Hallows is an Aston University teaching associate where she leads on placement management and design for MPharm students, including placements with mental health trusts. 

She was nominated as a fellow by her Aston colleague, senior teaching fellow Hannah Macfarlane, for “championing inclusive, high-quality care” and being “a tireless advocate for pharmacy technicians”. 

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Hallows said it was an “overwhelming honour” to become the first pharmacy technician to be a fellow of the College of Mental Health Pharmacy (CMHP), a charity that offers education and research unto mental health pharmacy. 

“This is a proud moment for all of us working to challenge norms, collaborate for change and push pharmacy practice forward,” she said. 

The fellowship is awarded to those who have made a “significant and persistent contribution to the field of pharmacy in mental health”. 

Read more: Pharmacist honoured for clean drinking water research 

Hallows founded and leads the CMHP’s Pysch Pharmacy Technicians course and also co-founded the Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK‘s (APTUK) mental health branch where she serves as secretary. 

Macfarlane, who nominated Hallows and is also a CMHP fellow, said it was “easy” to put her forward because of her “extensive and nationally relevant work supporting pharmacy technicians in mental health pharmacy”. 

Pills winner 

It comes as one of C+D’s The Pills winners, NHS North East London programme delivery lead Simmy Daniel, won a CMHP award for a service evaluation poster. 

Her project explored how MPharm students’ placements in mental health settings inspired future careers in that area.  

Daniel led the placements with a supervisor team which delivered 260 placement days for 52 MPharm students over 14 months.  

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“I am a passionate advocate for mental health and for creating opportunities that support inclusive, person-centred care,” she said.  

“This work grew from that passion - helping students gain confidence, knowledge, and a sense of purpose in mental health pharmacy.” 

It comes as a pharmacist was honoured for his research into producing clean drinking water in Pakistan.