ABOUT US

Hatay Psychological Association was founded in February 2018 and has determined its main purpose as "being a reference civil society organization in the national and international arena". Its goals are to contribute to individuals and society living their lives in accordance with human dignity and to the increase of their well-being and quality of life within the framework of international standards.

The association was established to further the science of psychology. It offers play therapy, group therapy and individual counseling services especially for children and young people. These studies help young individuals overcome difficult processes in a healthier way.

In addition, trainings and counseling services organized for families provide significant support in the process of coping with traumatic events such as earthquakes. The association has helped families overcome this difficult process together and stronger.

Seminars, workshops and information meetings are organized to encourage community solidarity and raise awareness about the psychological effects of earthquakes. Hatay Psychologists Association continues to carry out psychosocial support activities so that the society can emerge stronger from this difficult process. In this entire process, after the search and rescue efforts after the February 6 earthquake, it started psychosocial support activities in Hatay on February 26 by first identifying. This identification work took place in Antakya, Defne, İskenderun, Kırıkhan and Samandağ districts. A road map was determined by reaching out to the villages in these districts.

As of March 18, we started the psychosocial support process in Defne, Antakya and Samandağ in a mobile manner. On this date, we carried out psychological support and needs determination activities for children who experienced the earthquake and lost their mother or father. We regularly visited individuals living in tents and at previously announced points in these districts. During the same period, we started psychological support activities for children in 2 tents in the campus of Collective Coordination in Tomruksuyu Samandağ. We set out with many volunteer psychologists living in Hatay province in our team. We continued to provide regular services on a mobile basis and in tents in Tomruksuyun until the last week of April. On April 29, we started psychosocial support and play therapy studies for children and women in the tent allocated to us in the Üzümdalı Tent City, where there are approximately 900 children of Syrian nationality. In this way, we continued our work with 9 psychologists in the field. In June 2023, we created a trauma referral center from 2 containers in the Atatürk Neighborhood in the center of Samandağ. We started our activities in this center with 4 expert psychologists and we still continue our work in this center. Similarly, we continue our work with our experts in the Trauma Center that we established in the Container in the Collective Coordination Tomruksuyun. In addition, we organized the Psychology Symposium in Hatay, which was attended by many expert academicians, for Mental Health Professionals working in the field, as the Hatay Psychologists Association. On January 21, 2024, we established the Defne Children's House in cooperation with the Yol AçıkYola Çık Association in Defne Aşağı Okçular. Here, we aim to provide activities and psychosocial support activities especially for children aged 6-12.

Art Works

57 art works were carried out in the Samandağ branch of the Hatay Psychologists Association

Visits

Official institutions and organizations, national and international associations, and communities working in the Hatay field were visited in a pre-planned manner and in a certain order, and consultations were held within the scope of information exchange and studies that could be beneficial to the society

Meetings

Our meetings are held on the second Wednesday of each month, by announcing them to members and non-members on the official page of the Hatay Psychologists Association.

We managed to reach 2467 children and 3400 adults in these works. We took care to carry out all the works carried out after the earthquake in a professional and systematic order. As the Hatay Psychologists Association, we are currently continuing our psychosocial support works in our province with many volunteers.