New grad Youness Robert-Tahiri explores how comedy can help kids cope with trauma

Youness Robert-Tahiri has never taken the conventional path — and it’s exactly that journey that’s shaped him into the advocate he is today.

Graduating this month as a member of U of T’s Woodsworth College with a major in psychology, Robert-Tahiri is determined to support children who have experienced adversity, helping them build resilience and coping skills using a perhaps unexpected tool: improv comedy.

“I grew up in an abusive household and became homeless in high school trying to escape it,” Robert-Tahiri says. “Making people laugh helped me cope with what was happening in my life. Then in my twenties, it all caught up with me — that’s when I committed to therapy and started to really understand how my upbringing affected my mental health.”

This personal growth sparked a passion for psychology. But before returning to school in his thirties, Robert-Tahiri had spent a decade as a comedian and theatre actor.

His entry point was a high school play he auditioned for, with the encouragement of an inspiring teacher, Michelle Vingada, who remains an important mentor in his life today. To his surprise, he landed the lead role and discovered a love for drama that would take him to theatre school in New York City. Performing and teaching improv became his specialty, and he honed his comedy chops back in Toronto at Bad Dog Theatre and The Second City.

Curiosity and creativity are fundamental values to him both as an artist, and now as a burgeoning scientist at U of T.

“U of T has an impressively comprehensive psychology program, and the quality and variety of research opportunities available are unmatched,” says Robert-Tahiri, who will graduate as a Psychology Research Specialist. He was a research assistant in Department of Psychology professor Jessica Sommerville’s Toronto Early Cognition Lab, assistant professor, teaching stream Amanda Sharples’s lab and Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) professor Becky Chen’s Multilingualism and Literacy Lab.

“I started connecting the dots between comedy and psychology, exploring how humour could help kids work through trauma.”

With guidance from Ruth Speidel, assistant professor of developmental psychology and managing director of the Centre for Child Development, Mental Health, and Policy at the University of Toronto Mississauga, Robert-Tahiri designed a comedy-based mental health program for children. It combines psychological themes with improv exercises to help kids who are facing adversity develop confidence and emotional regulation skills.

With the support of the Laidlaw Foundation, he piloted the project last summer with orphaned, abandoned and precariously housed youth at SOS Children's Villages in South Africa.

“In the program, there are psycho-educational components where we discuss concepts like hostile attribution bias and empathy. I’ll ask kids, ‘Why did your character feel that way? What does it remind you of in your own life?’” says Robert-Tahiri. “This is where acting comes in as a tool for reflection and understanding.”

He likens leading scientific research to directing a play — whether it’s working with a standardized method, referencing a script, analyzing data or assessing critic reviews. Creativity is what draws Robert-Tahiri to both comedy and psychology — regardless of a particular project’s outcome.

“Experimentation is what it’s all about, in science and in art — you don’t have to know every little step all the time. What’s important is keeping an open mind and seeing where it leads.”

During his studies, Robert-Tahiri was always looking for more ways to give back to others. He volunteered as a mentor with organizations like the Woodsworth College Students’ Association Mental Health and Equity Committee and the Psychology Students’ Association.

“I want to help students take advantage of the unique experiences that I’ve had during my undergrad,” he says. “One of my most fulfilling experiences was a global mental health Summer Abroad course in Athens, Greece, which opened my eyes to different ways of healing, and scaling up interventions.”

As a mature student, Robert-Tahiri brings a distinct perspective to the group of lifelong friends he’s made U of T, most of whom are in their early twenties. “Some of my friends struggle with balancing what they should do and what they want to do,” he says. “My advice to students who are figuring out their path is to keep that path flexible — and follow your interests.”

It's the same advice that his high school mentor offered him when he needed direction at that crucial turning point in his life — today, she’s proud of all he’s accomplished. “Youness has this innate drive in him to find a way to make other people’s lives better,” Vingada says. “I’m so in awe of the genuine, positive person he’s become.”

After his convocation, Robert-Tahiri is heading back to Cape Town for the summer to continue working with SOS Children’s Villages and mentoring other Laidlaw scholars. He then plans to teach abroad over the next year, with the goal to pursue graduate studies in clinical psychology so he can expand the trauma-informed comedy program he created.

Robert-Tahiri says the lessons he’s learned from improv continue to guide him.

“Improv is about possibility — it teaches you to say, ‘Yes, and …’ — to take risks and get outside your comfort zone. That’s where the real growth happens.”

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