Meet the Students Promoting Wellbeing in the Nepalese Community

We recently spoke to Samer, one of our Health and Social Care students, to find out how he and our Media degree students have been helping to promote Mental Health awareness in our local community.

Samer is part of a Nepalese Engagement Group, who collaborated with the Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SABP) and our BA Hons Media students on a mental health awareness project. The group worked with the SABP Early Intervention in Prevention of Psychosis Team to produce videos aimed at helping the Nepalese community understand mental health, in particular psychosis, depression and anxiety, and the signs, symptoms and treatment of these conditions.

The videos were organised, filmed and edited by BA Hons Media students Lex, Hannah and John, and Lecturer in Media Steve Barrett, who worked with translators to create accurate subtitles.

Talking about his involvement in the project, Samer told us: “The group was made up of me, another student, NHS staff and Media students who did the filming. The videos were made to help people in the Nepalese community aware of symptoms and how to get help. People from Nepal who are still learning English might not have the language skills to communicate their mental health concerns. The videos are in Nepalese and English to help remove barriers.”

For their involvement in the project, the group were awarded a gold medal in the 2018 Care Awards and a cash prize of £150, which they donated to charity. Samer told us: “I’d like to be involved in more awareness videos in the future and the project has inspired me to go into mental health as a career. The Health and Social Care course will provide me a stepping stone towards becoming a nurse or mental health nurse.”

Find out more about our range of Care Services courses here, and our Media courses here. Applications can be made online and Open Events are held throughout the year.