Meet the winner of the Young Champion category of this year’s Provost’s Awards – Anna Phin!
Anna was nominated by her proud dad, Scott, for all the work she has done campaigning for improved mental health services for local young people.
Between the ages of 15 and 17 Anna was admitted to Skye House psychiatric unit for young people at Stobhill Hospital and as a result of her experience within the unit, she has been campaigning for changes to the ways in which young people are treated. She has met with NHS Directors and Government Ministers to discuss changes to service provision, and she contacted BBC Panorama and worked with the broadcaster on a documentary entitled ‘Kids on the psychiatric ward’. Both Anna and her mum feature in the programme.
Throughout her extremely difficult time in hospital Anna continued her studies, sitting her Higher exams whilst a patient at Skye House. Despite having missed two years of school, Anna achieved five A grade Highers and went onto get excellent Advanced Higher results too. She has now completed her first year of Medicine at Glasgow University and is looking forward to beginning her second year of the course in September.
Provost Gillian Renwick, said, “Anna is a truly remarkable young woman who is using her experience and voice to bring about changes that will improve the lives of future generations of young people who require psychiatric support and treatment. Anna has also worked unbelievably hard to pursue a career in medicine; to get 5 As in her Highers when she was so ill and had missed so much school is quite a phenomenal achievement.
It was a privilege to meet Anna and present her with her Provost’s Champion Award. She thoroughly deserves this recognition, and I wish her all the very best for what I am sure will be a very rewarding future.
Anna said, “It was so nice to meet the Provost and Depute Provost and to have been awarded the Provost’s Community Champion Award. It is really important to me that other young people who are struggling with mental ill health receive the right care and treatment, and I hope that by sharing my experience changes will be made. Anyone who is suffering just now should know that recovery is possible – at one time I could never have imagined I’d be studying medicine at university, yet here I am about to go into second year. Things are going really well for me just now and to have been awarded the Provost’s Young Champion Award was a lovely surprise. Thank you.”
