Celebrating excellence: An interview with Dr Jack Cunningham
Dr Jack Cunningham, a trainee psychiatrist with the Trust, was recently awarded the Lade Smith Essay Award in the SLaM Training Programme awards 2025.
Jack’s winning essay explored how the NHS might better address anti‑psychiatry attitudes and influence future investment in mental health.
Here, jack tells us how the topic appealed to him because it challenged him to think beyond day‑to‑day clinical work and to think about the complexities of system‑wide change.
“As a resident doctor, it’s very easy, when you’re working in the system, to point out all the flaws. But when you even have the tiniest taste of what would you do differently?, it makes you think about how you’d balance all the different interests at play and what would actually be realistic.
South London and Maudsley is consistently recognised as a great place to work, something Jack says he has felt throughout his time at the Trust, enjoying his training in mental health from the outset. "I was very relieved when I had my first psychiatric placement. It seemed to suit me much more than any of the other rotations I had experienced and I have continued to enjoy training in the speciality."
With a strong culture of learning, supportive supervision, and an emphasis on staff wellbeing - which are the core aims of the Trust’s staff engagement programme, A Great Place to Work and Care - SLaM offers an environment where trainees are encouraged to grow both clinically and academically. The Trust’s close links with world‑leading academic partners and its commitment to innovation help staff to feel part of a community that genuinely invests in their development. And as he nears the end of his core training, Jack has been able to reflect on how the range of placements across SLaM has shaped his understanding of mental health care in London.
“The experiences I’ve had here have allowed me to get quite a varied perspective on the mental healthcare system. Although things change from place to place, there are common themes – but people everywhere are doing the best they can.”
Jack also credits the Trust’s training environment with opening unexpected doors.
“There are so many opportunities to develop the things you’re interested in. We constantly get research and teaching opportunities sent straight to our inboxes - that’s probably a luxury not every trainee gets.”
One such opportunity led Jack to discover an interest in medical education after teaching King’s medical students during his rotation.
“It wasn’t something I’d really thought about before, but getting involved in medical education made me realise how much I enjoyed it.”
