The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

From Prince Harry and Selena Gomez speaking publicly and candidly about their own mental health problems, to several local initiatives targeting mental health, with every day that goes by it seems that the taboo around mental health is slowly decreasing.

With all that being said, we are here to tell you about Empower Magazine; the first Middle Eastern magazine dedicated to the topic of mental health & wellness. The magazine is based on scientific data and interviews with famous people from around the region, on the subject of mental well-being.

Ally Salama, the Egyptian non-profit magazine’s founder and CEO, said that Empower Magazine had always been a dream of his, and that he personally was diagnosed with clinical depression back in 2017. Salama promised himself that, after overcoming his depression, he would allocate all his efforts towards helping Arabs facing similar issues.

Salama wants to spread the comfort that comes with knowing that one is not alone when combating any sort of mental health issues. Salama is additionally the founder of BreakTheSilence (a movement dedicated to ending the stigma and raising awareness of mental health issues facing youth in Egypt). Empower Magazine targets teenagers and adults, and also has a section devoted to parenting; indeed, any decent psychologist will tell you that childhood traumas and poor parenting correlate with larger adulthood mental health issues like depression and anxiety. The magazine also provides a forum for people who are willing to share their own stories and experiences with mental health.

Their mission is to build a platform that serves as an ecosystem for Mental Health for the Middle East, and that makes the sun shine brighter on the darkest of days.