Wellness and Hope Without Religion Conference

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The conference will be moderated by Alavari Jeevathol (AJ). Alavari Jeevathol (AJ)is a volunteer activist and community organiser particularly focusing on current affairs, philosophy, and interfaith dialogue. He represents Young Humanists as the London Ambassador, and serves on the committees of Central London Humanists, West London Humanists and Secularists, South West London Humanists, Hounslow Friends of Faith, and Refugees Welcome Hounslow.

The first session of the conference will have former believers discussing their individual experiences of whether religion played a part in gaining and maintaining wellness / well-being before de-conversion. The session will also discuss maintaining personal wellness after leaving religion.

The second session is led by two academic researchers who will discuss their research in finding out the effects of leaving religion on well-being and mental health.

The third session is about what it is to be a minority within minority, within minority. It is about the wellness of black and ethnic minorities LGBT within religion and without - led by Ste Richardson.

Ste Richardson is an ex-Jehovah's Witness living in London. He follows a long line of devout Jehovah’s, his father and grandfather were elders, as was his great grandfather who introduced the faith to Jamaica in the late nineteenth century. After leaving the religion in 2007, Ste was shunned and disowned by his family. For a time he was homeless. Today, Ste is a committee member of Faith to Faithless and hosts regular museum tours and apostate meet-ups in central London. He is also an organiser of XJWFriends, a group which supports ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Ste will be joined by Jimmy Bangash a Gay Ex-Muslim Human Rights Activist living in the UK; Spokesperson for the Council of ExMuslims of Britain; Committee Member of Faith to Faithless and he is the resident Life Coach at Free Heart Free Minds where he provides one to one coaching and mental health support to ExMuslim in Muslim Majority Countries.

The last session is about well-being and hope as a Humanist - led by
Hari Parekh who is an apostate of Hinduism and collaborates with the Humanists UK. His MSc research focused on ‘apostates’ and their experiences of social exclusion and abuse. Hari is an Assistant Psychologist at Elysium Healthcare. He is a Voluntary Manager of FaithtoFaithless. Students, Kingdom President of Humanist Students.

This is a free event but donations are welcome. Thank you.