"I work with eating disorder patients – anorexics have the highest mortality in psychiatry. People don’t think they can recover, but they can. Our team is excellent; they give all they have."
"I was born to a Christian family in Nigeria. We were taught to love one another. My dad adopted four cousins: there were 10 children growing up. I didn’t know one wasn’t my biological brother!
My dad encouraged me to go to medical school and always said, “Be kind to your patients.” I graduated in 1999, worked in Lagos clinics and was chief medical officer of a 12-bed hospital. During tropical medicine studies in Liverpool, I was introduced to psychiatry. I couldn’t go back. I trained and practiced in Scotland and Ireland and came here in 2014.
I love offering patients good assessments, capturing their medical life, family life, difficulties, inner thoughts. I want them to leave with genuine hope things will get better. It’s not about what I say, it’s how empathically I listen. I work with eating disorder patients – anorexics have the highest mortality in psychiatry. People don’t think they can recover, but they can. Our team is excellent; they give all they have.
When I arrived, I told my wife, this is it: our kids love open space. I sent videos of parks – she came with our two sons three months later. I play soccer with them, table tennis, my nine-year-old’s teaching me to swim. My home’s covered in Lego. I’ve given up!"
- Dr. Anthony Oshun, Psychiatrist, Tri-Cities Mental Health, Fraser North Eating Disorders Program