Dr Ghazala Mir is an Associate Professor at Leeds Institute of Health Sciences with research interests in health and social inequalities. Her research covers minority ethnic and faith communities, women and people with learning disability. https://medhealth.leeds.ac.uk/profile/645/611/ghazala_mir/publications Zohra Khaku is the director of Muslim Youth Helpline, a free and confidential service dedicated to helping young muslims with worrying or burdening issues and concerns. Zohra is also founder and CEO of Halal Gems. Muslim Youth Helpline service is available 7 days a week, 365 days a year (Freephone: 0808 808 2008) Khadijah Abdelhamid is a mental health activist and an award winning community ambassador, having had her work featured in: The Huffington Post, BBC, The Independent, BBC Three, London Live, Reuters TV, Islam Channel, British Muslim TV, Muslim Vibe, UmmahSonic and BuzzFeed. Ravel Mohammed is the founder and director of Maslaha, an organisation that aims to change and challenge the conditions that create inequalities for Muslim communities at a local and systemic level in health, education, the criminal justice system and gender. He has also been named as one of Britain’s 50 New Radicals. Maslaha has produced groundbreaking and award-winning health resources and their work on depression and anxiety has received international recognition winning an innovation award from Columbia University and the Rockefeller Foundation. This resource, Talking From the Heart, can be found here - www.talkingfromtheheart.org They are currently exploring what wellbeing means in schools and prisons. Disrupting simplistic narratives is a fundamental part of their work they have featured in The Guardian, BBC, Huffington Post, Al Jazeera, and Buzzfeed, among others. Their exhibitions such as the Book of Travels – www.thebookoftravels.org have travelled to 11 countries and 35 cities. Yousuf Reiner is studying Fine Art and History of Art (BA) at Goldsmiths, University of London. They have been living in Cairo for the past year to improve their Arabic and work on their artistic projects which focus on pedagogy, sexuality, history and language. [image: Princely Couple, 1400–1405, Iran, possibly Tabriz. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York]

For Ramadan we invite you to attend a talk on Mental Health within Islam and Muslim communities. Often there is confusion and misunderstanding, within Muslim communities resulting in stigma surrounding mental illness and those who live with it. We aim to dispel myths surrounding mental illness and platform those who work deals with, directly and indirectly those affected by mental illness within Muslim communities.

We hope to represent a range of perspectives and create a safe space for people to reflect on how mental illness impacts Muslim communities and potentially ways we can go forward to help better understanding and compassion.

After the presentation there will be a Q&A session with the panelists.

The conference will be held during Ramadan, a time of year for contemplation and reflection, as well as a demanding one for those with mental health problems, which makes it an opportune time for this conference. The venue is unfortunately not wheelchair accessible. www.limehousetownhall.co.uk

Nearest stations: 7 min walk from Westferry DLR station. 15 min walk from Canary Wharf (Jubilee and DLR).

Nearest bus stops: 15, 115, 135 and D3 all stop directly at Limehouse Town Hall. 277, D6, D7 stop a 4 minute walk from the venue.

This event is free, however there are limited spaces. Please book in advance.