Right To Heal: Mental Health X Social Justice Conference

Come together for a day exploring what real mental health support looks like for marginalised communities.

We'll talk honestly about how things like Islamophobia, access to support, discrimination and systemic pressure affect our mental health, and why healing shouldn't just be about "fixing" individuals within a distressing system. Instead, we're exploring how our communities, culture and collective care can be part of the solution.

Join the conversation through talks and workshops on:

• Transformative justice
• Lived experiences of mental health within Muslim communities
• Community led responses to mental health, including work with imams
• The role of mosques and case studies 
• Communal harm and healing processes
• Collective trauma from conflict, oppression and displacement, and how communities heal together

We take an all systems approach so this conference is open to all (and we encourage that!) including practitioners, imams, carers, activists, support workers, educators and anyone with lived experience.

Tickets are used to cover costs of running events but we do not want anyone to miss you due to cost as a barrier. Please email shamoly@hoquecommunity.com

The venue is wheelchair accessible.

Talks, Workshops and Speakers:

The Politics of Care - Shamoly Hoque

Shamoly Hoque is a trauma informed practitioner, currently training as a Forensic Psychologist and a founder of Hoque Community.

Transformative Justice - Dr Tarek Younis

Dr Tarek Younis is the Racial Justice Researcher at Healing Justice London and Clinical Lead of the Coming Home project.

The Systems That Shape Us: Identity, Belonging and Mental Health Across Generations - Maryam Javaid, Black and Brown Parenting

Maryam Javaid is a TEDx speaker, parent and cultural educator who explores the intersection of race, culture, family systems.

Research Presentation:

Mental Health Needs of Young Asylum Seekers and Refugees - Dr Rubbia A

Prevent and Neurodiversity - Sahar Mulji, Rights and Security International

Parallel Session One:

Working with Children and Schools - Allia Fredericks, Maslaha

Transformative Justice - Dr Tarek Younis

Co-producing Mental Health Support with Muslim Communities and Imams - Warisa Zainab Hussain, Inspirited Minds

Warisa Zainab Hussain is a Domestic Abuse Recovery Coach and holds an Islamic studies degree, a Masters in Clinical Psychology and an MSc in Child, Adolescent and Family Mental Health

Parallel Session Two:

Transformative Justice Workshop and

Communal Harms, Accountability. And Repair - Dr Ayo Khalil

Dr Ayo Khalil is a Psychiatry resident doctor with a strong interest in sociocultural psychiatry with a focus on Black and Muslim mental health and how this intersects with structural violence, racism, and Islamophobia.

Reflective Practice: Moving Beyond The Binary - Dr Rubbia A

Dr Rubbia A is a Clinical Psychologist and recently completed her research on refugees and migrants referred to CAMHS and outcomes.

Fireside Chat: The Lived Mental Health Impact Of “Politics” - Dr Muzzammil Ayyub Thakur and Zeinab Jama Hire

Dr Muzzammil Ayyub Thakur, a Kashmiri scholar and advocate against Indian-occupied Kashmir. He will share his story on the weight of living with and speaking about conflict, displacement, being both a first hand witness and survivor of India’s brutalities. 

Zeinab Jama Hire shares her story of being referred to referred to Prevent through psychiatric services as a Black Muslim woman and what it means to be at your most vulnerable and to be met with suspicion instead of care.

Organisers:

Hoque Community was founded by Shamoly Hoque in 2023, a trauma informed practitioner and trainee forensic psychologist, as a response to the gap in socio-cultural spaces that centre Muslims and their unique needs. These include knowledge and empowerment workshops on structural Islamophobia, mental health, social justice and film screenings and educational events to better understand the role of the resistance, mental health, communal care and healing. Hoque has also organised events in collaboration with Muslim charities and advocacy groups.

Maslaha seeks to change and challenge the conditions that create inequalities and racism for Muslim communities in areas such as education, gender, criminal justice, health, negative media coverage and a continued climate of Islamophobia. We understand deeply how this context can leave individuals and communities suffering and unable to express and explore their true selves. Maslaha’s work is practical and rooted in local communities but with a reach that is national and international, and with a view to influencing policy and the public imagination

Inspirited Minds is a mental health charity launched in 2014 that aims to provide high-quality therapeutic support. Our therapists are a mix of BACP registered counsellors and BABCP registered CBT therapists. More details of our counselling team can be found on Our Team page. We focus on providing faith sensitive therapy for Muslim clients and many of our therapists have undertaken additional training in spiritual and Islamic models of psychological therapy. We are also open to people of other faiths.

The Islaah Collective is a Muslim student-led society at SOAS University of London, founded as a vehicle for "Practical Islam." Rooted in the belief that faith offers a holistic blueprint for life, the collective seeks to move beyond theoretical discourse and into tangible, meaningful action through educational initiatives and community-driven advocacy, the society fosters a space for students to develop the self and community.