A THIRD year nursing student was left in 'shock' after finding out she had won a prestigious national award.

Zoe Butler, of The University of Cumbria, beat off the competition to win the Andrew Parker Student Nurse Award from the Royal College of Nursing.

"My reaction was holding back tears actually," the 21-year-old said. "There was a lot of shock for me because the category I was in, was all students but they were all so phenomenal and they all had amazing projects. So to win the award was a big shock."

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The annual awards are the profession’s top accolade and recognise those who have come up with new ways to improve health, enhance patient experiences and transform nursing practice.

Zoe, who lives in Kendal, was recognised for a three year project she has worked on called 'The Hot Potato', aimed at raising awareness of mental health.

"It's basically collecting narratives and stories from young people about their fears about mental health," she explained. "It's about how they feel they can talk about it, who they can talk about it to and documenting all of that.

"Then we produced monologues that were filmed. They were about young people sharing each others' stories and about how they view mental health."

The project is now used in schools across Cumbria and in universities. The resource can start discussions within schools and organisations regarding mental illness.

"I think growing up I was always very aware that young people found it very uncomfortable to talk about mental health," she said. "And they didn't feel it was something they could talk to their peer group about and they didn't feel it was something they could talk to adults about.

"I wanted young people to feel like they could have that conversation just as much as they talk about their physical health but mental health as well."

Zoe starts work with the NHS at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary in September but she hopes that this will not be end of her work within mental health.

"I've got big plans for the project," she said. "What I really want to look at is how we can produce national guidance on how we use people's stories within healthcare."

She added that she wanted to thank all of the Brewery Arts Centre Staff, her lecturers and family for all of their support.