About the Author

Sarah Raybould is a poet and GP in the Derbyshire Peak District. Her writing draws from her experiences working in the NHS to stimulate discussion and aid self reflection and emotional wellbeing. Her poems have been published in Public Sector Poetry Journal  Issue 3 March 2023.

Within General Practice Sarah specialises in the area of Sexual and Women's Health and is involved in GP education. 

As a writer she is a member of a Spoken Word group, participates in local creative writing projects and has facilitated creative writing and poetry workshops for GP Trainees in the Chesterfield area.

After the pandemic she had work published in the creative writing project 'Life in Lockdown' supporting local Derbyshire community groups, has exhibited poetry at The Green Man Gallery in Buxton and recently in the Word on the Street project in Buxton.

"Has made me recognise the emotions we encounter daily and some way to process them."

"good rapport, applicable, refreshing and different."

Writing for Stress Management June 2022, ST3 Trainees

"Engaging and original."

"Speaker was involved in break-out sessions. Poems were great!"

Reflective Writing for GPs Sept 2022,

ST1/2 trainees.

As doctors we are exposed daily to intense experiences, both our own and those of our patients. These can include trauma, abuse, delivering emergency treatment, looking after the dying, delivering bad news and confrontation, to name but a few. We are expected to have all the answers, think quickly and decisively, make safe, confident and evidence-based decisions and deal with issues of life and death. While most of us deal with this exceptionally well, at least on the surface, emotional wellbeing can and is affected by our choice of career. 

In the results of a study published by the BMJ in 2020, one third of UK doctors demonstrated burnout. Emergency medicine and General Practice were identified as the most commonly affected specialities (BMJ Open: Resilience, burnout and coping mechanisms in UK doctors: a cross-sectional study 2020).

A growing body of literature demonstrates the beneficial effects of writing about stressful or traumatic experiences on physical and mental health (Emotional and physical health benefits of expressive writing, Cambridge University Press 02 Jan 2018). While doctors are notoriously good at reflecting on clinical competence throughout their training and career through portfolio and appraisal, they tend less to their emotional awareness and wellbeing. More and more, poetry is being recognised as a genuine reflective tool - a creative process that requires a distillation and revisiting of an experience, emotion or idea which can provide objectivity or distance (Poetry as a tool for reflection. 10.1136/archdischild-2021-322527).

As pressures within the NHS rise, medicine becomes more complex, mental health problems increase and complaints more commonplace, creative writing can become a platform whereby both doctors and their patients can benefit.

Underneath This Skin is intended to provide a pathway into conversations and reflection about some of the issues we face as clinicians day to day. It is intended to be used as a tool for personal reflection, primarily aimed at GPs and GPs in training, to promote wellbeing, self awareness and provide an opening for medics to explore their creativity through writing.

Each of the posted resources on this site contain a poem at their heart. Each poem has been uniquely written, from experience or through inspiration or learning and with the intention to be used as a tool for self reflection or discussion purposes. The content is written with specific reference and knowledge of working within primary care in the UK and is not intended to provide training on consultation skills, deliver curriculum or be used as a self-help tool for mental health.

Each resource covers a different topic under the headings The Consultation, The Doctor, The Patient and Illness and Disease.

To make full use of the resources I would suggest spending a minimum of 20 minutes on each topic, preferably longer, giving yourself at least 10 minutes for the self reflective questions and at least 10 minutes on the writing exercise. 

If you would like to use these resources for groups or for teaching purposes please contact me for permission via the contact page.

My passion is to see the arts and medicine intertwined in a symbiotic relationship whereby science and creativity can coexist side by side and be appreciated for the value each adds to the other.

My hope is that Underneath This Skin will provide doctors working in the NHS, GPs in particular, with a resource to explore their creativity through writing, develop secure emotional awareness and open the door to discussions around experiences they may have previously kept underneath their skin.

Sarah Raybould