Anna Jenkins (Class of 1995); a passion for advocacy

A tendency to analyse and a passion for advocacy have been consistent themes in the life of Class of 1995 School Captain, Anna Jenkins.

Now a practising psychiatrist, Anna recalls her career path was far from clear until she was well into her university years.

“Medicine seemed like a reasonable option in that I could hopefully get a job, help people and work anywhere in the world as I already loved to travel.”

Recounting a successful strategy she developed in senior chemistry, Anna says she has always tended to be more of a ‘thinker’ than someone who excelled at practical tasks.

“I was fortunate in that my prac partner and I would divide the tasks so I did the maths required for the experiment while she did the hands on work. We both went on to study medicine together – she became an obstetrician/gynaecologist while I became a psychiatrist!” Anna recounts.

Moving into her medical degree, it wasn’t for several years that Anna’s twin passions of ‘understanding the un-understandable’ and a natural tendency to advocate for others came together to coax her into psychiatry.

Light-hearted family jokes that she may eventually resemble quirky 90s sitcom psychiatrist Frasier Crane were no deterrent for Anna.  

“I persisted with the plan to study medicine, despite some uncertainty about the decision, but didn’t seriously consider psychiatry until I found that it was the rotation I most enjoyed in my intern year.”

“I don’t think I’d ever met a psychiatrist until I was a medical student, and my family were not medically trained.”

“I think my interest in psychiatry goes back to that love of trying to understand, in this case people and their behaviour, and of trying to help them find a way forwards.”

After graduating from university, it was inevitable that Anna would travel, and joining Médecins Sans Frontières led to two missions that would deeply alter her view of the world and ultimately enhance her skills as a mental health professional.

“Before my training in psychiatry I went to a remote part of Nepal, where I worked as the sole doctor in a village where there was no electricity, no running water, no phone, no wifi, no cars or access to the outside world other than via a 13 hour hike on foot or with the aid of a horse,” Anna recalls.

“I saw patients with conditions I had never seen in Australia such as tuberculosis, leprosy, severe childhood malnutrition and typhoid. I’ll never forget the cries and spasms of a five year old girl dying of tetanus – a vaccine preventable disease – or the humility, warmth and kindness of the local people.”

A second mission with MSF, this time as a psychiatrist, saw Anna spend six months in a rural region south of Mosul, Iraq, coordinating a mental health program for people displaced by the war.

“The population had suffered significant losses and there were still fears associated with bombings and improvised explosive devices.”

It was the stories of the women she treated that helped her understand the privilege of her own life and the basic human rights we take for granted.

“Some of the women I saw had been prevented from accessing any education and were caught in frightening situations of severe domestic violence, with no access to contraception or any way to support themselves, or even the freedom to exercise or see friends.”

“These stories made me feel so grateful to have been born in Australia and for the opportunity I had to access education at a school like Somerville House.”

Anna recalls the free-thinking approach of the school that fostered her openness to challenges.

“There were times when I felt as though I didn’t really fit in and was on the fringe of friendship groups, rather than truly belonging, yet ultimately I think those experiences of getting to know a range of different people was a strength and helped me as a school captain to represent, support and advocate for others.”

“There was an attitude at Somerville House of open-mindedness towards many different life trajectories, and I feel lucky to have met women there who have gone in very different directions to build fulfilling lives.”

“My oldest friend who also went to Somerville House has taken a very different life path to my own, putting her career on hold while she focussed on family life and being a mother, and I think we have both had fulfilling and valuable experiences.”

“I also remember an emphasis on the importance of a well rounded education at Somerville House, where sport, music, drama and art as well as spirituality and kindness were encouraged in addition to academic pursuits.”

Anna said there had been challenging times in her career where she was, ironically, able to find clarity and strength through the resilience and courage of her own patients.

“I remember a point when I wasn’t enjoying my job and I found myself treating a young asylum seeker who had been through a horrendous ordeal. Her courage and resilience reminded me of why I had gone into medicine and psychiatry and helped me to remember how important it is to maintain perspective. It inspired me to make a change in my job so that I could do more work that I found fulfilling and eventually to work for MSF again.”   

What’s Anna’s advice to others who want to take a new path in life but feel uncertain?

“I encourage people not to be afraid to change direction. Sometimes you need to try something in order to really understand what is involved,” Anna says.

“The best decisions I have made in my career have been the riskiest, yet they felt inherently right when I made them. It is important to trust yourself and your instincts, and to be true to yourself.” 

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