I have pleasure of knowing Dr Biswas as a colleague and a fellow educator in my capacity as the Director of Medical Education for Barnet Enfield & Haringey mental health NHS Trust. I have been particularly impressed by Dr Biswas’s passion, knowledge, expertise, and drive to improve patient care and to develop and promote a compassionate way to engage with multi- professional team, his patients’, and their families. I also had an opportunity to jointly engage a cohort of trainees for interprofessional teaching workshop with Dr Biswas. His enthusiasm and contribution were well received by the trainees with positive feedback. He came across very knowledgeable, offering evidence on clinical practice and guided trainees on scientific principles underpinning medical practice. Dr Biswas’s interest and skills are diverse, and which encompass a broader and holistic approach to reduce stigma of mental illness through multimedia approach and to reach a wider public audience for a bigger and lasting impact. He tends to emphasize a preventative model of mental illness in younger people, promoting biopsychosocial & spiritual principles to address early emotional and psychological concerns with young people. He has already offered and led on various projects throughout his career in support of his vision to promote awareness and understanding of impact of mental suffering on young people. Dr Biswas is a Well Being Champion and Co- Lead of London Division as well as the Executive Committee member of London Division of Royal College of Psychiatrists. This shows his commitment at improving working lives of his fellow psychiatrists and to offer his insight into a balanced approach to a professional life which translates into a balanced approach to care for the patients.
Dr Lubna Anwar, Director of Medical Education BEHMT, Consultant Psychiatrist
Dear Amit; I would like to say a sincere Thank you for all the support you gave me since you started working here at STAH. I learnt a lot from you- about compassion focussed leadership using mindfulness techniques and seeing a very broader picture of the system. I am highly impressed with your levels of enthusiasm and energy in supporting not only the patients we look after but the whole team. You are a fabulous consultant colleague who is always there to mentor, support and teach. I will miss working with you.
Dr Murali Krishna Vemuri,Locum Consultant Psychiatrist, Fern Ward,Fitzroy House. St Andrew’s Healthcare
Dr Amit has been like an hurricane of positive energy for The Beacon Centre since he started his appointment with us. He supports our Service with extremely experienced and wise consultations to the patients and their families/carers. He provides our practise with a successful, all-round, holistic and much needed approach. He is a fair and systemic team player with staff and very supportive of others’ difficulties with participating and supporting in the reflective practice and YP forums. He is a truly systemic thinker and generous with sharing his views with the team. He promotes positive change and encourages to think outside the box. He is funny and also humble. He has no problem in admitting when he makes mistakes and he is inspirational in developing a non-judgemental equal opportunities culture. He is a very good leader and he is not afraid to make unpopular decisions when necessary and own them while standing up for the team. His communication skills can be very effective but sometimes they end up being overwhelmed by the bouts of his passion.
Dr Stefania Rialti,Highly Specialist Systemic andFamily Psychotherapist and Clinical Psychologist
Dr Biswas is a champion of compassionate leadership as a means of enhancing well being. He includes this is his every day practice with both patients and colleagues. It is evident that he has significant knowledge and expertise in this area and is an advocate for this. Dr Biswas is and co- Lead for Wellbeing of London Division I first met Dr Biswas when he was approached to talk on compassion at our London Division Startwell event last year for new consultants. I was in awe of his ability to draw in the audience and his talk was very well received by the attendees. I have since seen him talk at other events and had a similar reaction. He is currently leading on our joint Staywell event with the south eastern Division. He has also agreed to lead on our very successful London Startwell event next year. As Chair of the London Division, I am delighted to have Dr Biswas on the London Division. He is always enthusiastic, volunteers for opportunities and is ready to help and support whenever needed.
Dr Suhana Ahmed,Clinical Director, Consultant Psychiatrist,Chair of London Division, Royal College of Psychiatrists
I have known Dr. Amit Biswas since spring 2018. He is an experienced speaker, lecturer and workshop facilitator of international stature. Amit adapts seemingly effortless to any industry or field - be it in a corporate context, projects for charities or work with the public. With his Indian background, excellent education and profound knowledge of western life, he bridges gaps between different cultures, professions and personalities. With his expertise and passion for mental health awareness, his gravitas, his focus on results and strong leadership, but also with his kindness, empathy and his good humour, he offers his audience a unique, very special experience and deep, transformational insights.
Jutta Nedden,Director of Lead and Connect Ltd.,Founder of YourInnerPeacemaker.com
Dr Amit’s strengths - Being Responsive- I have found you to be incredibly responsive both in responding to the changing needs of the patients as well as the team, Being Psychologically minded; Being Approachable and relatable. I would say Amit, you have been a refreshing change with regards to RC from my experience, I have raised things with you and you have been accepting and open.
Rebecca Campbell, Forensic Psychologist. St Andrews
I really valued the opportunity to shadow Dr Amit at the Beacon Centre, where I observed the meetings that had with young people, including initial assessments and check ins. I found it really inspiring seeing the way he communicated with the young people, using deep empathy and understanding to enable them to feel safe, accepted and seen. Whilst assessing them, Dr Amit offered the young people a space where they could share their worries, concerns, feelings and needs, which I imagined may have felt a relief for these young people who had often been misunderstood by other professionals in other services. Furthermore, I found it really beneficial to see how Dr Amit empowered the young people in the ward, giving them as much autonomy as he could and helping them to feel like their wishes and needs were heard. I also found it valuable to see the way that Dr Amit thought about the young people from a holistic perspective, considering biological, systemic, social, psychological and developmental factor. I found it helpful to shadow meetings that Dr Amit had with parents/carers of the young people who were in the Unit. This has been valuable for my learning and development as a psychotherapist. I have seen Dr Amit offered a grounding exercise in the middle of the meeting, which I found really valuable to take a moment to be present and in touch with my body, offering me with a feeling of calm and a sense of gratitude. Lastly, I recognised the importance of having a robust and supportive clinical lead who holds the team together and who offers encouragement and care to all members of the team and how vital this is when doing such challenging work.
Eliza Levy , Psychotherapy Student
Dr Amit is far the most inspiration psychiatrist I have met to date. He instils confidence in his colleagues on a daily basis
He makes himself available and accessible anytime that we need him and it allows us to work comfortably, knowing senior support is always there should we need it
Dr Amit is clearly an excellent team leader. I have really appreciated how effective and crucial his decision making abilities are and it enables the wider team to work effectively together, keeping the overall vision in mind.
It’s been a great pleasure to work with Dr Amit and I continue to learn from his clinical work and supervision sessions