Why focus on the “here and now”?

The here and now is the foundation of Yehia Rakhaw School. It is where emotions emerge, relationships unfold, conflicts surface, creativity appears, and meaning is co-created. It is both a clinical stance and a human position, one that connects inner experience with social and cultural realities.

What do you mean by “legacy”?

Legacy is not something frozen in the past. It is what we carry forward: schools of thought, mentors’ voices, cultural memory, collective trauma, and shared hope. This conference explores how legacies can be honored without becoming rigid, and how they can stay alive through dialogue, creativity, and responsibility.

How does media fit into a conference on mental health, group therapy and group work?

Media shapes how stories are told, silenced, distorted, or amplified.Cinema, storytelling, and digital media influence identity, belonging and collective imagination, and trauma. The conference creates a space to work on the area where media intersects with mental health, group processes, and social responsibility.

Is this a clinical conference, an academic one, or a cultural event?

It is intentionally all three, and also something in between.Alongside theoretical reflections and clinical practice, the conference welcomes experiential learning, artistic expression, and cultural dialogue. Knowledge here is not only presented; it is lived and shared.

Yasmine El Hagry – The Second International Conference On Mental Health and Media

Yasmine El Hagry is the Executive Director of “Sanad” Alternative Parental Care Association. She has played a significant role in shaping national public policies for children and youth deprived of parental care in Egypt.

Yasmine holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from The American University in Cairo and has an extensive career in development work. She played a key role in developing and advocating for the implementation of national quality standards for care within orphanages, which were officially adopted by the Ministry of Social Solidarity in 2014.

She also contributed significantly, in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Solidarity and UNICEF, to the development of the National Alternative Care Strategy and the draft Alternative Care Law. El Hagry ensured that the law was informed by the lived experiences of orphaned youth by directly involving them in reviewing the draft in 2021, as well as in national dialogue sessions with policymakers.

In recognition of her outstanding efforts, she was selected among the Top 100 Sustainability Leaders in the Middle East and North Africa for 2023 and 2024. She was also listed among the most influential Arab figures in corporate social responsibility and sustainability for 2022 by the Regional Network for Social Responsibility.