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It's South Asian Heritage Month until 17 August and this year's theme is 'free to be me'.

Selina is helping us mark this month at the Partnership by telling us about her Bangladeshi heritage and the work she does.

Name:  Selina Aktar

Role at the Partnership:  DIALOG+ Practice Education Training Lead (with lived experience)

How long have you been involved with the Partnership?  Three years 

Tell us a bit about your role within the Partnership:
I deliver face-to-face training for all staff in our Partnership, on DIALOG+ our new care planning tool. I share DIALOG+ with our service users and carers through forums, coffee mornings and community events. I have had the privilege of working alongside our voluntary sector colleagues to inform and support DIALOG+ at the grass roots.

I have been working alongside our colleagues from the Haringey trauma-informed team to embed trauma-informed principles within our DIALOG+ training.

I work with other mental health trusts to share good practice on DIALOG+ training and integration.

I feel supported and safe in my role my expert-by-experience colleagues from across the Partnership who have worked alongside me to develop tools for DIALOG+ and my practice as a lived experience practitioner.

What does South Asian Heritage Month mean to you? 
It’s a month that gives me permission to share my culture and what it means to me to be part of the South Asian community. I use this time to reconnect, with what my culture means to me and how it influences my wellbeing and work.

It’s also a time to bring people together from different communities to share stories, food and music. We can focus on what we have in common and build connections based on hope. 

Tell us a bit about your South Asian heritage:
My parents were from Sylhet in Bangladesh. They arrived in England to build a better life for their families. My father was a teacher and my mother was a seamstress. Due to the racism he experienced in his work, my father left the profession and became a business owner. However, education remained important to my parents and they made a lot of sacrifices to make sure their children had the best education possible.

In Bangladesh my grandparents were farmers. Thee connection with the land, culture and family was really important to them. My parents continued this when they arrived in the UK by staying connected to their heritage. I remember visiting Bangladesh every summer holiday. I can still remember smells from the food,  the pollution from the brick factories and animals that were just wandering aound. The way everything looked greener, how everything I ate had flavour, taste and purpose.

I remember seeing my first Gayal bull, seeing my grandfather talking to them and bathing them. My grandfather used to say "they work hard for me, so I need to show them respect and love". My grandfather used to carry me on his shoulders to the rice fields and showed me how rice was grown and used to say "this is my gold" or what we would call "wealth". I like to think I was his favourite granddaughter. My grandfather is the reason that I proudly speak Bengali, and it's where my compassion comes from, where my love of poetry started, with Kazi Nazrul Islam, the Bengali poet, and how I come to know the Bengali folk songs that share real life experiences and struggles. 

I discovered that Bangladesh is the home to the sixth-most spoken language in the world, the third largest Muslim-majority population in the world and the second-largest economy in South Asia. Being Bengali has given me an identity, a community and a connection throughout history to my heritage.

Being of South Asian heritage, how do you feel this has affected your career pathway? 
I like to believe it has not and that my knowledge, commitment, ability, compassion and hard work has guided me in my career.

However, having lived experience has made my career a challenge. Like when there hasn't been support for lived experience staff to help them choose their care, and when there aren't lived experience perspectives embedded into existing training. That makes the situation seem like one of "them and us". There have been times when I have not had access to mentorship or leadership training. All this has left me feeling, sometimes, like part of a tickbox exercise.

In my role as DIALOG+ Practice Education Training Lead (with Lived Experience), I have been extremely fortunate to see my colleagues living out the Partnership Values as they recognise my strengths and support me to nurture them. They make me feel safe and empowered and trust me and my abilities. They also share in my wins. I don’t believe they see me as Selina the Bengali colleague, but as a colleague who enriches their lives through sharing the parts of me that have been influenced by my  heritage.

Do you think there is enough knowledge and appreciation of South Asian culture in Britain? What changes would you like to see? 
We are here to stay and are represented in all professions. I think what I would like to see is more intergenerational understanding and compassion. My parents did their best with the knowledge they had. It's important I understand that. I have a grandchild who is third-generation and their understanding of heritage will be very different and I will need to understand that. What we need to do is never forget and continue to share stories about what heritage means to us as individuals and strive for equity, as at times it feels like "just a word".

Where did you begin your journey in mental health services? 
As a staff member, I started as a peer support worker at BEH. I went on to become a senior peer in many services in different Trusts across London. I thrived and grew as a professional in the rough sleepers' team and on inpatient wards. I worked as an assistant social worker and then a social worker with lived experience. I became a Peer Open Dialogue Practitioner which lead me to becoming a Peer Lived Experience Manager in BEH.

With my lived experience, I started in Forensic Services. I have accessed inpatient care many times and community mental health services once on a community treatment order.

I am very proud of my successes in my professional and personal life and look forward to continue my journey.

Favourite city or place in South Asia? 

My village back home in Bangladesh, Tokipur Gobindaganj. It's where I have my fondest memories and where generations of my family are buried, including my parents. It's where I draw my strength from and it's a place where I feel peace and invisible. It’s the place I see my grandparents' legacy. 

Favourite South Asian food or cuisine?

A good curry and samosa from any part of South Asia. Each is unique and very tasty.

Favourite South Asian film? 

I don’t have one but I am partial to a Hindi film from time to time. After a painful break-up, I watched 'Jelabi — The Everlasting Taste of Love' and 'Queen' to remind me of the person I am.

Favourite book, novel (fiction or non-fiction) from a writer of South Asian heritage?
One of my favourite book is 'Shake the Bottle' and there are other stories too by Ashapurna Devi.