a lonely place to be and that stereotypes of what a doctor ‘should look like’ can leave people feeling ashamed or ‘weak’. 

Whether it’s burnout, physical illness, miscarriage, neurodiversity, or arriving in the UK as a new International Medical Graduate (IMG)... we are shining the light on lived experience stories to demonstrate that there’s more than one way to be a paediatrician, that life happens and that, together, we can support one another to thrive.  

So, let’s for example say you have heard stories of incivility in your department. We’d encourage you to reflect and share your experiences together, using the to identify themes. You can then go into the relevant section of the resource hub’s ‘Roadmap in practice’ section to find evidence, examples and lived experience stories that will support you in promoting civility in your team. 

Thrive Paediatrics is not about RCPCH telling you what to do through guidelines or reports. Instead, we want to offer you some tools to support you in activating your local teams and help improve your well-being and working lives together.