And if you know anybody based in Newham who is interested in community-based participatory research and mental health and is looking for a new role, please send them my way!

I feel enormously privileged for the opportunity to work with both local and international partners who I deeply admire, on a project that applies everything that I have learned about global mental health to address health inequalities here in London

We want to centre local capacity-building in this project, so our goal is for Newham community members with local knowledge to co-design the programme, deliver the intervention, coordinate activities, collect and analyse data, and disseminate findings, with support from the research team

Atmiyata is based on community members supporting one another, building on local assets, and creating community-led, culturally appropriate mental health support. Mental health is not just the domain of professionals - it's also about social connection and the contexts that people live in

Over the next 3 years we will be working with Newham communities to adapt an evidence-based mental health intervention from India for the local context, and piloting the adapted intervention in Newham