What started out as a graduation project by MSA students now became a platform designed to help people overcome trauma, Dawi’s goal is to raise public awareness about mental health and the benefits of art therapy.
They are now taking their project to the next level so we spoke with Mohamed Sobhy one of the creators of Dawi to tell us more about this project and what future plans he has for it.
By Mariam Elhamy
Tell us a bit about Dawi and your team, what’s the story behind the concept?
Starting off with the team, we’re four advertising and PR seniors at MSA University, Nour Barki, Salma Ayman, Mohammed Sobhy, and Karim Tarek. For our graduation project, we wanted to do something impactful that will leave something behind in our society and change something in people, for the better.
Therefore, we came up with “Dawi”, a social awareness campaign aiming to raise awareness on trauma, encourage people to start healing, and introduce expressive arts therapy, like art, dance, drama, and music therapy, as a method of healing.
We’ve seen how rampant trauma is. We’ve seen the kind of effect trauma has on everyone it gets a hold of, how it changes the course of their life, how it manifests its effects in their day-to-day life, and therefore we think it’s of utmost importance to tackle this issue, especially since people aren’t well-informed on this crucial issue.
Adding onto this, we didn’t want to open people’s eyes to the severity and brutality of trauma, its effects, and causes without also proposing a new solution to it. We wanted to give them hope that they have it within them to heal from their traumas through methods they might’ve not heard of before.
This is why “Dawi” also aims to encourage people to start their healing process and tackle the negative stigma surrounding it. We’ve personally been exposed to hurtful remarks when asking for help. We’ve been belittled. We’ve been told that we’re not close to God. We’ve been told that others have it worse. We’ve been told stuff we should’ve never heard because of this stigma. So, we wanted to change the narrative surrounding trauma and the healing process, and bring about people who are comfortable enough to ask for help and heal.
Lastly, “Dawi” is working on introducing unconventional methods of therapy that will help people heal, like art therapy, drama therapy, aromatherapy, dance therapy, wilderness therapy, etc. We understand that talk therapy isn’t within everyone’s reach. Words can sometimes fail people; however, these types of therapy can help people heal without having to talk.
How has the knowledge about mental health changed over the past few years?
Surprisingly, we believe people’s knowledge about mental health has significantly increased over the past few years. Especially with the younger generations. People are starting to realize how important it is.
In the past 5- 10 years, social media has played a crucial part in raising awareness about various topics that were neglected by former generations in our society. We’ve seen celebrities openly discussing their own struggles with mental illness. We’ve seen a rise of conversations on social media about mental health, through posts, stories, tweets, vlogs, and a lot more. This has all helped in reducing the stigma surrounding mental health; however, the stigma remains and we still need to work on it.
Sadly, social media isn’t the most accurate source of information, which is why we think the launch of “Dawi” couldn’t come at a greater time to factually educate the people regarding a very pervasive mental health issue, trauma.
Where does the awareness for mental health stand in Egypt today? Do you believe there are enough outlets now for such an important topic?
In comparison to where mental health stood in the past, it is for sure standing at a considerably better and brighter place now. The proof can be seen through the innovative focus of the media as TV series, movies, and talk shows have started lately to tackle mental health issues such as ADHD as well as the effects of sexual harassment.
People, in Egypt, nowadays are getting more interested in being correctly informed and educated about the significance of being mentally, emotionally, and psychologically stable because every single one of us has been suffering from something traumatic that we have been silent about for too long. 
However, research in Egypt regarding trauma and mental health related topics is quite insufficient as we, as a team, did not find enough information about the statistics and percentages of the Egyptian population who suffer from any mental or psychological issue.
Therefore, more campaigns like ours should be executed, in Egypt, to shed light on mental health and encourage organizations and governmental research facilities to devote more efforts in mental health research to provide the required knowledge.
If we are talking here about media outlets, it’s a yes because we hugely believe that there are enough nowadays which could support and aid in disseminating such an important topic. As for therapeutic outlets, it’s also a yes because those outlets are growing more and more in Egypt. However, the only problem is that people are not aware of their existence.
Why do you believe associating art with therapy helps people?
Humans express differently, from one culture to another, we just want to let people understand that different forms of therapy and expression exist.
Usually, talking out our problems is the most common and famous way of therapy. However, Dawi believes that art expression is something that is within every human, they just need to know how to make it tangible. We totally understand that therapy is a very heavy subject, we want to dilute its gravity and heaviness by adding art into it.
Our brains react to art; it influences our emotions, thoughts, and well-being. Art is derived from the unconscious brain, which allows people to realize specific perspectives about themselves that they weren’t able to process or understand before.
Through creating art as therapy, one is able to look at their thoughts and emotions. To hold them in their hands. To have tangible material that they can work with and heal with.
Based on your experience, how would you advise people who have lived traumatic experiences to deal with trauma?
First of all, accepting and acknowledging their trauma is the key to solving the problems they are encountering. Moreover, people heal differently, some people deal with their traumas, some people neglect.
Yet, most importantly we need to understand that trauma doesn’t simply end, we just learn how to cope and deal with it in the correct form. It is crucial to acknowledge that certain traumas can stick with us forever. Yet, we can always learn how to cope and deal. 
How do you help people at Dawi? Tell us about your different activities
Dawi offers a platform for people who want to express their traumas, learn more about themselves and raise awareness regarding expressive arts. Some people usually have a problem with talk therapy, we need to understand that people express their emotions and feeling differently.
Finally, Dawi wants to end the stigma of seeking professional help from psychiatrists and therapists as well. Our campaign introduces art therapists to a greater number of people, who might seek their expression in arts and its various forms.
What changes do you see/notice in people who undergo art therapy?
We’ve noticed a pattern of hesitation and lack of understanding towards art therapy. Before seeking art therapy, people are usually afraid to try something they are still not sure of its outcome. It is always beneficial to make people go out of their comfort zones if they want to seek professional help.
We understand how hard it is to leave the bubble that people created after their traumas. Sooner or later this bubble will get tighter and more toxic, to the point where it will kill the person inside of it. We usually see certain changes in people who seek art therapy, such as having a new form of self-expression, more self understanding, more self-validation and most importantly we see a gradual decrease of their stress symptoms.
What are the outcomes that people should expect if they are thinking of joining?
We usually tell people to expect that they will discover a new segment of their character, a part that knows how to self-express, is more aware and knows how to deal and handle their traumas.
When expressive arts are introduced into someone’s life, it can add a lot of tools that help them express their fears, hopes, achievements and most importantly a better form of their selves.
When would you advise someone to seek professional therapy?
When someone starts to notice a repetitive harmful pattern that is starting to grow and take over them. Such as, losing interest in activities, losing connection with people, losing connection with themselves and most importantly if they start noticing that they can’t let go of certain negative memories. We need to emphasize that it’s never too late to take a step towards seeking a professional aiding hand.
