TASO has launched a student panel as part of its student mental health project, which aims to help higher education providers identify and make use of effective practice in supporting student mental health.

Read a little about the panel below and see what the panel were getting up to at their recent panel meeting.

 

Ana Lazic

Ana is a psychology student in her final year of studies at Bath. She has previous experience working in mental health services using CBT, Acceptance & Compassion Therapy and counselling. Her involvement in this project aims to bridge together knowledge from her studies and work experience on a policy level to ignite change.

Molly Anderton

Molly has been studying medicine at Edge Hill University and is currently on a year out. She is part of the disabled students panel at Edge Hill and has had a lot of involvement with projects run by Common Room, which aims to understand and improve the experiences of young people in psychiatric inpatient wards.

Debbie Smith

Debbie graduated from SOAS, University of London with an MA in the Anthropology of Food and from the University of Sussex and a BA in Social Anthropology. With an academic background specialising in medical anthropology and mental health across a global and cross-cultural context, she is particularly passionate about advocating mental health awareness among the BAME and LGBTQIA+ communities.

Kayla Campbell

Kayla is a third-year Psychology and Criminology student at Edgehill University. She is involved in a student panel at university as well as being a student guide.

Nishat Chowdhury

Nishat is a second-year BSc Psychology with Counselling undergraduate at Nottingham Trent University. She is also a SHOUT UK crisis texter, where she engages with people in distress and tries to provide immediate mental health support. She has previously worked with the British Psychological Society as a student ambassador and helped them launch a project by promoting their events to current Psychology undergraduates.

Diya Sharma

Diya is currently studying a specialist BSc(hons) degree in Tourism Management at Canterbury Christ Church University. She also holds a Level 3 National Diploma in Health & Social Care and has worked on numerous projects including the CCBS Closing Our Gap Strategy.

Mack Marshall

Mack is the Education Officer at Newcastle University Students’ Union. He studied Politics during his undergraduate studies at Newcastle University. His focus is on how we can ensure higher education and the student experience is supportive, inclusive, and accessible for all students.

Joshua Borokinni

Joshua has experience in community development, mental health, policy influencing, awareness raising and youth leadership. He has a master in Clinical Psychology from the University of Plymouth and now serves as Vice President, Wellbeing and Diversity at the University of Plymouth Student Union. He has worked on a number of different social impact projects.

Ioana Brehuescu

Ioana is a Psychology student whose current interests focuses on child and adolescent mental health and research. She is aware of the breadth of her field and is interested in its development in other areas, such as higher education and student mental health.

Pedram Bani-Asadi

Pedram has a Bachelors and Masters in Law and has recently completed his LPC LLM.  He currently works as the Co-President of the University of Law Student Union and has extensive experience supporting his university and Student Union’s well-being initiatives.

Lauren King

Lauren is a student at Edge Hill University, currently studying an MSc in Counselling and Psychotherapy – Contemporary Creative Approaches. Her previous and current work includes mentoring young people with Wigan Council, volunteering at Alder Hey hospital, and working as a Health Care Assistant in a residential care home. Previous projects she has worked on include being part of the Widening Access panel at Edge Hill University. She is also part of Edge Hill University’s board as the elected Student Governor across 2022 and 2023.

Ricardo Pereira Carvalho

Ricardo is studying Psychology with Neuroscience at Birkbeck, University of London. During the Summer 2022, he worked as a qualitative Research Assistant on different projects concerning community engagement in the social integration and urban regeneration strategies of London’s local authorities.

Oyinda Adeniyi

Oyinda is a medical student at the Hull York Medical School and a Co-Founder and Director at the Black Excellence Network, a social enterprise designed to support black students in their professional and academic development. She is also Strategic Communications Officer at Melanin Medics. Oyinda was recognised as joint 5th in the top 150 Future Leaders Powerlist Magazine 2021. She has an avid interest in social mobility, education, mental health and health inequalities.

Jasmin Neesam

Jasmin is a second year psychology student at the University of Leeds, aspiring to work within educational and health psychology. She is currently a Leeds Hospital Charity volunteer and has previously had work experience in a day care nursery supporting pre-school children with their learning and development.

Reejah Farooq

Reejah is working as an SEND teaching assistant and has recently completed her Masters in Psychology and Mental Health Sciences at Queen Mary, University of London. She holds another Masters in Psychology of Education from the University of Manchester and a double Bachelors degree in Psychology and Education.