Rana Ufuk Akin
Social Psychologist, Ph.D.
Rana Ufuk Akın’s commitment to the field of Psychology has started 37 years ago. As a psychologist, she specializes in relationships, parenting, and communication skills in every aspect of life.

She has received her B.A in 1985, in Psychology after studying at University of Evansville (USA) and Boğaziçi University. In 1989, she completed her M.A in Social Psychology (Boğaziçi University) and in 2000, she completed her Ph.D. in Educational Sciences (METU).

Rana Ufuk Akın, has become a certified Family Counselor, after completing the Family Counseling Program approved by Turkish Ministry of Education. She is a member of International team and is the only Certified Trainer in Turkey. She holds a Psychodrama Group Leader Diploma (Istanbul Group Psychotherapy Association- Moreno Institute, Germany). She has a certificate of attendance from Albert Einstein Institute (USA) on "Empowering Parents” and “Change in Organizations”.

She started her career in Boğaziçi University as a research assistant, and then worked as a School Counselor in secondary education, before moving to Ankara where she worked as a therapist in Dilessa Family Counseling Center.

Rana Ufuk Akin was an Adjunct Professor at Işık University (2016-2017) and at Boğaziçi University (2017-2021) teaching a course on Interpersonal Communication.

She takes pride in bringing PYP- Primary Years Program of IBO to Turkey in 1995. She has certificate of attendance from many workshops offered throughout the world by IBO from 1996 to 2019. She has consulted many schools in Turkey on the change management to implement the program and offered training programs for teachers to understand inquiry. She also developed Classroom Climate training program for teachers to facilitate the implementation of the program into the classroom.

Rana Ufuk Akin has presented in International and National Conferences, Seminars and Workshops. She has published articles in peer reviewed national journals. She has contributed to the community by giving speeches on TV, sharing her expertise on newspaper and journal interviews. Akin’s book, Güç = Para + Penis (Power= Money+ Penis), a psychosocial analysis of gender roles was published in 2014.
She has been on the Board of Directors of Turkish Psychological Association, YÖRET Foundation, and IPCSAN-Turkey. She is a still a member of 65+ Senior Rights Association, Turkish Psychological Association and PERYÖN HR Association.

Currently, Rana Ufuk Akin continues her career working with individuals, couples and families in Toronto, Canada since 2021. She provides online therapy both in Turkish and English, around the world. She founded Persona Life Family Counseling Center in Istanbul, in 1995 where she started personal development and parent effectiveness training programs as a pioneer in Turkey and worked as a trainer and a therapist up to today. She has experience in treating relationship problems (in intimate relationships and at work), problems occurring in cross-cultural marriages, intrafamilial communication, parenting (infants, children, adolescents), adaptation to different cultures, anxiety disorders, divorce, managing health problems and loss.

M. Selin Savran
Clinical Psychologist, M.A.

She completed her BA in Psychology (in English) at Izmir University of Economics in 2013. During her undergraduate education, she did internships at Bogazici University Learning Laboratory and Bursa Cekirge State Hospital; in addition, she took part in the study titled “Hemispheric Asymmetry in Defining Facial Expressions” presented at the 16th National Congress of Psychology Students (Girne American University) and the 5th Congress of Psychology Graduate Students (Dogus University).

After graduation, she completed her Master's Degree in Clinical Psychology (Health oriented) at Okan University with her study titled "Historical Development of Grief, Intervention Methods and Its Place in DSM”. During her graduate education, she saw her clients under supervision and volunteered in cancer patients' support groups.

She trained and supervised in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), EMDR Level I and I, EMDR Flash, Short-Term Solution Focused Therapy and Family Counseling. She works with adult clients by making use of these schools. Her main areas of work include seperation/divorce, death and bereavement, relational problems, trauma and childhood traumas, anxiety disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder and phobias.

She continues to work as a Clinical Psychologist within the Persona Life Counseling Center, and continues to provide counseling within the scope of the Metastatic Breast Cancer (mMK) Awareness and Patient Psychology Support Project supported by the Turkish Medical Oncology Association and Europa Donna Turkey since 2018.

M. Selin Savran, a member of the Turkish Association of Psychologists (TPD) and EMDR Association Turkey.

Burçak Gülen Morhayım
Sociologist/ Education Consultant M.A.

In 1990, she completed her high school education in Uskudar American Academy for Girls.
In 1994, she attained her bachelor’s degree in Bosphorus University Sociology Department.
Between the years 1994-2002, she has worked in corporate marketing departments of various banks and multinational companies.

In 2002, she has returned to academic life to get her M.A.
In 2005, she has attained her M.A. in Marmara University Educational Management and Audit (her dissertation: The Evaluation of the Student Affinity to the Democratic School: A Form of Alternative School).

She participated in various projects in connection with Marmara University.
She specialized in alternative and democratic education.

In 2005 she, along with her 2 teammates, has conducted the first international mass act on alternative education in Turkey: Organisation of 1st International Alternative Education Symposium. She was Organization Committee Member.
In 2007, she co-authored the book: The Coaching Skills of School Managers in the 21st Century.
In 2008, she co-edited the book: 1st International Alternative Education Symposium.
In 2009, she became Democratic Schools Country Representative and Coordinator for Educational Cities Project in Turkey. She completed her P.Y.P. trainings in U.S.A. The same year she joined Personalife team to consult schools on PYP, Inquiry-Based Learning and Learning Styles.

She started to teach/train teachers on subjects such as curriculum, inquiry, PYP, UdB and True Colors. She has worked in over 70 schools with many teachers as a trainer and also, as a consultant on such-mentioned subjects. She has mediated the implementation of PYP in many schools.

Since 2009, she has worked in over 60 companies as a trainer and a consultant on team management, self-awareness, stress management, assertiveness, communication, leadership, conflict management.
In 2016-2017 she has taught “Communication” class in FMV Işık University as a Co-Instructor.

Since 2017, she has been working as an Instructor in Bosphorus University, giving the “Introduction to Interpersonal Communication” Class.

This year, Burçak founded her own company to work with companies and schools.
She continues her own education at Harvard University
She is married and has a daughter. Speaks English and Spanish.

Yorohan graduated from Boğaziçi University with a double major in Psychology and Guidance and Psychological Counseling in 2006. She completed her master's degree in Clinical Psychology at Bilgi University in 2011 with her thesis titled “The Effect of Exposure to Violence on Violence Perception and Violence Behaviors in Adolescents”.

Yorohan started her professional life at Yeniden Health and Education Association, where she implemented many national and international projects in the field of mental health. Since 2011, Yorohan has been conducting psychoanalytic-oriented psychotherapy studies with adults. She was a part of the clinical psychologist team at Persona Life Education and Consultancy Center from 2012 to 2018. She has been continuing her psychotherapy studies in his own private office since 2018.

She also continues her adult education studies that she started at Persona Life Education and Consultancy Center. In this context, she gives trainings on various topics such as “True Colors personality colors”, “coping with stress”, “communication”, and “teamwork” in many institutions. In addition, she works as a clinical supervisor at Yeditepe University's Clinical Psychology Master's Program.