CLASS OF 2024: Suha celebrates a mind-blowing achievement

Suha Ahmed is celebrating a mind-blowing achievement by graduating from the University of Wolverhampton with a Professional Doctorate in Counselling Psychology.

Her family is originally from Kurdistan in the Middle East and Suha is the mother of three children so has overcome a number of challenges to pursue her education dream of securing a Doctorate.

Juggling parenthood, with English as her third language, and education not generally endorsed for women in the culture in which she grew up, Suha worked around these cultural norms to successfully complete her studies.

Suha said: “I've always been interested in studying psychology, particularly counselling and I came to the University Open Day to find out more about the course. I had a very warm feeling when I arrived. There was a lot of support on offer which I felt like I needed.

“It has taken me about 4 to 5 years to be where I am now. And that's purely because one of the challenges that I faced was becoming a mother for the third time during my studies, and then lockdown happened as well, which meant I had to take a break, hence my studies took a bit longer.

“The support from my family has been amazing. I don't think I would have been able to complete my studies without the support from my partner and family as well as my supervisors.”

Suha was driven to study psychology because of the social stigma associated with mental health in her culture.

She said: “The whole reason why I wanted to study counselling psychology is because of the stigma that's very present within our culture, whereby mental health is not really talked about. It's often labelled as shameful. And I've always had a passion for helping people in general, but in particular, minority ethnic groups. So having been able to study here and become a psychologist and, throughout my thesis, having had the opportunity to engage with that group and design an effective intervention has been really empowering.

“I feel that now I'm qualified I can contribute more towards minority groups, and particularly women, who struggle a lot from the Kurdish community, but also in general, in Middle Eastern communities.”

Suha has secured a job working with children in Wolverhampton and wants to continue with her research and build on her skills by continuing to work with diverse groups of people.

Whilst studying at the University she supported its reverse mentoring programme, the That’s Me project, where Global Majority students share their experiences of study at the University with senior research leaders to support a better understanding of the diversity of student challenges and needs. Suha was the co-constructor of this programme. She was also presented with the Chancellor’s Prize at her graduation.

Graduates are encouraged to keep in touch with the Alumni team and take advantage of a range of benefits and support on offer to them including a discount for Postgraduate study and opportunities to benefit from volunteering and career advice.     

Find out more about School of Sport courses on the website or visit one of our Open Days for more information about studying at the University.    

To find out more about graduate success, check out the Every Story Has a Start web page which showcases our exceptional alumni across the globe doing incredible things. High achievers from the worlds of literature, business, sport, film and the arts feature, sharing how their lives and careers have developed since their days studying with us.