MENTAL RESILIENCE - DR ROACHE PERSPECTIVES - WFDD 2025

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Dr. Sonia Roache, current Executive Director of the Caribbean College of Family Physicians (CCFP) and mentor to many locally and regionally. Dr. Roache is a pioneer in Family Medicine in Trinidad. Originally from Jamaica, she graduated from the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, in 1964. She worked in hospital prior to initiating her Family Practice here in May 1968. After 56 years of tireless service to her patients and the wider community, she retired from practice in November 2024. Below she gives her  perspectives on what mental resilience means to a family physician.



MENTAL  RESILIENCE

I went, indeed was dragged  into  general practice in 1968 by a fortuitous circumstance, not by choice.

It became  immediately apparent to me that all the training that I  had received  as a hospital-based doctor was totally inadequate for this new task.  I had to retrain myself  and accept that to deliver real care in this new milieu  this training had to be continuous  and for life.  This  needed not only mental acuity  in an environment  of  uncertainty  and virtual aloneness, without the professional  cover  that  obtained  in a hospital  space  but needing emotional and spiritual grounding because your patient(s)  and their families  placed such trust  in you and almost treated you as “prescription- <doctor>.”

Resilience implies rebounding, rebirth,  reinforcing , rebuilding  and this  had to start  with YOU-  the physician because a   person who is well  can better  heal the sick.  So first  heal yourself  and build a personal grounding  from which hope, empathy, caring for suffering  and  true healing  can  be birthed, grow and stay alive.

Integral to this  is honesty, integrity,  patience, humility, non-judgemental acceptance-  developing  a  culture of listening  and involvement without bias, plus intelligent and judicious detachment.  One had always to hone one’s technical ,  communication  and medical knowledge and skills continuously,  and also nurture networking skills  and links  to the professional  community- all this  with the help of Spirit- inner healing.

As age and infirmity  took over, regretfully I also had to learn when to let go-  but still to use  my skills remaining to share  with my community.

The  Family Doctor is  uniquely  and wonderfully placed  to build resilience  and hope- learning when and how to intervene,  counselling with empathy, sensitivity  and  good judgement, guiding in making healthy lifestyle choices and in so doing  become  the healer  for mental  and emotional  ills  that plague  all humanity, the bulwark for the  patient and his/her family in need.


Sonia Roache, R50, May 19 2025

WONCA World  Family Doctor Day

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Dr. Sonia Roache. Dr. Roache is a pioneer in Family Medicine in Trinidad. Originally from Jamaica, she graduated from the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, in 1964. She worked in hospital prior to initiating her Family Practice here in May 1968. After 56 years of tireless service to her patients and the wider community, she retired from practice in November 2024. She holds the position of Executive Director of the Caribbean College of Family Physicians (CCFP) and is a mentor to many locally and regionally.

Additionally, Dr. Roache is the first Caribbean Family Doctor to be awarded the Global 5 Star Award in 2010, and prior to that, she held the WONCA North America 5 Star Award 2009. She was also rendered a Fellowship of WONCA in 2018, which is WONCA’s most prestigious award.




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