Defne believes in the healing power of the human connection and works to establish a safe, genuine, and compassionate environment for personal growth and change. She collaborates with her clients to come up with the best strategies to meet their unique needs. As such, she makes use of different modalities while staying rooted in a person-centered and mindfulness-based approach. She has reflected on the meaning of multiculturalism, intersectional identities, and how they interface with mental health as someone who had to leave her home country with the hopes of constructing a new future. 

Defne completed her M.A. and an Ed.M. in Counseling Psychology from Columbia University. She has experience working with a variety of issues including substance misuse, psychedelic harm reduction and integration, anxiety, depression, grief, self-esteem, life transitions, women’s issues, relationship issues. As a queer-identified therapist, she values working with LGBTQ+ clients. Defne speaks English and Turkish.

Pronouns: She/They