BAATN Online Conference 2025 Workshops
Belonging: An Act of Visibility and Revolution
Saturday
You will be invited to choose your workshop when you purchase your ticket
- Workshop 1 – Yvonne John: Reflection on Keynote Talk
- Workshop 2 – Wanderley Santos: Reflection on Keynote Talk
- Workshop 3 – Misgana Berhane: Reflection on Keynote Talk
- Workshop 4 – Poppy Banerjee: Growing up between two cultures: A sense of belonging
- Workshop 5 – Dr. Manrutt Wongkaew – The Art of Being the Odd One Out: Reimagining Visibility, Authenticity, and Compassion in Marginalised Spaces.
- Workshop 6 – Open Discussion Space – Ian Thompson and Mickey Peake
Workshop 1 – Yvonne John: Reflection on Keynote Talk
Yvonne John is an author, activist, and public speaker, as well as a facilitator of the Sacred Woman Retreat and an ambassador for World Childless Week.
Workshop 2 – Wanderley Santos: Reflection on Keynote Talk
Wanderley Santos is a Brazilian intercultural psychodynamic psychotherapist and clinical supervisor. He specialises in working with children and young people.
Workshop 3 – Misgana Berhane: Reflection on Keynote Talk
Misgana Berhane is a therapist who supports individuals through trauma, anxiety, depression, grief, and racial identity through mindfulness, EMDR, and body-mind approaches.
Workshop 4 – Growing up between cultures: A sense of belonging
Workshop Outline
This workshop will offer a space for sharing narratives and exploring cultural meanings and interpretations. Participants will be encouraged to bring meaningful stories that may have contributed to who they have become. The aim is to create a safe space for collective reflection to find meaning in our experiences, how we might deal with challenges, and recognise the value of growing up in multicultural environments to foster a sense of belonging.
Poppy Banerjee has been practising as a Counsellor/Psychotherapist since 1994 and has been instrumental in setting up and developing counselling services for Asian Women and the national forum for Asian Counsellors.
Workshop 5 – The Art of Being the Odd One Out: Reimagining Visibility, Authenticity, and Compassion in Marginalised Spaces
Workshop Outline
Growing up in marginalised spaces can be painful and deeply isolating. To cope, many of us learn to deny our identities, numb our emotions, or reshape ourselves to fit in. Yet, being part of the pack can also come at a cost: conformity and co-dependency that compel us to silence who we truly are and neglect what we deeply need.
If you have ever felt like the odd one out, you are warmly invited to join us. Through integrative art
psychotherapeutic methods, we will explore image-making, creative writing, and storytelling to give voice to the parts of ourselves that feel silenced, scared or unseen, and meet them with compassion and care. While we may not be able to erase the pain or offer easy answers in 75 minutes, we can begin to reimagine what it means to take up space and be seen for who we truly are – a return to self-belonging and authenticity. As the saying goes, “When you are born into a world where you don’t fit in; it’s because you were born to help create a new one”.
Please bring an object that represents you, along with basic art materials (such as pens, pencils, markers, paints, scissors, paper, glue sticks and old newspapers or magazines for collage). No prior art experience is required, and all are welcome.
Dr. Manrutt Wongkaew is a Senior Lecturer at the University of the Arts London
Workshop 6 – Open Discussion Space
Workshop Outline
This open workshop is a space where you can come as you are and reflect on issues relevant to who attends the group.