Counseling & Consultation

Come, come whoever you are,

Wanderer, idolater, worshiper of fire,

Come even though you have broken your vows a thousand times,

Come, and come yet again.

Ours is not a caravan of despair.

Mevlana Jalal-ad-Din Rumi (1207-1273)

Counseling not only can help people find happiness and express their most potentials but can also save lives. From 2009 to 2011, I worked as a counselor at a public school in Istanbul. I was the only counselor at the school for over two thousand students. I helped resolve individual internal conflicts as well as problems stemming from their families. I also worked with their families to be successful. I dealt with a variety of severe psychological issues and often had to accompany students to the police. These cases shaped my theoretical understanding where I realized that being present and not missing any moment from the session is very crucial because the client may present their one of the most vulnerable parts and counselors should be aware of that. Additionally, I believe that counseling should provide a safe space and an accepting environment with unconditional positive regards to the client so that the client can purely express them.

School Counseling, Istanbul 2009-2011

Person-Centered Theory

Person Centered theory was developed by Carl Rogers in the 1940s and 1950 which has grounded by humanistic psychology. Roger`s basic assumptions include that people are trustworthy and that they have potential to understanding themselves and resolving their own problems. The therapist's role is not giving a direction to the clients where they take a more expert role. On the contrary, the therapist takes an equal position with clients and creates empathic understanding for the clients where clients can understand themselves. Person-centered theory offers that clients are capable of self-growth if they are involved in specific kind of therapeutic relationship. The theory believes in the client's capacity for self-healing which takes in opposite side with many other theories where the therapist's techniques and expertise are the most important concepts for the therapeutic relationship. (Corey & Corey, 2005).

The therapeutic aims of the person-centered therapy are different than traditional therapies. Traditional therapies often assume that the individual cannot be trusted and instead clients need to be directed, motivated, instructed, punished, rewarded, and managed by others. On the contrary, person-centered therapy rejects the role of the therapist as the authority who knows best and passive client who follows the dictates of the therapist. The person-centered theory explains that people are trustworthy, resourceful, capable of self-understanding and self-direction, able to make constructive changes, and able to live productive lives. (Rogers, 1986).

Carl Rogers (1961) explains that people who enter the therapy usually asks: “How can I discover my real self? How can I become what I wish to become? How can I get behind my facades and become myself?” The goal of the therapy is to create an appropriate environment so that the clients can become a fully functioning person. The goals of counseling are to set clients free and to create those conditions that will enable them to engage in meaningful self-exploration. When people are free, they will be able to find their own way.

Seven Advice of Rumi

1. In generosity and helping others: be like the river

2. In compassion and grace: be like the sun.

3. In concealing others’ faults: be like the night.

4. In anger and fury: be like the dead.

5. In modesty and humility: be like the soil.

6. In tolerance: be like the ocean.

7. Either you appear as you are, or: be as you appear. (Rumi, 1207-1273).

Rumi, also known as Mevlana, was born in 1207, Afghanistan and he died in 1273, Konya, Turkey. On the 800^th anniversary of his birth, UNESCO (2007) described him as an “eminent philosopher and mystical poet of Islam who advocated tolerance, reason, and access to knowledge through love. His mystical relationship to Islam produced masterpieces that well beyond the borders of Turkey have marked Islamic culture and devotion.” I wanted to have Carl Rogers and Rumi’s work side by side because I always thought Carl Rogers’ theory was very similar to Rumi’s philosophy which makes to theory more meaningful to me.

Counseling Experience:

• 2009-11 Abdurrahman Nermin Bilimli Elementary School (Public School) Guidance and Psychological Counseling (School Counselor), Istanbul, Turkey
• 2012-14 Internship over 700 hours during the master program at Sandalwood, Jean Ribault High School, Raines and Jackon High School Jacksonville, Florida US
• 2012-13 University of North Florida, Gear-Up Mentoring Program One Year Counseling Mentor at Jean Ribault High School, Jacksonville, Florida, US