How Shahnaz found her wings

How Shahnaz found her wings

Student nurse Shahnaz Akhter is smashing stigma and breaking down barriers. Here she tells SALLY-ANNE YOULL her story.

Shahnaz Akhter is bursting with pride as she prepares to graduate with a degree in mental health nursing.

But behind her tangible excitement lies a story of a long and emotional journey that has brought her here, about to achieve her lifelong dream at the age of 51.

“My wings are open and I am flying,” she says. “This is my dream and it’s about to come true.”

But it wasn’t always the case.

As a teenager Shahnaz dreamed of being a midwife, but always felt it was beyond her grasp.

Instead of pursuing a career, she married at 19 and had her first child at the age of 20. Two more children followed, and she dedicated the coming years to looking after her family.

“I was a housewife,” she says. “And that was fine, I have no regrets. But my dream was still there, buried, but not forgotten.”

As her children grew up, Shahnaz’s drive to help others grew and at the suggestion of a friend, she became a volunteer, working with children from deprived areas where she lived in Peterborough.

She went on to become a community health trainer. “I was filled with self-doubt and really thought I couldn’t do it, but with the help and encouragement of others I did,” she says.

“The confidence and self-belief were not there, but working as a community health trainer, it started to return.”

Shahnaz excelled in her role and went on to get a formal qualification.

Many of her patients were women from the south Asian community for whom language was sometimes a barrier, and Shahnaz was seen as someone who not only understood the language, but also their health and well-being needs.

As they discussed lifestyle and health, her shared background helped them open up to her about all sorts of issues in their own lives.

This often began to reveal stories of poor mental health and domestic abuse. But Shahnaz wasn’t qualified to help them with that at this stage. So she started training in mental health so that she could help these women with whom she had established trust and rapport ... and her skill at helping people was evident.

“I was having great success with my patients, they were coming back, losing weight, taking up exercise plans and they had someone to talk to.

“Everyone could see an improvement in mood and wellbeing among them,” she says.

“I realised I had become a role model for these women, but I was still lacking in self-esteem and confidence. There was no self-care or self-belief, I didn’t really know who I was.”

Shahnaz then had to leave her role for personal reasons.

She moved nearer to relatives in the West Midlands, and that move was a catalyst that sparked a chain of positive changes in Shahnaz’s life.

“I became the driver, I was making decisions, and taking control of my life,” she says.

“My children’s wings were closed, but I started to give them the right environment to open their wings and to fly.

“All three have now been to university, two have already graduated and one will graduate at the same time as me.”

Shahnaz began working for a care agency and doing bank work for the local mental health NHS trust.

“I started believing in myself,” she says.

“But even though it was still a dream to become a nurse it was one I thought I would never achieve.

“I made all sorts of excuses; I had no time; I wasn’t good enough academically … there were lots of doubts.

“Then one day one of the male nurses said to me, of course you can do it. He gave me a number for a college. I gave them a call and was invited in on a Friday afternoon for an interview.

“They called me the same day and said can you start on Monday? They could see from my CV that I was passionate about nursing, but I was blown away.”

Shahnaz completed the access course and was surprised to find it was flexible enough to fit around her home and family life. This gave her the incentive to apply for university. Once again, her passion shone through, and she was invited for interviews at every university she applied to.

Eventually she settled on Wolverhampton. She also became an enthusiastic member of the university’s Students’ Union, then becoming a staff member as a School Rep for nursing and jointly founded a nursing society for students.

“When I first got my uniform, it was so surreal, it really felt like a dream,” she says. “And the next three years just turned out to be the best ever. I have met the greatest role models and the most inspirational people that I have learned from and they have shown me a way forward.

“For so long I gave my time to my family, this is time for me now. I have grown hugely in confidence, and I have learned to grab every opportunity that comes my way.

“I don’t have any fear anymore, I take steps that seem difficult and there are barriers, but when they come up, I don’t let them stop me.

“There are always barriers in life, but they should not stop us. If there is an obstacle in the road, we find another way round, and it’s the same with life.

“My journey has not always been a smooth or easy one, and there have been times when I have thought “Oh I’m going to stop and do a U turn”.

“But there was always a voice in my ear saying, “Carry on, it will be worth it in the end”.”

And now, 36 years after she first dared to dream that she might become a midwife, Shahnaz is graduating and about to start her career as a mental health nurse.

She can’t quite believe it herself, but she hopes that by sharing her story she can help inspire other women from similar backgrounds to follow their dreams.

She also wants to help break down stigma surrounding mental health, both to stop women suffering in silence and to encourage more to go into mental health nursing.

She is the only Pakistani Muslim woman on her course and she feels that is because there are so many misconceptions around mental health in that community.

Just 1.5% of UK nurses are Muslim and 0.5% are of South Asian heritage, and Shahnaz aims to boost those numbers.

South Asian women also remain at risk for suicide. South Asian people were reported as being significantly more likely to have depressive symptoms in figures from 2015 and in 2021 it was reported that south Asian people are less likely to access mental health support due to stigma and a lack of awareness.

Shahnaz says: “There are lots of women, particularly in the south Asian community who are suffering in silence. Mental health is surrounded by stigma.

“I am on a mission; I want to raise awareness about mental health in communities where language or culture may be a barrier.

“I also want to encourage more women from this community to go into nursing. I hope I can be a role model and help inspire them.”

Shahnaz also wants to be a role model to any women who haven’t got the confidence to follow their dreams.

“I am proud to be a role model to other women who may have had similar experiences to me and know deep down they have unfulfilled dreams and goals,” she says.

“I would say to these women: just go for it. You are not alone and there are people who will support you. I have learned to knock on every door and grab every opportunity.

“I was a caterpillar for so many years, but now my wings are fully open and I am flying, I have freedom and opportunities … and you can too.”