A Zimbabwean nurse who works with young people and families involved in London gangs has been recognised for her work.
Dorcas Gwata was awarded the Nursing Standard Mental Health Nurse 2015 for her work with this hard-to-reach group. Gwata works in the Westminster Integrated Gangs Unit (IGU) and the Central North West London (CNWL) Foundation Trust’s Westminster Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services team to help improve the health of socially stigmatised, deprived young people associated with gangs. The team works with social services, police and community protection.
She has developed relationships with A&E departments, young offender prisons, sexual health clinics and schools. Gang key workers make direct referrals to Dorcas, who reviews the young person’s physical and mental health needs.
‘About 80% of our clients are from minority ethnic backgrounds,’ she says. ‘I have extensive experience in working with complex cultural clinical cases such as HIV, FGM, safeguarding issues for African children and human trafficking. I have brought this experience forward in developing culturally adjusted interventions for this group.’
Dorcas has also developed a mental health safety planning plan for young girls who are sexually exploited to keep them from self-blame and self-harming, and offers psychological support to families affected by gang culture.
Gwata’s clinical supervisor, Dr Tami Kramer, said the nurse’s outstanding knowledge and skills had secured her success in a difficult field. “Dorcas is able to engage young people who are not primarily looking for help and are often initially dismissive of their need for professional help,” she said.
Gwata paid tribute to her roots, saying “Ultimately most of the innovative skills that I brought into the role have come from my HIV and Mental Health work in Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Uganda and my own ongoing work with Health/HIV within the African Diaspora in the UK. The award also goes a long way to acknowledge the great contribution that African/Zimbabwean nurses bring into the NHS.”
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