Suna BAYRAM

After graduating from Istanbul Commerce University with a degree in Psychology, Suna Bayram completed her master’s degree in Clinical Psychology. She is currently working on her thesis for a second master’s degree in Public Health at the Istanbul University Faculty of Medicine, where she has also completed doctoral-level coursework as a visiting student.

She has worked extensively with women subjected to various forms of violence and abuse as well as disadvantaged children, providing supportive interventions using evidence-based psychological modalities in the public sector for seven to eight years across areas involving neglect, abuse, substance use, and forensic procedures. Suna Bayram has been actively involved in volunteer initiatives addressing major events affecting the country. Through the Turkish Psychological Association (TPD), she provided field support following the 2011 Van earthquake and during the 2014 Soma mine disaster. Following the Soma mine disaster, as unemployment rose and family dynamics were strained throughout the region, she delivered seminars on domestic violence across the districts of Soma and Dursunbey in 2014, as part of a joint initiative between local district governorships and the Turkish Psychological Association (TPD). Following the 2015 suicide bombing attacks in Istanbul, she served as a volunteer therapist for individuals referred through the Psychosocial Solidarity Network. As part of the BİRİZ Association’s Yanyana (Side by Side) Project, she led a 10-week closed therapy group for Syrian refugee children. At the Sultangazi Municipality, she conducted weekly seminars on stress during pregnancy for expectant mothers over a period of two and a half years. Following the 2018 Çorlu train derailment, she worked as a volunteer with the Turkish Psychological Association’s (TPD) trauma response team. She also provided volunteer online therapy support through the Turkish Psychological Association (TPD) during the COVID-19 pandemic and following the 2020 earthquakes in Elazığ, Malatya, and Izmir.

During her volunteer field deployments, she completed trauma response training and clinical supervision provided by the Turkish Psychological Association (TPD). She completed Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) training provided by Dr. Emel Stroup, covering Beckian Cognitive Therapy for anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, as well as clinical interviewing and assessment. She completed a two-year Rorschach test training and clinical supervision program incorporating psychoanalytic psychopathology, offered by the Rorschach and Projective Tests Association. She completed a one-year Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) training program under Tevfika Tunaboylu İkiz at the same association. She also completed the Sex Therapy training program initiated through the Sexual Health Institute, as well as the CBT for Eating Disorders workshop program conducted by Prof. Dr. Aslıhan Dönmez. Furthermore, she completed the three-year Supportive Psychotherapy training program provided by Prof. Dr. Cem Kaptanoğlu, and is currently pursuing play therapy training and clinical supervision under Specialist Psychological Counsellor Pekay Aydın. She completed training in Neuropsychological Assessment and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV) administered by the Turkish Psychological Association. She completed training in Children’s Drawing Tests and Clinical Assessment with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Reyhan Saydam. In 2020, she completed EMDRIA-approved EMDR training led by Roy Kiessling. Additionally, she participated in the workshop program “Working with Complex Trauma Using EMDR,” organized by the EMDR and Psychotherapies Association and presented by Dr. Serkan Özgün, C.Psych., as well as the workshop “Let’s Play EMDR: Fundamentals of EMDR with Children in a Play Therapy Setting,” facilitated by Ann Beckley-Forest and Annie Monaco.

Within the Turkish Psychological Association, she served as a member of the Central Supervisory Board from 2014 to 2016 and as a member of the Istanbul Branch Executive Board from 2016 to 2020, actively supporting the professional body and contributing to numerous volunteer initiatives. She is also an executive board member of the BİRİZ Association.