Mushtag Kahin, Nursing Associate, Community Engagement Practitioner in a Community Mental Health Team and member of Nurses of Colour Network.

In this episode Laura meets with Mushtag Kahin, who is a Nursing Associate working as a Community Engagement Practioner in a Community Mental Health Team. Mushtag shares her varied career in healthcare and how this led her to studying to become a Nursing Associate. She graduated in May 2021 and has also work in a CAMHS (Child and adolescent mental health services) Adolescence Unit. She shares her experiences of working in the NHS and offers advice to anyone working in a toxic work environment.Mushtag is currently studying a Masters at Middlesex University in Mental Health Studies and she shares how she came to the decision at this level and the funding support she was awarded from a charity.Mushtag shares her ambitions for the future, in particular her wish to undertake a PhD in transcultural psychiatry with a wish to explore perinatal mental health nursing in Somali women. This inspiring episodes outlines the variety of roles available for a Nursing Associate and the importance of diversity in the NHS,Mushtag writes a blog available here:https://medium.com/@mskahin1/list/predefined:89882f7a57e4:READING_LISTand is a co-author of Dismantling racism in education: In 2020, the year of the nurse & midwife, “it's time.”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7354251/If you have experienced any of the issues discussed in this episode please seek support, further information and resources available are discussed in this webpage by the Royal College of Nurses -https://www.rcn.org.uk/get-help/rcn-advice/bullying-and-harassment