Digest of the Mental Health Workshop May 2022 2 IMPROVING MENTAL HEALTHCARE FOR THE BANGLADESHI MUSLIM COMMUNITY Jahanara Loqueman “My daughter was born on 21 May 1967, a beautiful girl, quiet and very intelligent. She was well known in our community, and was well loved and respected. She went to school in Colchester, and then to the University of East Anglia, but within three months of arriving there the student in the next room tragically passed away. My daughter could not cope so my husband brought her back home and we took her to a consultant psychiatrist from Pakistan who we have known for a long time and who understands our culture and religion. She advised us to change my daughter’s university, so she moved to study closer to home. She successfully finished her degree in language and linguistics in 1991, and then a PGCE course to become a teacher. My daughter taught in high schools in Tower Hamlets and Hackney. In 1996 she took a break to study for a PhD in Education in Asian children but became ill again when she could not cope after her landlady died after a heart transplant, so she returned to teaching again. She always wanted to get married and settle down. She went to Bangladesh and found a suitable boy, a college lecturer. She was very happy but adapting to the culture, language and social life in Bangladesh was challenging. At first her husband could not come to England with her due to bureaucracy at the Home Office, who decided that her wages were not high enough to maintain her husband, but she was eventually able to obtain a spouse visa for him. Her in-laws wanted her to move to London, to get a higher paid job, and to start a family. Around this time she was also very upset at the loss of her uncle. My daughter became ill again, so I took her to the GP and asked them to refer her to a consultant, but the GP only offered counselling in the surgery. She had two sessions, and was hesitant to say whether it was helping her yet. She told her father she felt no one would understand her. Then one morning in August in 2000 at the age of 33 she was she gone forever. My daughter’s wish was: “you can do something for Bangladeshi community if you try mum”, so in 2001 I founded the Bangladeshi Women’s Association Essex. This is a very personal tragedy that I find difficult talking about. I want to highlight the importance of accessing services in mental health. They should be easy to access, culturally sensitive and professionals that understand our culture and religion” Mrs Jahanara Loqueman FOUNDER, BANGLADESHI WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION ESSEX
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