Conference Workshops

Workshop List

Saturday

  • Workshop 1 –  Reflection on keynote talk: Beneath the Armour: Pressure, Identity and Release – Anne-The Therapist
  • Workshop 2 – Reflection on keynote talk: Rainbow Warriors: A Journey Through Pride, Shame, and Queer Becoming – Dr Manrutt Wongkaew
  • Workshop 3 – Fathers (and other significant male figures influencing you / your existence) and Daughters (and those persons otherwise not male identifying) – Carmen Joanne Ablack
  • Workshop 4 – Living Your True Self — Is This Possible or Even Desirable? – Mehboob Dada
  • Workshop 5 – Masculinity – Journey from Afrika via Caribbean to UK, Father, self and son – Noel Brown
  • Workshop 6 – Masculinity on Trial – Roy Akins
  • Workshop 7 – Men’s Gathering space – hosted by members of the monthly BAATN Men’s Gathering

Sunday

  • Workshop 1 –  Reflection on keynote talk: From Silence to Sovereignty: Emotional Liberation for Men from the Global Majority – Param Singh Sahni
  • Workshop 2 – Reflection on keynote talk: The Missing Black Father – Dr Stuart Stevenson
  • Workshop 3 – Fathers (and other significant male figures influencing you / your existence) and Daughters (and those persons otherwise not male identifying) – Carmen Joanne Ablack
  • Workshop 4 – Masculinity – Journey from Afrika via Caribbean to UK, Father, self and son – Noel Brown
  • Workshop 5 – Masculinity on Trial – Roy Akins
  • Workshop 6 – Meaning-Making Masculinities: the stories we hold in the body – Kirath Ghataora

Workshop Descriptions Saturday

Reflection on keynote talk – Beneath the Armour: Pressure, Identity and Release

Anne-The Therapist

Reflection on keynote talk – Rainbow Warriors: A Journey Through Pride, Shame, and Queer Becoming

Dr Manrutt Wongkaew

 

 

Workshop 3Fathers (and other significant male figures influencing you / your existence) and Daughters (and those persons otherwise not male identifying)

Carmen Joanne Ablack

Workshop outline

An experiential-phenomenological (experiencing in the moment) enquiry into how am I affected NOW by who influenced me then?

What did I gain, what do I want to reclaim? We will pay attention to what we can sense in ourselves, identify and share how this resonates with others in the room. In this process, we will use functional subgroups and witnessing of these to help us unpack what can be discovered together. This is a workshop that may take you to deep places of exploration. Please be prepared to support yourself and also each other as we explore together.

The group is not for those who identify as men, it is meant for those who identify as women, those who identify as non-binary, those who are trans female and those persons otherwise not male identifying…

Image of Mickey Peake

Workshop 4 – Living Your True Self — Is This Possible or Even Desirable?

Mehboob Dada

Workshop Outline

From birth, I was assigned a gender — one that became deeply embedded long before I could speak. Growing up, I absorbed a cultural framework of beliefs, behaviours and expectations about what it means to be a man. Over time, I have recognised moments of incongruence and shortcomings in understanding women’s roles, and I continue to work towards a more balanced awareness of this. The BAATN 2026 Conference, Modern Masculinity in All Its Colours, comes at a timely moment.
Building on my BAATN 2023 workshop, Who Do You Think You Really Are?, I invite participants to join me in reflecting on questions such as:
  • Are we willing to explore our transculturally inherited or culturally universal gendered identities, and what connects us?
  • Can we name what is often unspoken — the aspects that disconnect us — as we consider our gendered selves?
  • Do we genuinely accept our gender identities, or are we performing who we think we should be?
  • Are we ready to engage in dialogue that nurtures introspection, empathy and mutual understanding?
Identifying our gendered selves and the ways we relate to others offers a powerful opportunity for self-awareness and connection. Group work provides a space where participants can discover they are not alone — that hearing others’ experiences can be both validating and healing.
Over this 90-minute session, participants will reflect in small groups on a series of questions about self-perception and gender identity. We will then come together as a larger group to share insights and explore resonances within a supportive, reflective environment.
As facilitator, my role will be to hold the group safely, encourage open sharing, and help transform individual reflections into collective understanding. This workshop invites BAATN members to examine how we present and perceive ourselves as gendered individuals, and to begin a deeper exploration of the differences and commonalities that shape who we are.

 

Workshop 5 – Masculinity – Journey from Afrika via Caribbean to UK, Father, self and son

Noel Brown

Workshop Outline

This workshop offers space to reflect on and explore the dynamics of masculinity through both personal and culturally shared stories. There will be a short presentation followed by small-group / couple sharing and exploration. The session will be interactive and informative, and may also feel healing, leaving you with answers or perhaps new questions.

Please bring your curiosity, your lived experience and your various skills.

Workshop 6 – Masculinity on Trial

Roy Akins

Workshop Outline

Noel is an experienced counselling therapist with a humanistic and integrative background, trained with organisations including Re‑Vision and Tavistock Relationships. He works as a couples therapist and supervisor and has over twenty years’ experience in the NHS and statutory secondary education as both a counsellor and a learning mentor/group worker.

Noel has previously worked as a youth worker, early years play worker, and community development worker in the charity sector. He is strongly committed to working with young people and people of colour/Afrikan and the struggle and joy of becoming.

men's gathering

Workshop 7 – Men’s Gathering space

hosted by members of the monthly BAATN Men’s Gathering

Workshop Outline

An opportunity to sit with other men to reflect on the conference theme and experience the power of the men’s gathering space. 

Workshop Descriptions Sunday

Reflection on keynote talk – From Silence to Sovereignty: Emotional Liberation for Men from the Global Majority

Param Singh Sahni

 

 

Reflection on keynote talk – The Missing Black Father

Dr Stuart Stevenson

 

Workshop 3Fathers (and other significant male figures influencing you / your existence) and Daughters (and those persons otherwise not male identifying)

Carmen Joanne Ablack

Workshop outline

An experiential-phenomenological (experiencing in the moment) enquiry into how am I affected NOW by who influenced me then?

What did I gain, what do I want to reclaim? We will pay attention to what we can sense in ourselves, identify and share how this resonates with others in the room. In this process, we will use functional subgroups and witnessing of these to help us unpack what can be discovered together. This is a workshop that may take you to deep places of exploration. Please be prepared to support yourself and also each other as we explore together.

The group is not for those who identify as men, it is meant for those who identify as women, those who identify as non-binary, those who are trans female and those persons otherwise not male identifying…

Image of Mickey Peake

Workshop 4 – Masculinity – Journey from Afrika via Caribbean to UK, Father, self and son

Noel Brown

Workshop Outline

This workshop offers space to reflect on and explore the dynamics of masculinity through both personal and culturally shared stories. There will be a short presentation followed by small-group / couple sharing and exploration. The session will be interactive and informative, and may also feel healing, leaving you with answers or perhaps new questions.

Please bring your curiosity, your lived experience and your various skills.

Workshop 5 – Masculinity on Trial

Roy Akins

Workshop Outline

Noel is an experienced counselling therapist with a humanistic and integrative background, trained with organisations including Re‑Vision and Tavistock Relationships. He works as a couples therapist and supervisor and has over twenty years’ experience in the NHS and statutory secondary education as both a counsellor and a learning mentor/group worker.

Noel has previously worked as a youth worker, early years play worker, and community development worker in the charity sector. He is strongly committed to working with young people and people of colour/Afrikan and the struggle and joy of becoming.

Workshop 6 – Meaning-Making Masculinities: the stories we hold in the body

Kirath Ghataora

Workshop Outline

An inclusive creative space to playfully explore our embodied masculinity through imagery, movement, senses and sensuality, spirit and storytelling.

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