LPT teams up with community radio to broadcast mental health message

LPT has committed its support to a new community radio station that will broadcast information about mental health issues into the heart of the City’s Asian population. This marks the start of a five-year partnership with the Panj Pani Radio Station to work together to raise awareness within local Asian Communities of mental health issues and the help that is available for families from the NHS.

We are providing premises on our headquarters site for Panj Pani Radio to develop a new studio for the radio station. Staff from LPT will also be regular contributors to the Panj Pani Radio broadcast schedule.

Panj Pani Radio is operated by New Dawn Asian Mental Health, a not-for-profit organisation, which aims to bring communities together and ensure culturally appropriate services for Asian people suffering from mental health problems and their carers. Sukhdev Singh Aujla from New Dawn observes that “In Asian Cultures, mental health can be a taboo subject preventing people from seeking help or talking about their concerns – just as it is in European cultures. Our aim is to ensure mental health service users get the services they need.”

The station’s name, Panj Pani, was chosen because it crosses boundaries between different Asian cultures. The name derives from the words: Panj or Panch meaning five and Aab meaning water or river. Panjab is the land of five rivers (three now in India and two in Pakistan). Pani also means water or river. Community Radio Panj Pani will be serving all the communities that originate from the Land of Five Rivers (Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs).

“We’re really excited about this new partnership with Panj Pani Radio,” says Christine Palmer, Associate Director for Communications at LPT. “We are both seeking the same benefits for local Asian communities and it makes a great deal of sense to work together. We want to reach communities in ways that are meaningful to them, through radio stations like Panj Pani, so that people are more aware of the help available and how they can use our services. By talking about mental health issues more openly we can also help people feel more included and accepted in their local community.”

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