Who am I?
As an introvert I don’t like the attention. It is however important that I am open about who I am and why this site exists? What are my motives for creating The Resilience HQ and why did I see the need to spend my personal time creating it?
I am a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist. In 2023, there were only 775 of these posts in the UK, of which 19% were vacant. There are not many of us in the UK and we are spread too thin to meet the mental health needs of the country’s children.
I have been a consultant in the NHS (National Health Service, UK) since 2016. I have acquired 8 years of clincial experience at this level and over 11 years in total, working with children. During this time I have seen well over a thousand children and adolescents, along with their families.
Do we need professionals?
One thing I realised over time is that most of what I do now, probably would have been done by a family member, friend, family friend, teacher or a community group, many decades ago. Since many of these connections have gone the way of the Dodo (extinct) in the UK, it falls on professionals to provide such advice.
One such example is advice on sleep management in children. In 2018, more than £35 million was spent on Melatonin (sleep medication) in the UK. Although this was for all age groups, it would have been mostly in under 18 years of age. Since then even more Melatonin has been prescribed in children. Question arises, how come children managed to sleep without this medication til 2007, when Melatonin was first lincensed in the UK?
At present, majority of these children are seen by CAMHS. This is just one example of what I said earlier, most of what I do now, would have been done by someone connected to the family only a couple of decades ago.
Ofcourse, mental health problems always existed in children and would have needed the services of psychiatric professionals. Without such expertise, children sufferred. Now however, the tables have turned. Professionals like me advise not only on core psychiatric problems, but also spend a large part of our time on non-psychiatric issues affecting the child’s mental health.
We need to spend this time as these issues usually perpetuate a child’s mental health difficulties and hinder their recovery. These do not require a mental health professional and is the reason why The Resilience HQ was born. I aim to show through this endevour that you can help yourself and children you are connected to, avoid severe mental health problems and recover from them, if they do develop these.
Not only that but I aim to teach and inspire how to become resilient to the challenges of life. Here is the page describing vision, mission and values for this blog.
About me…
Err…, but can you stop stalling and tell us about yourself?
Okay, if I must!
Professionally, I have been helping children (& their families) understand, diagnose, treat and recover from mental health difficulties. These include but not limited to, anxiety disorders, school refusal, depressive disorders, assessment and treatment of ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), possible psychosis and comorbidities in children with ASD (autism spectrum disorders). I have also worked with children with learning disabilities and Looked-After Children (LAC).
Other than clinical work, I have taught at 2 different medical schools as undergraduater tutor for Mental Health. I am currently a tutor at third university. I have trained nurses going through prescribing course and supervised them after their qualification. I have taught medical students as well as junior doctors in different stages of training. In short, I love teaching!
I led national project teaching CPR (resucitation skills) in mosques throughout the UK for some years. This was in collaboration with British Heart Foundation. Did I say I love teaching? But I also enjoy organising and leading projects which I did with this amazing initiative. I supervised, mentored and led this team, after recruiting most of them to deliver this international project and in the process engage over 100 mosques and taught hundreds of people how to save life in the UK.
Is that enough?
Other than work, I am a co-leader at my local scouts group (Cubs, age 8.5-10.5 years). I enjoy spending time with my family, enjoy running (but not marathons!), learning about new topics and acquiring new skills.
Oh and before I forget… since 2024, I have been learning to engage others through writing (blog) and possibly social media….
Did I mention coffee and tea? Yes, I do love different types of tea and coffee. You can’t beat the aroma of coffee made from freshly ground beans. Hmm, coffee….
That will have to do for now. Do you have any questions for me?
Now its your turn to share a bit about yourself (publically) in the comments…
Warm regards,
Dr Shakeel Ahmed
P.S.: Information on this blog is not clinical advice. Should you need clinical input, please seek this from your local professionals who can give you personalised and individualised clinical advice.