Sanaa Ahmad

 Since 2018, Sanaa has led the British Asian Trust’s transformational, multi-stakeholder programme to improve the mental health of over 40,000 people in low-income areas of Pakistan. ​Sanaa works closely with partners to design our programme and build capacity where needed. Sanaa has been pivotal in establishing the first Mental Health Coalition in Pakistan through this programme. The Coalition brings together organisations and experts for a more focused, collaborative approach across the sector. It is a space for sharing learning, and strategic leadership for collaboration on key issues. Through this work the British Asian Trust was granted a personal audience with the President of Pakistan, HE Arif Alvi, who accoladed our programme and placed special emphasis on the importance of integrating mental health in to the education system.

Sanaa is a trained psychotherapist with over a decade of experience. Through her experiences prior to the British Asian Trust, at Each Counselling in the UK, an organisation which helps people affected by drugs and alcohol, mental health issues and violence to sustain positive change, and Solace Women's Aid, an organisation offering free advice and support to women and children in London to build safe lives, Sanaa has acquired strong clinical experience in working with BAME communities, women, and especially youth in very difficult circumstance.

In Pakistan, Sanaa has worked alongside Dr Murad Moosa Khan, who​ at the time was Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at Aga Khan University, on an observership programme, where she shadowed a team of psychiatrists and psychologists to gain insight into both the clinical and social side of mental health in Pakistan.

Sanaa has ​a BSc in Psychology from McGill University and an MSc in Psychological Therapies and Mental Health from QMUL (Barts and the London School of Medicine).