I retired as a consultant psychiatrist in 2007 having worked for most of my professional life in NHS mental health services. In 2000 I took up a post at The Retreat, the 200 year old Quaker Hospital in York, where I worked on the development of a specialist psychosis service and was latterly Medical Director. As a clinician I have always valued consistent humane relationships and consider social and psychological approaches, including working with families, to be important in a person’s recovery. Since retirement my work for The Retreat has included continuing liaison with colleagues in Moscow who wish to develop a more psychosocial approach to their management of psychosis through exchange visits and video linked supervision. Between 2008 and 2014 I worked with voluntary organisations concerned with the mental health needs of refugees and asylum seekers, including as a volunteer doctor preparing medico-legal reports for the Freedom from Torture.