Areas of expertise
Individual Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy
Individual psychotherapy sessions are structured through a psychoanalytic framework and psychoanalytic theory. Under the guidance of the therapist, the person's dreams, associations and experienced events are discussed together with the person's developmental history. In this way, emotions, issues and conflicts that lie beyond the current difficulties can be understood. The main goals of therapy are discovering unconscious thoughts and feelings, understanding aspects of the relationship between therapist and patient that may be related to underlying emotional conflicts, interpreting defensive processes that hinder emotional awareness, and providing insight to individuals by evaluating issues related to self-esteem.
Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy with Children and Adolescents
The first phase of psychoanalytic psychotherapy consists of evaluation sessions. The aim of the evaluation sessions is to understand the inner world of the family, the child or the adolescent and the reasons for the problems experienced. As a result of the evaluation sessions, the family is informed whether the child or adolescent needs therapy and to what extent. If a psychoanalytic study is decided; child and adolescents are seen regularly and their behavioral problems, emotional difficulties and psychosomatic problems are processed, and the family is also met at least once a month. For children, play is the main tool, while for adolescents, therapy continues face-to-face. The children express their inner world through play and reflect on the conflicts and difficulties they experience. The therapist also accompanies them and helps them to overcome difficult situations through play.
Psychotherapy with Babies and Their Caregivers
After a baby is born, it goes through a very important process of change with its parents. While caregivers try to meet the baby's needs as best they can, they want to accompany their baby's independence. During this period, some babies have difficulty sleeping, feeding and expressing their emotions. In parent-infant psychotherapy, questions and concerns are raised and addressed by focusing on the interaction between parent and infant. This interaction remains largely nonverbal. The parent-infant therapist helps to capture and verbalize the nuances of the relationship so that the baby and parent can develop or continue to develop a healthy attachment. The therapist helps the parent observe and address what works to reach the baby.
About
Accreditation and Professional Trainings
She completed her master's degree with honors at the Department of Applied Developmental Psychology at Özyeğin University. Her thesis was titled "Links between Executive Functions and School Readiness". During her master's studies, she worked as a research assistant at Özyeğin University Department of Psychology. She taught as a teaching assistant in developmental psychology and statistics courses and supported research analysis in various projects. After specializing in developmental psychology, she continued her counseling and therapy services with children and adolescents with developmental delays or autism spectrum. She completed her second master's degree at Istanbul Bilgi University Clinical Psychology Master's Program in the Child and Adolescent branch. She completed her thesis entitled "A Qualitative Analysis of Immigrant Fathers' Experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic" at Istanbul Bilgi University with honors.
Education
At Bilgi University Psychological Counseling Center, she conducted play therapy, individual psychotherapy and test evaluation sessions under psychoanalytic supervision for two years. In recent years, she has been working with a psychoanalytic orientation. In this context, she completed the Introduction to Psychoanalysis Seminars and Case Studies training of the Istanbul Psychoanalysis Education Research and Development Association. After completing the 1st module of Istanbul Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Association Psychotherapy Training, she continues her two-year training in Baby Observation with Sheila Yahya Levi. She continues her training on Evaluation of the Psychological Functioning of the Child with Rorschach and CAT tests of the Rorschach and Projective Tests Association. She worked as a therapist in the project led by Sibel Halfon to study the effectiveness of Mentalization-Based Therapy for Children (MBT-C). As part of the project, she completed the Anna Freud Center's MBT-C training and was awarded the title of Practitioner. She has completed Module 1 of Regulation-Focused Psychotherapy for Children (RFP-C).
Conference Presentations
Çelik H., Tuğberk C. & Bolak-Boratav H. (2022) Understanding Differenting Experiences of Immigrant Fathers And Mothers Having A Newborn During Covid-19: Findings From Qualitative Research International Study for the Study of Behavioral Development, July 19-23Rhodes, Greece
Steel H. & Tahiroğlu D. (2016) Relation Between School Readiness and Executive Functioning Paper presented at Budapest CEU Conference on Cognitive Development January 7-10,2016 inBudapest, Hungary.
Irak, M., Çapan D., Çelik H., Erçelik, P., & Oğuz Z. (2011) Memory bias in Sub-clinical Obsessive-compulsive Checkers and Washers, Paper presented The 12th European Congress of Psychology, 4-08 July,Istanbul Turkey
