This practical 1-day workshop, facilitated by Dr Caroline Elton, a Chartered Psychologist and qualified careers counsellor and Dr Andrew Long, DME and MMC Lead for Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust, has been designed to enhance the understanding and skills of Directors of Medical Education, in order to improve the quality of career support that they deliver to trainees.

As a starting point, participants will be introduced to the generic 4 stage model of career planning (Self-Assessment; Career Exploration; Decision Making and Plan Implementation) that is widely used in the higher education sector. Ways of applying this generic model to the specific context of helping foundation trainees with their career decision making will then be explored. In addition to providing an overall framework for the career planning process, participants will also be introduced to some basic career counselling skills that they can use in discussions with individuals or groups of trainees.

The workshop starts from the premise that the provision of career support needs to link up with the overall educational goals of the foundation curriculum. Suggestions for how to incorporate career planning sessions into the curriculum will be discussed, and in addition, ways of using the learning portfolio more creatively will be covered.