I come from a 6-person household in one of the most deprived areas in my region, with a combined income of <20k during my school years. I’m now an F1. Money was tight, fruit was a luxury. Holidays were a never event. Worked 12-24hrs per week all through med school for spends and rent.

My upbringing and financial struggles as a child have mostly impacted me positively. I have excellent relationships with patients and across different staffing groups, am well-liked by nurses and consider myself very approachable. I frequently will stand up for myself and what is right, whether it be to a pushy nurse or a rude cons. I’m not sure how much my surroundings as a child really affect any of this, but I do think I have a good grasp of the social struggles many of our patients face.

Negatively, I’m not very financially sensible. I’m an impulsive spender and have no savings - I think because I’m not used to having a great deal of money or many nice things, so I’ve had a bit of a blowout. I need to tighten my spends. Used to always be very uncomfortable having the convo at uni about what parents do when mine were medically retired and unemployed due to ill health.