Archive

Job title: Social worker, Asian community mental health team, Coventry Teaching Primary Care Trust.

How long in the job? Eight years.

Career highlight: When a patient made a full recovery from a phobia.

Career lowpoint: Frustration at lack of resources.

Over the course of my career I wish I had: Travelled more and experienced more diverse cultures and people.

I aspire to: Continue with the work I'm doing but as a consultant, specialising in cultural practices, beliefs and mental illness in diverse communities.

The most painful lesson I've learned at work is: Not to impose my own values and judgements.

Me and my career: I am part of an Asian community mental health team that includes community psychiatric nurses and support staff.

We work with south Asian patients with long-term mental illness and their families.

We commission services, working with statutory and voluntary organisations, and run support groups for patients and carers. We take referrals from GPs and consultants and conduct assessments in clients' first language, avoiding jargon and misunderstandings which could lead to the wrong diagnosis. Within our team we speak Punjabi, Gujerati, Hindi and Urdu.

We perform crisis intervention work, set up case conferences and review meetings, as well as accompany patients to hospital appointments and attend ward rounds. We work closely with families to help them understand mental illness and with fellow professionals to raise awareness.

Curriculum Vitae

2000-now: Social worker, Asian community mental health team, Coventry Teaching Primary Care Trust.
1996-2000: Asian mental health social worker, Oldham Council.
1994-96: Diploma in social work, Birmingham University.
1994: Volunteer advice worker, Citizens Advice Bureau, Birmingham.