I am a psychologist born in 1994. I graduated from the Middle East Technical University (METU) department of psychology in 2018. I chose to pursue a career in psychology because I have always been interested in developmental psychology; which is child and adolescent psychology. More specifically, I have always had an interest in working with children on the autism spectrum. The idea of providing them and their families with help makes me feel useful and emotionally satisfied.
My first encounter in the psychology field was as a child during the divorce of my parents, who believed that I could benefit from therapy after being negatively influenced by their divorce. Although it was a traumatic event, it still struck a curiosity in my mind about psychology many years after, especially about the factors that affect children’s developmental stages and psychological well-being.
During my undergraduate study, the courses I have taken contained different theoretical and therapeutic approaches which motivated me to evaluate my personal knowledge about children’s psychopathology. During these courses, I have obtained a substantial amount of experience in literature review, data collection, and analysis. As an intern during my undergraduate period, I was responsible for observing children’s and adolescents’ behaviors, developmental stages, and mental status. Moreover, I was an active member of a voluntary community in METU where we spent time with children with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, autism spectrum disorder, SMA, and leukemia. My interest in autism started and extended during this period of my time.
I faced difficulties finding a job in the field as a psychologist after graduating. However, I have never stopped studying disabilities. My knowledge has increased day by day about children’s needs and problems since I have worked with normally developed children as well as with children with psychopathological diagnoses. I sought all the opportunities to improve myself academically, professionally, and socially by taking part in social clubs, voluntary community works, research, and internships because in my opinion, when you help children to improve themselves, it means you are also helping to change the world.
Then one day, I was given the opportunity to share my knowledge and experiences with others. Within the scope of my knowledge, I started to write and share about autism spectrum disorder. It enabled me to keep up-to-date and provided me with a platform to share my knowledge about psychology. I was offered a chance to write a blog about autism spectrum disorder. I would like to give a special thank you to Savaş Ateş for this opportunity. After a long period of job search, it was an opportunity that truly made me feel useful.
I am currently working as a researcher in OneWorld Consulting in Istanbul, Turkey. Aside from my work, every single day at least one person reads my blog, gets information that hopefully makes a positive change for both themselves individually and for the people around them. The feeling of helping people both in real life and via the blog is an amazing feeling that truly cannot be described!
If you have any questions or need more information, please feel free to ask.
