UPenn Nursing Fellow’s time at The Banyan

Alison Ercole, a psychiatric nurse from the University of Pennsylvania spent the last 3 months at The Banyan as a Global Nursing Fellow, here’s what she had to say about her time with us and what she accomplished:

I have been honoured to study and work at The Banyan over the past 3 months. I am the Global Nursing Fellow at The University of Pennsylvania and came to The Banyan help incorporate nursing concepts into the Diploma in Community Mental Health Programme offered by The Banyan Academy of Leadership in Mental Health, that trains many of the NALAM Community Mobilisers that work for The Banyan.

Alison Ercole, Global Nursing Fellow from UPenn led a training session for the NALAM community mobilisers at The Banyan

The current programme is strong, particularly in the psychological and social aspects of care. The hope is that incorporating more biological (e.g., medical, or nursing) aspects into the bio-psychosocial paradigm, the program will allow for holistic identification of needs, rehabilitation, and ultimately, prevention.

Alison with Case Manager, Kavitha and NALAM mobiliser look over parts of the curriculum

NALAM mobilisers learning how to take vital signs during the training day

This will not only help the clients The Banyan serves, but also the Community Health Workers by expanding their role and skills. The greater community will benefit as well because more community members will have access to good, comprehensive health care.

We had a training day where I shared some of the new curriculum (vital signs, communicable diseases). It was so much fun to work with the NALAM Mobilisers to maximise their skill set and boost their confidence.

It’s been so hard for me to leave after these short three months because of the great work The Banyan is doing and how welcoming everyone has been; but, it makes me feel good to know that I played a small part in expanding the NALAM Mobiliser’s role as community health leaders.