AMT Sponsored Event: Annual Conference Addresses Mental Health Concerns In American Muslim Communities
The event, which is virtual this year, will include mental health professionals and speakers from all around the world.
AMT is the official media partner of the 13th Annual Muslim Mental Health Conference that begins today and goes through Saturday, April 3.
The event, sponsored by Michigan State University Department of Psychiatry and the Institute for Muslim Mental Health, focuses on the theme of Restorative Healing and Liberation in Context. Although it’s aimed at mental health professionals, everyone is invited to attend.
A press release for the event said it will focus on topics like COVID-19 and mental health, suicide interventions, interpersonal violence, refugee mental health and Islamophobia. Speakers from around the globe — U.S., Canada, UK, Pakistan, Qatar and Brazil — will be in attendance.
The event’s founder and chair, Dr. Farha Abbasi, is also a professor at Michigan State University. This event addresses topics that are crucial for healing.
“Healing from pain and traumas that result from oppressive sociopolitical structures such as racism, Islamophobia, and sexism must be approached from a multifaceted perspective. The individual must understand themselves in context, and heal on a personal level, while society must change to stop oppression from occurring. Thus, healing cannot be done alone and does not happen in a vacuum,” she said.
This year, the keynote speaker is Dr. Ameena Matthews, who is a Community Activist for Peace Building and Social Change. She grew up in a rough Chicago neighborhood with her grandmother, and at a young age witnessed the violence inflicted upon the community. Now, she’s dedicated her life and career to ending the mindset that violence is normal in Chicago.
Dr. Abbasi added that the first stage of healing happens at a societal level.
“For true healing to occur, a transformation needs to happen on the individual and societal level,” she said. “These transformations take place when we as a community can work to raise awareness of issues of inequality and intersectionality, affirm salient cultural identities, resist oppressive systems, and promote social change that will alleviate suffering.”
For more information on the event and how it came to be, Dr. Abbasi’s Q&A with AMT can be found here.
If you’re interested in attending the event, follow this link to register.
