Dr Shep Chidarikire is an experienced mental health nursing academic and clinician. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in Nursing in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Newcastle. Before becoming a mental health nurse, he trained as a primary school teacher in his native Zimbabwe. He is a UK trained mental health nurse and a holder of a Master of Nursing (Nurse Practitioner) from La Trobe University, Australia.

Dr Chidarikire is passionate about the influences of culture and mental health especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. His PhD research thesis, awarded in 2021, explored the experiences and quality of life of people living with schizophrenia in Harare, Zimbabwe using a focused ethnography. My research highlights the importance of language, culture, and idioms of distress in understanding mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. This is important if we as mental health providers will achieve better health outcomes for those that speak a different language other than English and have different cultural beliefs and norms.

Dr Chidarikire is a passionate teacher and academic with over 10 years’ experience. He holds a Master of Nursing (Nurse Practitioner), Bachelor of Health Science (Nursing) from Charles Sturt University and a PhD in Nursing from the University of Tasmania.