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Posted on 1 Nov 2024

Dr Saima Masud, a consultant clinical psychologist at the Trust, will very shortly be setting out with CoppaFeel! on a challenging and life-changing trek, all in the name of checking chests! With Giovanna Fletcher at the helm, the fabulous community of trekkers, and celebrity team captains, will conquer five days of trekking in the Indian Himalayas. She will leave for the trek on 9 November.

Her celebrity team captain is Erin Kennedy, GB rower, 2x Paralympian champion, world and European champion, world record holder, and breast cancer campaigner.

Saima will be proud to represent the NHS on the trek, having spent over 20 years with the Trust and loving her job. She started as a Healthcare Assistant at 145 Thorneywood Mount and worked her way up to a Consultant Clinical Psychologist in the City North Local Mental Health Team (LMHT). 

Although fairly new to the City North LMHT, she absolutely loves her new role. It is her first consultant role and she is keen to work in an area where she can take greater responsibility and support the development of a team and service. She works with her colleagues, to offer support to patients with very complex needs, and helps to formulate the multitude of factors that may be impacting someone’s chronic mental health. Alongside this, she is really valuing working with senior colleagues and having a more systemic role in the Trust, which she would love to develop further. 

Talking about her training Saima said: “I have experienced hypothermia and got stuck on a ledge on a vertical face of a mountain, taking 7 hours in total to get down. Good and bad experiences have built my resilience and respect for the terrain under my feet. I have learnt so much about myself and how small steps like, counting your breath and finding a slow rhythm can get you up and down a mountain safely and in good time. 

“I am ready for this challenge and I can’t wait to share it with you. I am proud to be an NHS clinician on this journey. I would like to thank every person in Nottinghamshire Healthcare who has got behind me, your support and encouragement is what fills my backpack.”

After finding out in January 2024 that she had got a place, Saima has been training hard. She has climbed the highest peaks in the UK twice, Ben Nevis, Snowdon, Scafell Pike, and covered most of the mountains and hills in Wales, the Peaks and the Lake District. 

Ifti Majid, Chief Executive at Nottinghamshire Healthcare said:

“We are proud to have Dr Masud representing the Trust and the NHS on this adventure. Saima is committed to working with her team to provide the best possible patient care, and we are sure she will put the same level of commitment and determination into helping her complete this challenge. 

“We know how hard she has been training for this fantastic opportunity, and we all wish her the very best and look forward to hearing all about her experience when she returns.”

Saima did incredibly well to get a place - as they had thousands and thousands of applicants.

Saima said:

“I will fly my NHS banner high! All the way to Tibet, and the Valleys of Kashmir, of my birth and origins.

“Having spent the last few years re-evaluating what it means to be human, as we all have, in its grief, yearning and awesomeness, I am keen to walk with fear - not fearless, but do things despite the fear stoking my belly - and achieve things I have only dreamed of. I've read so many books about the great explorers from Shackleton to Tenzing Norgay, and all those greats who have climbed the mountains of my home country. As a Muslim woman born in the valley of Kashmir, to have the opportunity to do this trek is the greatest honour of my life. And I bring the hope of all the broken places we know.”

CoppaFeel! are on a mission to stamp out the late diagnosis of breast cancer by making sure that young people are regularly checking their boobs, pecs and chests and getting to know their bodies in order to have the confidence to see their GP if something just doesn't feel normal.

Please do support Saima and read more about why she wanted to be a part of this challenging trek on her Just Giving page.

To find out more about CoppaFeel!