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Crazy socks encourage GV Health docs to check in with one another

By Lachlan Durling

Jun 7, 2021

Doctors at Goulburn Valley Health donned colourful and quirky socks on Friday, June 4 for CrazySocks4Docs Day — a day that encourages medical staff to have open conversations about their mental health.

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Interns and registrars new to GV Health heard from mental health services divisional clinical director Ravi Bhat about the importance of looking after their mental health.

“Everyone, regardless of their age, gender, ethnicity, wealth, can get affected by mental ill-health,” he said.

“This includes doctors and other health professionals. Rather than seeing it as a failing, we need to recognise that we are fallible and frail and support one another.”

The CrazySocks4Docs movement began following the responses Melbourne-based cardiologist Geoff Toogood received when he happened to wear odd coloured socks to work.

Dr Bhat said it was vital to encourage people to have conversations around mental health.

“A culture that encourages people to talk about how they are feeling is a culture that promotes psychological safety,” he said.

“And a culture that promotes psychological safety not only enables people to talk about how they are feeling but provides support in different ways.

“As our chief executive Matt Sharp writes in his Monday messages: ‘remember, it is better to ask than to wonder and it is better to speak up than accept if things aren’t right’.”

For more information, visit crazysocks4docs.com.au