About Youness Robert-Tahiri
Hello! I recently graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Science in Psychology Research from the University of Toronto. I’m passionate about youth mental health and how humour can be used to support resilience after adversity.
My Summer 1 research project explored the relationship between childhood adversity, aggression, and self-regulation — deepening my understanding of the psychological impacts of early trauma.
In Summer 2, I led a Leadership-in-Action project at SOS Children’s Villages in Cape Town, where I designed and facilitated a comedy-based mental health program for teens.
That experience led me to found HaHaHelps — an organization that uses improv comedy to support youth mental health through accessible, community-led workshops. I'm currently piloting the full program in South Africa, with plans to expand to more communities globally.
Please feel free to connect :)
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/younessrobert-tahiri
Email: youness@hahahelps.org
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LiA Project Outline: A Comedy-Based Psychosocial Intervention for Teenagers Experiencing Adversity
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Recent Comments
Beautifully written, Vivian - I'm a huge SOS fan, so it's great to see another scholar serving those communities :)
Such an important project, Aliyah. I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to 1) witness what you did, and 2) process it enough to write about it here. I hope you're taking care of yourself, and that you realize how brave you were to engage with this type of work.
Thank you for being part of the project, Asaph! You were fantastic, and the kids absolutely loved you. Your program shed light on an urgent need in the centre (i.e., computer literacy) that may have been overlooked without your observations. Thank you for everything that you did for the kids at SOS.
Ahahaha this was a 10/10 read, Felicia :) It was also a nice trip down memory lane. Thanks for being so adaptable in that first week! Little did you know then, your first week set the stage for all the kids asking me everyday "IS IT READING WITH FELICIA TODAY?". They absolutely loved your programme.
You crushed it, Helen!!! Thanks for making such a positive impact with your programming, and for going above and beyond with all of these additional, impromptu programmes you developed on-the-fly. The kids here were lucky to have you :)
As always, incredibly inspirational, Trisha! So proud of you—and presenting in Swahili is just phenomenal. I love how you’ve closed the loop with communities and how you describe Laidlaw shaping your trajectory. I can definitely relate to that :)
Hi Youness, this looks amazing! I have emailed you regarding arranging a meeting to discuss this further - looking forward to hearing more about it!
Thanks, Helen! Just sent you an email—looking forward to chatting! :)
This sounds like a fantastic initiative! I’ve just sent you an email and look forward to the opportunity to connect and discuss it further. :)
Thanks, Amanda! I just replied to your email—looking forward to our conversation! :)