Asst. Prof. DEFNE YILMAZ

    Dr. Defne Yılmaz graduated from the psychological counselling program of Hacettepe University, Turkey in 1994. She completed the master of education program at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. in 1998 with a dissertation on the emotional development of gifted children at various educational environments. She got her Ph.D. degree from Hacettepe University in 2004 with a thesis on the comparison of an anger management program and a group counselling for adolescents.

    She had worked in counsellor education departments at Gazi University, Akdeniz University and Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University in Turkey since 1995. She worked as a counselling center coordinator of a private college in Ankara during her studies.  She worked for the UNICEF Turkey Earthquake Recovery Psychosocial and Educational Projects on psychological support services on trauma, crisis, and classroom based interventions in 1999-2000. She established the Research Center on Gifted and Talented at Çanakale Onsekiz Mart University in 2019. She also worked as a counsellor at Antalya State Conservatoire of Akdeniz University between 2005-2010.  

     She had been a visiting scholar at the North Carolina State University College of Education Counselor Education and Supervision Pogram for a year in 2012. She joined several  ERASMUS projects and faculty exchange programs  in Europe from 2007 until 2022. 

    During her 29 years scholarly career which was started as a research assistant, she had intensively taught on principles and techniques of psychological counselling, counselling practicum and supervision, counselling gifted, trauma and crisis counselling, addiction counselling, personality and adjustment, psychological health and adjustment disorders in children, adolescents and adults, ethical issues in counselling, group counselling with children, sexual health trainer education, individual identification techniques at graduate and undergraduate level.

    Her research interest and publications are mainly on counselling and lifelong development of gifted, gifted adults, stress and trauma counselling, addiction counselling, anger management, screen and social media addictions, eating disorders, sexual health education, life skills and early intervention studies. The first edition of her book “Üstün Yetenekliler İçin Psikolojik Danışma ve Rehberlik Uygulamaları: Gereksinimler, Sorunlar ve Müdahaleler” (Counselling and Guidance for Gifted: Needs, Issues and Interventions) was published in 2015.

    She worked as supervisor and trainer at the local National Education institutions in her research areas. Her ongoing projects are on nature based psychological support studies.

    She is a member of Turkish Psychological Counselling and Guidance Association and  British Psychological Society.

    She speaks English fluently, French and Italian at intermediate level and Portuguese as a beginner.