Supervisors

Dr. Gürmen graduated summa cum laude from Bogazici University with a BA in Psychology in 2010. She obtained her Masters and PhD in in Marriage and Family Therapy from University of Connecticut in 2012 and 2015, respectively. Currently, she is an assistant professor in Psychology department at Ozyegin University, Istanbul, Turkey. She and her colleagues started a master’s program in the field of Marriage and Family Therapy in the same university. She is teaching both undergraduate and graduate classes and supervising MFT trainees. Her research on Marriage and Family Therapy field focuses mostly on issues around co-parenting, divorce, and high-conflict therapy. In light of the findings from her research, Dr. Gürmen also develops various therapy modalities and parent education programs that target decreased conflict and increased cooperation among high-conflict co-parents. In addition to divorce and co-parenting, she is interested in technology and relationships. She conducts studies on the effects of social media and smartphones on romantic relationships as well as parent-child relationships in the digital age. She develops intervention strategies and workshops on these issues. Dr. Gürmen conducts therapy with individuals, couples, and families. She is an expert on couple communication issues, LGBTQI+ couples, divorced families, co-parenting, sexual problems, infidelity and trust issues, and remarried families. She is also working with expats and immigrants on their adjustment-related issues. In addition to her clinical experiences, she is an AAMFT approved supervisor and providing individual and group supervision for clinicians.

Dr. Saydam received her BA in psychology from Koç University in 2005. She completed her masters at Columbia University in psychological counseling. After completing post graduate training in family therapy (Ackerman Institute, NY), she completed her PhD in couple and family therapy at Drexel University and was the recipient of Ivan Boszomenyi-Nagy Social Justice Award. Her doctoral dissertation was on couples’ experiences when raising their children born with cleft lip and/or palate. Dr. Saydam's research focuses on couples and families coping with illness, emotionally focused couple therapy, medical family therapy applications and experiences of coping with trauma. Dr. Saydam became the first and only The International Center of Excellence in Emotionally-Focused Couple Therapy (ICEEFT) approved Emotionally-Focused Couple Therapy supervisor of Turkey and became the trainer of the “Aponte Training Institute Person of the Therapist” model. In addition to all of these, she is an AAMFT approved supervisor and providing individual and group supervision for clinicians.

Dr. Yumbul graduated from Koç University, Department of Psychology. She received her MA in Couple and Family Therapy from Northwestern University and her PhD in the same field from the University of Minnesota. In this process, she examined the effects of social traumas on family relations, and worked on trauma and family-oriented psychotherapy with substance abuse and disadvantaged groups in various clinics. In 2014, she worked as the project coordinator of the "Afetlerde Psikososyal Hizmetler Birliği" (APHB), which was constituted to provide on-site psychosocial support to families affected by the Soma mine massacre. She takes part in the studies carried out in the Trauma, Disaster and Crisis Intervention Unit of the Turkish Psychological Association (TPD) and takes part in the psychosocial support teams formed to intervene in social traumas. Dr. Yumbul continues her psychotherapy studies at the Bude Psychotherapy Center. She works especially with individual and social traumas, post-traumatic stress disorder and complex trauma, depression, anxiety disorders and couple-family problems.

Dr. Erdem completed her B.A. in the Department of Psychology at Bogazici University in 2006 and Ph.D. in the Department of Human Development and Family Science at The Ohio State University with a specialization in Couple and Family Therapy in 2014. Her clinical training and experience focused on relationship conflict, infidelity, pre-marital counseling as well as families struggling with substance abuse and adolescent problem behaviors. Dr. Erdem conducts research on at-risk youth and their families in collaboration with the UNICEF, Turkish Ministry of Justice, and Turkish Ministry of Family and Social Policy. She is also a consultant at the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime Family Therapy Expert Group advising on applications of family therapy in adolescent substance abuse treatment in low and middle income countries. Her theory of change for therapy and supervision integrates Boszormenyi-Nagy’s Contextual Family Therapy Theory and Kagitcibasi Family Change Theory.

Özdemir received her B.A. in Pedagogy from Istanbul University in 1977 and M.A. in Guidance and Psychological Counseling from Boğaziçi University in 1985. She completed the Certificate Program in Group Counseling from “La Joya Institute” and completed the Certificate Program in Pyschological Crisis and Intervention Techniques and Couple and Family Therapy from “Community Stress Prevention Center” and “Nord International Trauma Consultancy”. She continues Couple and Family Therapy Supervisor Training. Between 2000 and 2014, she started a family therapy training program for psychologists and psychological counselors in cooperation with family therapy specialists from abroad, and after 2014 she continued to organize and provide training for MEB BAKIŞ Family and Couple Counseling certificate program. She is a part-time lecturer at Boğaziçi University and is the co-founder of BAKIŞ Eğitim ve Psikolojik Danışma Merkezi. She is currently a trainer, psychological counselor and family and couple therapist. Also, she is co-founder of Couple and Family Therapies Association (ÇATED).

Erenel is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist from California, USA, AAMFT (American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy) accredited supervisor, founder and educator of the Satir Institute of Human Development and Family Therapy. She is also the president of YÖRET Foundation, past board member of IFTA (International Family Therapy Association), co-founder and board member of Couple and Family Therapies Association (ÇATED). She completed her M.A. in Bogazici University in Psychological Counseling. After that, she received her second M.A. in Family, Marriage and Children Therapy and School Counseling from California State University Hayward. She completed her graduate theses on "Reliability and Validity Study of the Turkish Family Environment Scale" and "School Related Services and California's 'Healthy Start' Project". In 2011 she received “ Satir Model Satir Transformational Systemic Family Therapy Leadership Award” which was awarded to 14 people around the world and in 2013 “Unsung Hero Award” due to the training program she developed and being a pioneer of Satir Model in Turkey, by SIP. She works for the recognition of couple and family therapy in Turkey, the establishment of educational standards and couple and family therapist competencies, the prevention of violence against children in the world, and the creation of peaceful school and family environments for social peace.