TARDE – Istanbul Bilgi University Collaboration and Earthquake Zone Activities

The Trauma and Disaster Mental Health Association (TARDE) continues its work in collaboration with the Istanbul Bilgi University Trauma and Disaster Studies Applied Mental Health Master’s Program and the Trauma and Disaster Studies Center of Excellence at Bilgi University.

Within this collaboration, following the earthquakes of February 6, 2023, a total of 45 volunteers—students and graduates of Bilgi University’s Trauma and Disaster Studies Applied Mental Health Program—actively participated in psychosocial support activities in the affected regions.
Through interventions such as psychological first aid, psychoeducation, individual counseling, and group-based sessions, these volunteers contributed to the community’s psychological recovery process.

Throughout the project, trauma-focused approaches and trauma-informed psychosocial support principles were adopted, aiming to support the recovery processes of individuals, families, and communities. Implemented interventions included trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral techniques, psychoeducation programs, resilience-building group sessions, and community-based support activities.

Approximately 75% of the program’s executive board consists of faculty members, graduates, and students from Istanbul Bilgi University’s Trauma and Disaster Studies field. In addition, program faculty members Prof. Dr. A. Tamer Aker, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ersin Uygun, and Dr. Şafak Ebru Toksoy have provided training, supervision, and professional competency development support to field workers in the earthquake zone.

In this context, 12 specialists, who are graduates of the aforementioned master’s program, have served as mental health professionals in psychosocial support programs conducted in the provinces of Hatay, Malatya, Adıyaman, and Kahramanmaraş. These efforts have enabled the transfer of scientific knowledge in post-disaster mental health to field practice and have significantly contributed to strengthening trauma-informed psychosocial support implementations in the affected regions.