Like many students in 2019, Amrapali Das arrived in Belfast to start her Engineering Degree with no idea about the disruption ahead. 

Amrapali travelled from Calcutta to Belfast, excited to begin her journey at Queen’s and got settled into her University accommodation. Her initial studies went well and she managed to land a job role with Analog services. 

However, Amrapali began to suffer from stress, anxiety and panic attacks following an incident of harassment which made performing simple tasks impossible. Coupled with pandemic restrictions and lockdowns, she began to really struggle. She failed her first-year exams which also resulted in the Analog job offer being revoked. In 2020, Amrapali attempted to take her own life. 

However, with the support of friends, Wellbeing Services, medical services and Students Officers, Amrapali slowly started to rebuild her life. “I was in Queen's Elms accommodation and the people there have helped me a lot. They have continuously checked on me and listened to me always. I had my friends there with me and they checked in continuously too.” 

Amrapali also relied on the support from her parents: “I have two biggest cheerleaders in my life that are my mom and dad; I can never thank them enough. I am super happy to graduate and have a new job because around this time in 2020, I tried ending my life thinking there is nothing left to do; but now I feel there is so much to do and I have not seen anything at all.” 

Amrapali says that, without the support of the wellbeing network at Queen’s, she would not be alive today. 

She says: “I still suffer from migraines but my panic attacks are very rare. I try to be happy as much as possible but it will take time for my depression to disappear. However, I am trying every day to make a better person of myself so that I can give back something to society.” 

Amrapali will pick up her MSc in Electronic Engineering at Queen’s today and with a position as a Graduate Engineer with Sensata, the future looks bright: “I see a bright future here in Belfast. I want to help young students who are suffering due to several reasons; I have seen that even if one person sits by you and just listens to you, it helps. I definitely plan to do another Masters and then a PhD. So yeah, there are many things left for me to accomplish.” 

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