Social work students at Liverpool Hope to benefit from new learning experience in Gambia

Liverpool Hope University tutors Nicki Blundell and Dr Lucy Hanson have visited a range of services in the Gambia, which will provide a new student experience for those studying Social Work at the University.

From next year, students will be able to experience the provision of mental health services in an entirely new context. Starting their 70-day placement in Liverpool, students will work with the Alternative Futures Group, who support mental health work in the UK and Gambia. They will then be able to continue this learning through statutory and community provision in Western Gambia for four weeks.

The learning experience established in conjunction with Salifu Manneh will include working in a new Community Well-being Centre with the Mobee Project. The centre provides community outreach as well as a safe space for people who may be experiencing mental ill health or supporting others.

Also included in the placement is time with ChildFund Gambia, which is looking to develop its mental health provision with young people, as well as first-hand experience of both a general hospital and the country’s only psychiatric hospital.

Officials in the Gambia’s Ministry of Health, and those in the community, welcomed the prospect of Hope students extending their learning through the transformative experience.  

_{Picture – ChildFund The Gambia’s Country Director Musu Kuta Komma poses with Salifu Menneh, Mobee Project, and Nicki Blundell and Dr Lucy Hanson from Liverpool Hope University (c) Liverpool Hope University.}