In Her Shoes: In Her Shoes: A Guided Exploration of Trust in Everyday Encounters of Migrant Mothers A Moment to Step in, Reflect, and Understand

Session conveners: Lily Chan, lily@pathsintersect.com, Bouchra Amchou, amchoubouchra@yahoo.fr

Session description

Between languages, expectations, and systems, where does trust begin or quietly break?

We explore how trust and mistrust are felt and formed in the everyday lives of migrant mothers navigating Finnish society. Rather than approaching trust as something abstract, this session stays close to real moments. The small interactions, the misunderstandings, the subtle shifts that either build connection or create distance. As participants in the Mobile Futures co research project with Liselott Sundbäck, we center the voices and experiences of migrant mothers engaging with healthcare, safety systems, and community life.

The session begins with a short introduction from two migrant mothers who participated as co researchers and also co-wrote a policy paper and article (in peer review) about their work and experience. Through personal reflections and shared research, they offer a window into the emotional and practical realities of navigating unfamiliar systems while caring for a child. The core of the workshop is made up of guided, low-pressure scenario-based exercises.

Participants will work in pairs or small groups and be gently invited to step into different perspectives, including that of a migrant mother and someone working within the system, such as a nurse, police officer, or community worker. The intention is not to perform, but to create space to pause, notice, and reflect.
Three everyday situations guide the session:

• A visit to a maternity clinic, where a mother’s way of caring for her baby is questioned,
  leaving her feeling confused and judged
• A moment of seeking help, where a mother reaches out to the police but is not met with
  response, creating fear and uncertainty
• A decision about a child’s participation in an afterschool activity, shaped by trust, doubt,
  and community influence

Participants will have the chance to experience more than one perspective. After each exercise, we reflect together: Where was trust felt or not felt? What created distance? What could have shifted the interaction? What assumptions were present, spoken or unspoken? Language is an important part of the experience. At certain moments, participants will be invited to communicate in a language not shared by everyone. This is a gentle way to surface the
uncertainty and disorientation that can come with navigating systems without full understanding, and to notice how language shapes access, clarity, and trust.

Participants are welcome to use any language they feel comfortable with. If they do not share another language with their partner, they can communicate without words, using gestures or expressions. This allows everyone to take part in a way that still carries the feeling of the experience.

The workshop also includes a visual and sensory layer. Each situation is connected to a symbolic pair of shoes and everyday objects from the mother’s life. We will also guide participants through a short breathing moment to help them settle into the experience. This session contributes to conversations on inclusion, equity, and institutional trust by creating space not only to think about trust, but to feel where it holds and where it breaks. Participants are invited to reflect on their own role within systems, and how trust can be built, supported, or unintentionally eroded in everyday encounters.

This workshop invites participants into a guided, low-pressure experience to explore trust
through lived situations of migrant mothers. No acting or performance is required, only
openness to reflection and perspective-taking.