Research Fellow, Ali Dawber

Full name: Ali Dawber

Place of work: Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust

Job title: Research fellow/Deputy Director of the Mental Health Nurses Research Unit

Career Journey to date:

I qualified as a mental health nurse from the University of Manchester (UoM) in 2016. On qualification I worked on a female acute ward in what was Greater Manchester West Mental Health Foundation Trust. In December 2017 I moved to a community mental health nurse/care coordinator role. I have worked in this type of role in different trusts and teams until I returned to work following my maternity leave in summer 2022.

In 2018 I undertook the NIHR internship 30-day research internship, this was where I identified the NHIR Pre-doctoral clinical academic fellowship (PCAF) as the path into research that I would like to take.

March 2020 was the first UK wide lockdown following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic I was working in a CMHT in Salford. I was introduced to Dr Rob Griffiths from the GMMH Mental Health Nurses Research Unit (MHNRU) a few weeks before my submission, around the same time as the lockdown, as I needed support from my trust to complete the sign-off process. He was immediately supportive of my application and my personal goals. I submitted my first pre-doc application at the end of March 2020. In July I was informed that my application had been unsuccessful.

Following my unsuccessful application in 2020, two development opportunities arose. I secured a place on the Florence Nightingale Mental Health Nurse Leadership award (September-October) and a one day a week 12-month senior research nurse secondment to the MHNRU (starting in November). During the secondment I was part of a team who completed a systematic review. I also used the time to rewrite my pre-doc application.

I submitted my second pre-doctoral application in March 2021. I gave birth to my son in May 2021 and in July I received the news that my application had been unsuccessful. It was deemed fundable but didn’t rank highly enough to be funded this time.

In the early months of 2022, another opportunity for a 12-month secondment to the MHNRU as Deputy Director/Research Fellow post was released. With the support of senior management, I was able to apply and was successful in the application process. In June 2022 I returned to work from maternity leave working for the MHNRU three days a week and a role in a CMHT one day a week. In March 2023 I am aiming to submit my third pre-doctoral application. Third time lucky!

What inspired you to become a mental health nurse?

I used to work as a debt advisor in a Citizens Advice and I realised that I would often step forward to support those with mental health issues when others would perhaps hesitate so decided to retrain as a mental health nurse.

What are you most passionate about in mental health nursing? (What values and principles guide your approach to your work and how do you put these into practice?)

I just want to offer people some sunshine and a reprieve. People’s lives are hard. Recovery is hard. If I can have a positive impact, no matter how small, especially on a bad day this is the point. As a nurse you help individuals, I see working in research is a way to help everyone.

About your role

I am a research fellow which a relatively new role for nurses within GMMH. Nurses are one of the largest professional groups working in mental health services and yet they the amount of research being conducted by nurses still remains really low. My role is about my own journey on the clinical academic pathway and supporting capacity building within the nursing workforce to encourage more nurses to see it as a viable career path. Research is how we improve mental health services, and we need the nursing voice as part of change.

What are the key priorities for your role?

Personally, to submit my PCAF application. More generally to galvanise research interested nurses in our trust and support them in any way I can to get them involved.

What do you like most about your role?

All the different people that I get to meet and thinking critically about the services that we provide that the job that we do as nurses.

What have you achieved in your current role?

I have done some many activities that are outside of my comfort zone since taking this role but improving my public speaking has been the thing I am most proud of. It is not a skill that I necessarily needed in a clinical sense, but it has given me to confidence to speak out in different ways.

What do you hope to achieve in your current role?

I hope to continue my research journey conduct my own clinical research.

Inspiring others

Why should mental health nursing be considered as a career option?

Being a mental health nurse has changed my perspective on life and given so many things that are simply unquantifiable but mostly is has given me some of the most amazing experiences in terms of human connect and therapeutic relationships. I would be a lesser person had I not experienced these things.

What advice would you offer mental health nurses at the start of their career?

You will never know it all, but that’s ok. Just be honest about it.

How do you maintain your health and wellbeing, achieve a good work life balance, and develop resilience?

Find things in your personal life that you can completely absorb yourself in and take your mind off work. Being able to switch off and recharge is so important to your own mental wellbeing.

What advice you would give to someone thinking of taking a similar career path as you?

Go for it and don’t look back. You will have hard times, but there will always be a life affirming moment just round the corner.

Are there any useful websites/books/podcasts/videos that you would advise mental health nurses to refer to?

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Paperback Rebecca Skloot – this is not a book about mental health specifically but it is about how healthcare and medical research has got it wrong in the past and has exploited the very people it should have been protecting. It is a reminder that we always need to improve and do better.

What is your favourite quote and how does this relate to you as a mental health nurse?

‘The arc of change is long’ – it may feel like you are not making any progress and the steps to get there are so small you hardly notice but it will happen.

Have you been nominated for or won any awards?

I was awarded a place on the Florence Nightingale Mental Health Leadership award in 2020.