We Are Here Scotland x Mental Health Arts Space Berlin
We Are Here Scotland is delighted to collaborate with Mental Health Arts Space Berlin on two powerful workshops exploring collective healing and wellbeing as part of our Creative Balance initiative.
Creative Balance is a research project centring the wellbeing of racialised communities in Scotland's creative industries.
Mental Health Arts Space (MHAS) is an independent project space in Berlin creating safer spaces of empowerment and mutual support for marginalised and underrepresented artists, curators and creatives, especially those from the Global Majority. www.mhasberlin.com
WORKSHOP 1
How to Gather Warmth?: Healing as a Collective, Embodied Practice
Date: Thursday, 6 November 2025
Time: 5-6:30pm GMT / 6-7:30pm CET
Format: Hybrid (in-person at MHAS Berlin and online via Zoom)
Access: BIPoC and queers to the front
Facilitator: Rositsa Mahdi
Event description: Though solitude is fundamental to our capacity to process and rest, chronic isolation, especially during the dark and cold months in the northern hemisphere, robs us of our capacity for connection, sense of belonging and ability to resist oppressive systems. Taking place amid the textile poems and sound meditations of the exhibition "Letters of Healing" at Mental Health Arts Space Berlin, this workshop invites you to explore healing as a collective, embodied practice. It offers a space for collective rest through gentle, guided movement and somatic exercises. We’ll melt into slowness, listen deeply to the body, sense and soften together, practising presence and letting go of the pressure to perform. Rooted in the knowing that we don’t need to “heal first” to be worthy of belonging, and centring BIPOC and queer experiences, this workshop reimagines rest not as an individual retreat, but as a quiet rehearsal for connection, a practice of attunement through body, sound, and shared presence.
This is a hybrid event. It will be held in English in-person at MHAS Berlin and online on Zoom. Remote participants are warmly welcome to dial in from a comfortable location and attend in a low-threshold, relaxed event setting – i.e. with the option of keeping cameras off and closed captions with automatic translations available.
About the Facilitator:
Rositsa Mahdi is a Bulgarian-Nigerian artist based in Berlin, working with words and movement. With roots in anti-racist and queer-feminist spaces, interpreting, dance and performance, she studies the body as a political site and explores how developing an intimate relationship with it expands our capacity for connection and vision of (collective) liberation.
REGISTER HERE: mhasberlin.com/how-to-gather-warmth
Facilitator : Rositsa Mahdi
Photo by: Sarah Ama Duah
WORKSHOP 2
Facilitator : Tariqua
Facilitator : Loa Pour Mirza
How to Tend Grief?: Collective Grief Tending – A Ritual to Ground in Times of Chaos
Date: Thursday, 27 November 2025
Time: 5-7pm GMT / 6-8pm CET
Format: Online via Zoom
Access: For Black and Global Majority participants
Facilitators: Tariqua and Loa Pour Mirza
Event Description: In this session, facilitators Tariqua and Loa will guide us through a grief tending ritual where we will pause, breathe and honour the personal, inherited and collective grief that we carry. They will be weaving in reflective, somatic and creative practices so we invite you to join this call from a private and comfortable space, and encourage you to wear loose clothing.
What to Bring:
Please bring any creative mediums that you would like to work with such as pens, pastels, crayons, watercolours etc, as well as paper.
About the Facilitators:
Tariqua
I carry the name Tariqua, founder creator of Tariqua Rooted, and I walk the path of a mother, an elder, spiritual guide, teacher, healer, mentor, and so much more. Based in Glasgow, Scotland for over 30 years now, my work extends across the UK, as well as internationally, collaborating with communities all over Europe, USA and across Africa. My life's journey has been one of growth, filled with the experiences of loss, darkness, and challenges, but also with wonder, magic, and transformation. As a mother of holding eight pregnancies and the guardian of five beautiful souls, I bring the nurturing energy of motherhood into my work, helping others reconnect with their inherent wisdom and the healing power of Nature.
Loa Pour Mirza
My name is Loa and my pronouns are she/her. Living in Glasgow, I am part of the Iranian diaspora with a personal history of migration between Europe and West Asia. After an eight-year background in migrant justice organising, I now find myself working as a pluralistic psychotherapist, community researcher and workshop facilitator. My practice is guided by anti-colonial, feminist and intersectional principles, with the intention of supporting consciousness-raising and liberatory processes both individually and collectively.
REGISTER HERE: https://forms.gle/WBo2JBqNJLFxXX2N8
Accessibility Information
Closed captions available
Option to keep cameras off
Low-threshold, relaxed setting
Alternative registration formats available
Personal access requirements: During registration, you'll have the opportunity to share any specific accessibility needs you have. Nothing is too small to mention – we want to ensure these spaces work for you.
We also have alternative versions of the registration form available if needed. If you require assistance filling out the form, or would prefer to apply using videos (including recorded with your phone), audio recordings, or any format which may be accessible to you, please email hello@weareherescotland.com