Participation in a sensitivity group as part of the general training of a psychiatrist is recommended.1,2 There are, however, obstacles to obtaining this experience, which may be practical or personal. Particularly in a peripheral hospital, there may be no such group available. A conductor should have sufficient experience as well as enthusiasm, and if the conductor is well known to the trainees or perhaps a member of the consultant staff, this may provoke personal anxieties in the participants. Finding a time in the widely differing schedules of participants, when all are free to attend is a problem, and further difficulties are presented by duty rotas and trainee rotations.