An assistant psychologist at Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has been named as a finalist in a national ceremony celebrating the achievements of women working in healthcare.
Fauzia Khan from the Sandwell Older Adults Enhanced Community Mental Health Team is a finalist in the Women Achieving Greatness in Social Care Awards 2023, where she is in the running for the Social Change Agent Award.
The purpose of the Women Achieving Greatness in Social Care Awards is to highlight and celebrate the incredible achievements of female colleagues in all roles and from all corners of the healthcare and social care sector, to support rising stars and future leaders.
The glittering ceremony is taking place on 21 November at the London Marriott Grosvenor Square, and will be hosted by Good Morning Britain’s Ranvir Singh.
Fauzia’s recognition at the awards celebrates how she has been been involved in numerous projects which have sought to enhance both the service-user experience and recovery journey, as well as the learning and developmental needs of staff.
She has been a real advocate for staff wellbeing, which resulted in her co-developing a staff wellbeing initiative during the pandemic. More recently she teamed up with Dr Kam Kahlwan, Principal Clinical Psychologist, to launch the ‘Unlock your Strengths’ Positive Psychology Workshop initiative to boost staff’s mental wellbeing and job satisfaction.
Alongside this, Fauzia is passionate about making services more inclusive for people from marginalised groups experiencing barriers to accessing services. She is dedicated in her attempts to raise awareness around this, both through participation in local community initiatives, and through her writing endeavours. Fauzia contributed a book chapter in Dr Trent’s book ‘The Aspiring Psychologist Collective’ about her experiences of being from a marginalised and underprivileged background, with the hope to inspire others with similar lived experiences to pursue their goals and dreams.
Fauzia has also presented her experiences of being a counselling psychologist in training from a minoritised background at the British Psychological Society (BPS) Division of Counselling Psychology Black and Asian Counselling Psychologists Group, with the view to generate important conversations around some much-needed change in counselling psychology. She has also written for the British Psychological Society’s publication on this subject too.
Alongside this, Fauzia has also launched an interview series titled ‘Fauzia Khan interviews…’, where she quizzes key figures in the field of psychology and mental health on a wide range of topics, such as co-production, lived experience, EDI, anti-racism, trauma informed practice, and equity for older people among many other important subjects. These interviews have been published in numerous publications such as the BPS’ flagship publication, ‘The Psychologist’.
Reacting to her nomination, Fauzia said: “This nomination came as a very pleasant surprise. I am so humbled and excited to be shortlisted in such an important category, which recognises our roles as agents of change. It really is an honour to have my name included amongst such inspirational women who are achieving greatness and making such a significant impact in the sector!”