About me

My academic journey

I completed my undergraduate degree in English Language Teaching at the Faculty of Education at Boğaziçi University, followed by a master’s degree in Women’s Studies at Istanbul University. I earned my doctorate in Educational Sciences at Boğaziçi University and conducted part of my doctoral research at the Institute of Education, University of London.

These studies enabled me to consider human development through the interconnected perspectives of learning, gender, family and social relationships. Women’s invisible labour, motherhood, power relations and people’s ability to have a say in their own lives are central themes in my academic work.

Academic experience in Turkey and Germany

Since 1999, I have held teaching and research roles at Istanbul University, Boğaziçi University, Technische Universität Darmstadt and Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin. I contributed to the establishment of Boğaziçi University’s Centre for Educational Policy Studies (BEPAM) and served as its coordinator.

From 2017 to 2019, I held a position as visiting professor at Technische Universität Darmstadt. I taught courses and led workshops on educational inequality, gender, discrimination, inclusion and adult education. I continue my research and teaching at Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin, where I teach therapeutic and psychological counselling methods, critical social work and inclusion. I also supervise undergraduate and master’s theses.

My academic work explores the conditions that give rise to the difficulties people encounter in their families, at school and in working life. This background informs the way I consider a person’s experiences in our sessions, taking account of the relationships and expectations surrounding them.

Research, writing and community work

My book, Breastfeeding Privatization in Public Education: Classroom Mothers in Neoliberal Times and the Patriarchal Mother-Power in School, examines motherhood, women’s labour and power relations within schools. It was published in 2022 by the international academic publisher Springer. I have written book chapters on education, gender and women’s empowerment, and have worked as an editor and translation editor in the field of critical education.

I was among the founders of the İMECE Women’s Solidarity Cooperative and Association. I developed education and empowerment programmes with women who had migrated and were working under precarious conditions. Through projects supported by the European Union and universities, I have worked on inclusive education, the participation of autistic children in education and the recognition of adults’ learning experiences.

I have also taken on responsibilities in organising international academic events. In 2010, I managed the 14th World Congress of Comparative Education in Istanbul, which brought together approximately 2,000 participants from 110 countries.

This work has given me a close understanding of how profoundly care responsibilities, economic circumstances, migration and social expectations can shape people’s lives.

Experience with organisations and working life

My professional experience extends beyond universities into the business world. I have provided training and consultancy to organisations including Bosch, Rehau, Arkas and the Banks Association of Turkey. I have led projects on internal communication, management skills, employee satisfaction and adult learning, and have worked with managers on communication and management consultancy.

This experience plays an important part in how I understand workplace relationships, difficulties with authority, expectations of success and the tension between a person’s needs and what is expected of them.

My therapeutic training and approach

I undertook my training in systemic therapy at ISTB in Berlin. I am a member of the German Association for Systemic Therapy, Counselling and Family Therapy — Deutsche Gesellschaft für Systemische Therapie, Beratung und Familientherapie (DGSF). I have further developed my professional practice through training in solution-focused brief therapy, transactional analysis and hypnotherapy.

I received my diploma in Jungian Psychology from the C.G. Jung Centre – The All-Ireland Centre for Jungian Studies in Ireland. I work with dreams, symbols and imagery in individual sessions and also teach in these areas. I developed my background in hypnosis through practitioner training in the United States and training in introspective hypnosis. I am also continuing a 2.5-year training programme in family constellations in Berlin.

My sessions are grounded in a systemic approach. Depending on the concerns and needs a person brings, I make space for emotions, bodily experience, dreams and experiences that are difficult to put into words. The questioning perspective of academic research and the attentive listening at the heart of therapy inform and enrich one another in my professional approach.

Today, I work with individuals, couples and families, both in person in Berlin and online. I offer sessions in Turkish and English, and organise group work, training programmes and workshops.