About Us

About Us
Rakhawy Institute for Training and Research (RITR) is a non-profit organization
Founded by Dr. Mona Rakhawy with the aim of consolidating, following up, and expanding authentic psychotherapy and related therapeutic practices in Egypt and all over the world.
The Institute seeks to adopt three main axes in the field of mental health and psychotherapy:
Training
The Institute provides specialized training and workshops to raise the efficiency of specialists working in the field of mental health. The Institute also holds cultural activities and events for specialists and non-specialists in the field of mental health with the aim of increasing societal awareness of the culture of mental and community health at both the preventive and curative levels.
Scientific Research
Rakhawy Institute for Training and Scientific Research aims to raise the level of research work based on sound scientific and ethical foundations in areas related to the mental health of the individual, institutions and society as a whole. The Institute cooperates with local and international research bodies in this regard.
Work and Societal Development
We seek to build harmonious societies in which young people invest their practical and creative energies. We also owe it to the various institutions and societies which have directed us towards the ways of benefiting from energies and developing skills based on scientific foundations and strategies that consider the deeper concept of group work dynamics and societal development stages.
HISTORY
Our history is related to both mental health and group work
Our story begins in the late sixties from inside the corridors of the Faculty of Psychiatry at Cairo University, when Dr. Yehia Rakhawy began practicing individual and group psychotherapy. Then, in 1973, Rakhawy established the first integrated therapeutic community (milieu therapy) in Egypt and the Arab world, in Dar El Mokattam for Mental Health (Al-Rakhawi Hospital). The journey of supporting the foundations of psychotherapy in Egypt began through its practice and development at Faculty of Medicine (Kasralainy) and the Rakhawy Hospital, and by a group of doctors, workers and trainees under the leadership of Dr. Rakhawy, as it is the first community to support psychotherapy in its broadest sense in Egypt and the Arab world. The members of this community worked individually and collectively, and over the years (decades/… years) to apply and develop different psychological treatment methodologies to suit the Egyptian society.
Rakhawy continued to spread knowledge, skills, and sound moral foundations on his own or through his students. With the passage of time, his theory of psychiatry was formed, on the basis of which he built his school of group and individual psychotherapy, which is what we call “Y. Rakhawy’s School”.
Dr. Yehia Rakhawy - founder of the Rakhawy School
A professor of Psychiatry at Cairo University, and a pioneer of individual and group psychotherapy in Egypt and the Arab world. He founded the Association of Evolutionary Psychiatry and Group Work, and introduced the theory of Biorhythmic Evolutionary Psychiatry to the field of psychiatry and mental health. He also established the methodology of confrontation, accompanying, and responsibility in psychotherapy. For more than 50 years, Dr. Rakhawy has taught and trained thousands in individual and group psychotherapy. He has also published more than 50 books (mostly in Arabic), and more than 8000 articles in Egyptian and Arabic magazines. In 1979, he received the State Incentive Award in literature, and in 2016, he received the title of the Dean of the Arab Psychiatry. Rakhawy was and is still practicing collective therapy on a weekly basis, carrying out his scientific, training and humanitarian mission through it.
Our Extension - Rakhawy School of Psychotherapy
The Rakhawy School has been credited with forming generations of pioneers in the field of individual and group psychotherapy in Egypt and the Arab countries for half a century. Leading entities and institutions concerned with mental and community health have branched out from it, and have followed a variety of methodologies, including but not limited to: the Association of Evolutionary Psychiatry and Group Work – The Four Steps Program of Dr. Refaat Mahfouz – Dayman Ashab Center for Child Psychiatry by Dr. Mai Rakhawi – Diwan Psychotherapy Center – The Egyptian Association for Group Therapies and Processes (EAGT). The Rakhawy Institute for Training and Research was established by Dr. Mona Rakhawy in 2017-2018 to work on consolidating and developing various professional practices in the field of mental and community health, inspired by and based on the foundations of the Rakhawy School and its comprehensiveness.
Founder and Chairman of the Board of Trustees: Dr. Mona Rakhawy
A professor of Psychiatry at Cairo University, the founder and chairman of the Board of Trustees of Rakhawi Institute for Training and Scientific Research (RITR), the founder and president of The Egyptian Association for Group Therapies and Processes (EAGT), the founder of Diwan Psychotherapy Center, the head of the Evolutionary Psychiatry Section of the Arab Federation of Psychiatrists, and a member of the board of directors of the International Association for Group Psychotherapy and Group Processes (IAGP); She also chairs the Consultative Assembly of Organizational Consultancy (CAOA). She has taught group work at the American University in Cairo.
Dr. Mona Rakhawy has worked on establishing and developing many training programs concerned with mental and community health. She also carried out many initiatives in the field of mental health, volunteering, training and supervision of specialists in Egypt and various countries. She has led workshops, delivered keynote speeches and lectures at local and international conferences on mental health and psychotherapy, and has numerous national and international scientific publications in the field of psychiatry, psychotherapy, and community mental health.

Stakeholders
OUR TEAM

Dr. Yehia Rakhawy - founder of the Rakhawi School
A professor of Psychiatry at Cairo University, and a pioneer of individual and group psychotherapy in Egypt and the Arab world. He founded the Association of Evolutionary Psychiatry and Group Work, in 1979, and introduced the theory of Biorhythmic Evolutionary Psychiatry to the field of psychiatry and mental health. He also established the methodology of confrontation, accompanying, and responsibility in psychotherapy.
For more than 50 years, Dr. Rakhawy has taught and trained thousands in individual and group psychotherapy. He has also published more than 50 books (mostly in Arabic), and more than 8000 articles in Egyptian and Arabic magazines. In 1979, he received the State Incentive Award in literature. In 2016, he received the title of the Dean of the Arab Psychiatry. Rakhawy was and is still practicing collective therapy on a weekly basis, carrying out his scientific, training and humanitarian mission through it.
Dr. Mona Rakhawy

Our Vision
Mental Health
We provide training in various fields concerned with raising the efficiency, for both specialists and non-specialists working in the field of mental health, each in their capacity and according to their functional competence and scientific degree.
We also provide cultural activities and events, with the aim of increasing community awareness of the culture of mental health and community health at both the preventive and curative levels.
Community Work
We seek to build harmonious societies in which young people invest their practical and creative energies. We also owe it to the various institutions and societies which have directed us towards the ways of benefiting from energies and developing professional competencies based on scientific foundations and strategies that consider the deeper concept of the individual, the dynamics of group work and the stages of societal development.
Furthermore, we support and open areas for volunteer work in the direction of the renaissance of individuals and institutions.
Scientific Research
Our Mission
Improving the level of mental and community health from the perspective of primary, secondary and tertiary prevention (Fig. 1) at the regional and global levels. This includes building and developing training and applying societies capable of achieving this mission by using various human resources, energies and methodologies in the fields of training, scientific research and volunteering, while taking into account national and international partnerships to work on contributing to the growth of human beings and societies in Egypt and the world.
Standards of our services
Our Values
Integrity
The Rakhawy Institute is an extension of a school that is a symbol of practice committed to humane and professional ethics in Egypt and the Arab world.
The Rakhawy School has adopted these values in both the field of training and scientific research as a basis for building a sound scientific and training community.
Diversity
We are open to all schools, experiences and different visions to ensure diversity is achieved, and to aid and benefit from common experiences and knowledge, which all contribute to the advancement of mental health levels. Therefore, we always welcome various types of cooperation, dialogue and joint events locally, regionally and globally.
Creativity
The cumulative experiences of those belonging to the Rakhawy School give preference in presenting the means and ideas that we have worked to create in the fields of psychotherapy and mental health during the past years. We also have a tremendous cultural and historical heritage.
Our philosophy
We believe in the necessity of respect for science, respect for oneself and respect for others, their differences and their opinions. Therefore, our philosophy is based on the support and dissemination of all visions and practices in the fields of mental health and psychotherapy, as long as they are based on sound scientific foundations. In addition, the philosophy of the Rakhawy Institute adopts the comprehensiveness of systems theory that appreciates the most comprehensive impact of different systems on each other, and it also deals with mental health from its comprehensive perspective, which includes three levels of prevention.
Partners of success
Our Partners















