A nurse inspired by young patients he met on a football field is celebrating almost 51 years working in mental health care.
Allen Senivassen is one of more than 1,500 registered mental health nurses working at Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT), which provides mental and physical health and learning disability services across Essex and parts of Suffolk and Bedfordshire.
Allen, who has shared his story ahead of Mental Health Nurses’ Day (Saturday 21 February), is Student Education Facilitator and Preceptorship Lead at EPUT. In his role he supports students and newly qualified healthcare professionals to develop their confidence, skills and clinical practice.
Allen’s journey into nursing began thousands of miles away in his home country of Mauritius. As a teenager he played for a local football team, which regularly held friendly matches against young patients from a nearby mental health hospital.
He remembers the matches vividly – not for the score, but for the change he saw in the players.
Allen said: “Tuning into the strengths of playing football enabled them not to focus on their vulnerabilities.
“You could see the joy and camaraderie. For that moment they were simply young people enjoying a game.”
After leaving school, Allen worked as a civil service clerk while continuing to play football, including for a top-division national team.
In 1975 he moved to the UK to train as a mental health nurse at the former Friern Hospital in north London.
During his early career, Allen helped introduce a system in which each patient had an allocated nurse responsible for overseeing their care, an approach that improved continuity, safety, and therapeutic relationships. He also promoted better staff support and professional development, recognising that staff wellbeing was essential to good patient care.
Allen said: “These changes benefited both patients and staff.
“For mental health practitioners it is vital to develop emotional intelligence and compassion and to recognise each patient as an individual with their own story.
“We can help people move towards a more hopeful future. Sometimes it begins simply with listening and getting to know them. Our aim is always to work with each person towards recovery and a life that is meaningful to them.”
Allen moved to Essex in 1988, and was a student education facilitator at St Margaret’s Hospital in Epping and Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow.
He became a senior lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) in 1992 and trained healthcare professionals across several NHS Trusts. He also helped EPUT to establish its long-running Buddy Scheme, which enables patients and carers to share their experiences with students to build understanding and compassion.
Allen joined EPUT in 2015 and continues to support staff development. His work with the preceptorship team contributed to the Trust being awarded the National Preceptorship Interim Quality Mark in 2024, recognising the high standard of support provided to newly qualified nurses.
Reflecting on his career, Allen said he has never viewed nursing as simply a job.
“I have always treated work as a hobby – that is one reason I am still working,” he said.
“I am 71 and I still feel I have the energy to contribute to developing services and supporting people.
“I am passionate about sharing knowledge and working with staff to improve how we deliver care, so patients receive the best person-centred support possible. Both staff and patients should be able to thrive in our services.”
The greatest reward has always come from the people he cared for.
Allen said: “At the end of each shift I would ask myself: what have I done for my patients today? I remember spending time with one patient who was very unwell. Through our engagement I could almost see a ray of hope in his eyes as he began to recover. That was my greatest reward then.
“Now my greatest satisfaction is seeing newly qualified nurses become confident, compassionate professionals who deliver meaningful care.”