Photos by Think Studio

The 9th Annual Australian Muslim Mental Health Conference was held at Western Sydney University (Bankstown City Campus) on Thursday 23 and Friday 24 October 2025 hosted by Mission of Hope in partnership with Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA), and supported by sponsors and partners, bringing together mental-health professionals, researchers, community workers, faith-leaders and more to engage with themes of Islamophobia, mental health, and the revival of Islamic psychology.

The two-day event  provided a forum for dialogue, research and collaboration—promoting holistic healing and empowering leaders to support mental health in diverse Muslim contexts across Australia.

The opening session of the conference was addressed by The Hon Jihad Dib, NSW Minister with several portfolios, Australian Psychological Society President Andrew Chua, STARRTS CEO Jorge Aroche, Sahar Tabbouleh from WSU and Mission of Hope Founder Hanan Dover.

Key partners included LMA (as conference partner), Western Sydney University as sponsor, and supporters such as STARTTS (NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors), and International Association of Muslim Psychologists (IAMP).

The Conference Media Partner was the Australasian Muslim Times (AMUST).

Conference overview

Day 1 – Islamophobia, Mental Health, and Collective Healing
The first day focused on the pressing need to understand and respond to the psychological and sociopolitical consequences of Islamophobia. Topics included:

  • The lived experience of Islamophobia and its psychological impacts.

  • Islamophobia in healthcare, law, and community settings.

  • Collective trauma, youth mental health, and refugee experiences.

  • Strategies of sumud (steadfastness), resilience, and faith leadership in the face of Islamophobia.

Day 2 – Islamic Psychology: Re-rooting the Discipline
The second day shifted toward the revival and restoration of Islamic psychology, highlighting its global growth and renewed commitment to re-ground the discipline in its authentic intellectual and spiritual traditions. Topics included:

  • Building Islamic psychology programmes and training the next generation.

  • Applied Islamic psychology in therapy, education and spiritual care.

  • Tazkiya Therapy as a framework for transformation and healing.

  • Integrating Islamic psychology into interventions, with lessons from the Islah Circle Men’s Behaviour Change Program.

  • Psychological guidance in the Qur’an. missionofhope.org.au

Speakers & topics

The conference featured a strong programme of national and international keynote speakers, panelists and presenters. Below are the highlights grouped into key presentations.

Keynote & featured presentations

  • Dr Yassir Morsi (National Keynote) – Topic: Navigating Islamophobia During a Genocide.

  • Associate Professor Dr Habib Bhurawala – Topic: Islamophobia and Discrimination: Experience of Muslim Healthcare Professionals in Australia.

  • Other international keynote speakers included Prof Amber Haque (USA) on The Growth and Challenges of Islamic Psychology and Prof Bagus Riyono (Indonesia) on Tazkiya Therapy: An Islamic Psychology Framework for Healing and Transformation.

Selected panelists & session presenters

  • Sharara Attai – Reported Psychological Impacts of Islamophobia

  • Rita Jabri Markwell – Freedom of Speech and Legal Protection for Mental Health Care Workers

  • Assala Sayara – Decolonial and Islamic Approaches to Palestinian Refugee Mental Health (Haweyate programme in Jordan)

  • Mohamed Dukuly – Group Interventions with Refugee Students from Gaza: Fostering Safety, Trust, Belonging and Emotional Regulation

  • Sondus Sammak – Helping Hands: A Peer-Led Model for Mental Health Support for Muslim Youth

  • Osman Mah – Cracking the Crescent Ceiling: From Hidden Barriers to Full Flourishing for Muslim Professionals

  • Dina Hadjer Shurti – Beyond Symptom Management: Integrating Holistic and Islamically Grounded Approaches in Perinatal Mental Health Care

  • Shaykh Wesam Cherkawi – Building Community Resilience in the Face of Islamophobia

  • Imam Alaa Elzokm OAM – Faith Leaders as First Responders: Navigating Compassion Fatigue

Brief summary of selected presentations

Dr Yassir Morsi – “Navigating Islamophobia During a Genocide”

Dr Morsi’s address opened Day 1 of the conference. He is a political science lecturer and provisional psychologist whose work intersects political theory, racism, Islamophobia and mental-health.

In his talk, he challenged prevailing definitions of Islamophobia and urged examining it not merely as interpersonal prejudice but as embedded within political, ontological and systemic structures.

Drawing on critical race theory, colonial legacies and indigenous dispossession, Dr Morsi stressed that Islamophobia functions as part of a “political architecture” of governance and control, not simply a matter of individual bigotry.

In maintaining a faith-informed, critical lens, Dr Morsi nonetheless offered a message of empowerment: the notion of sumud (steadfastness) and refusing to be defined by victimhood alone.

Associate Professor Dr Habib Bhurawala – “Islamophobia and Discrimination: Experience of Muslim Healthcare Professionals in Australia”

Dr Bhurawala, a consultant senior paediatrician and Associate Professor (linked to the Australian Islamic Medical Association) presented an evidence-based study focused on discrimination and Islamophobia within the Australian health-care sector.

He introduced the concept of the “minority tax” — the additional burden borne by minority professionals who, in addition to their professional role, must take on extra labour to address discrimination or inequity.

His national cross-sectional survey (Sept-Dec 2024) included doctors, nurses, psychologists and others (with 71 % doctors; 91 % identifying as highly religious). Key findings included:

  • The highest discrimination reported among Muslim health professionals was religion-based.

  • Hijab-wearing women reported the most impact.

  • 60 % of participants reported moderate to high psychological distress; higher for women and linked with chronic health conditions.

  • Discrimination emanated both from patients and colleagues/managers; structural elements of discrimination were apparent, not just interpersonal incidents.

  • The lack of exploration of Islamophobia in health-care literature in Australia meant this survey fills a critical gap.

  • Dr Bhurawala used these findings to make a case for systemic change in policy, professional training, institutional culture and support systems — particularly because health-care workers themselves are vulnerable to discrimination and its mental-health consequences.

  • He concluded by stating that this research provides a strong foundation for further study (including around visible faith markers) and for advocacy toward professional equity.

Reflections on key themes & implications

Several overarching themes emerged from the conference:

  1. Intersection of Faith, Identity & Mental Health
    The conference reinforced that mental-health work in Muslim and CALD communities cannot ignore faith, culture or structural context. Whether in perinatal care, youth peer models, refugee interventions or professional settings, the integration of Islamic frameworks, identity awareness and cultural safety was emphasised.

  2. Islamophobia & Structural Trauma
    Day 1’s focus on Islamophobia highlighted that the harms are not only psychological but also social, political and collective. Presentations like Dr Morsi’s urged a shift from individualised “trauma” language to collective, structural understandings. Dr Bhurawala’s data showed the micro-impact in professional settings. Together they painted a compelling picture of the systemic nature of Islamophobia.

  3. Need for Culturally Responsive, Faith-Aligned Practice
    The conference made clear that mainstream mental-health services often fall short in Muslim/CALD contexts — whether through lack of culturally-safe language, secular bias, or neglect of spiritual/faith dimensions. Sessions such as the peer-led youth model, perinatal holistic care, and decolonial refugee interventions illustrated actionable alternatives.

  4. Revival of Islamic Psychology
    Day 2 brought the lens of liberation rather than simply remediation. The revival of Islamic psychology – grounded in tradition, spiritual ethics and holistic models – signals a shift away from importing secular frameworks wholesale. Training the next generation, integrating therapy, education and spiritual care, and employing frameworks like Tazkiya Therapy were all underlined.

  5. Professional & Institutional Accountability
    Papers flagged not just individual practitioner issues but institutional ones: bias in health-care, legal protection for mental-health workers, fatigue among faith-leaders, and the minority tax burden on Muslim professionals. This points to the need for policy change, workforce development and institutional culture reform.

  6. Research & Evidence Base
    The conference emphasised that practice and advocacy must be evidence-informed. Dr Bhurawala’s survey, Sharara Attai’s incident data, and refugee-programme evaluations all show growing data infrastructure in this space — improving the case for funding, policy change and service redesign.

The 9th Annual Australian Muslim Mental Health Conference made a significant contribution to the discourse and practice of mental health within Muslim and CALD contexts in Australia. It succeeded in bringing together a diverse set of voices—academics, clinicians, community-workers, faith-leaders—and bridging the domains of social justice, faith, culture and psychological practice.

The emphasis on the revival of Islamic psychology, the interrogation of professional culture, and the centring of lived experience means the conference is likely to have ripple effects in training, service delivery and advocacy.

For practitioners, educators and community-leaders, the key take-aways include: the importance of structural awareness (not just individual therapy), the integration of faith and culture into mental-health practice, the need for institutional reform for equity, and the encouragement to engage with emerging frameworks in Islamic psychology.