Hello There! I am Melisa Paker, PhD.

psikolog, terapist

I studied in METU Foundation Primary and High Schools, in Ankara.

I had the bachelor’s degree in psychology at Bilkent University, Ankara. I did complete the program with Merit cholarship and ranked at the first placed among other graduates. During the program, I had functioned as teaching and reach assisstant for several courses such as Introduction to Psychology, Social Psychology, Statistics and Research Methods. The bachelor’s degree dissertation was about cognitive aging, consistency and decision making which has been suppoted by Scientific and Research Council of Turkey and awarded by Turkish Association of Psychology.

I did studied in Mental Health Studies, masters of scince (MSc) program at King’s College London that was supported by Jean Monnet Scholarship, Commission of European Union.  I did complete training and supervision in cognitive behavioural therapy for a year and functioned as an assistant psychologist at NHS Foundation Trust South London and Maudsley, Lambeth Hospital. The MSc dissertation was on estimating and preventing the short-term (next 24-hours) aggression and violence in psychiatric patients. The results of the study was beneficial for the NHS Violence and Aggression Policy.

Between 2015 and 2016, I had functioned as clinical psychologist and run congitive behavioural therapy oriented psychotherapies with adults and couples in Madalyon Psychiatry Center. Meanwhile, I had functioned as Master of Training in Madalyon Academy and Trainer in Madalyon Corporate Psychology-Focused Educations.

Between September 2015 and January 2016, on request, I adapted the Pharmacology for Psychologists course from King’s College London to Bilkent University and gave it to senior year students as an elective course. 

In September 2016, I did commence on clinical psychology PhD program, at Middle East Technical University, Ankara and succesfully completed all the requirements expect dissertation in November 2018. I did complete PhD program in clinical psychology in Middle East Technical University (METU) and the PhD dissertation was on somatic symptoms of psychological disorders across different cultures. I had been taught group psychotherapy and cultural psychology courses as elective courses.  I had functioned as a supervisor under supervision and provided supervision to clinical psychology master’s degree program students. 

Between September 2016 and September 2019, I had functioned as clinical psychologist in Güven Çayyolu Healthy Living Campus, Ankara. I run psychotherapies with clients who admitted to 12-weeks Guven Healthy Living Support Programs on cardiology, oncology, smoking cessation and weight control. I took active role in running scientific studies f the programs and the presentation of those in several national and international congresses. Meanwhile, I did also run psychotherapies with elders and paliative care patients and their family members in Güven Çayyolu Geriatric Center.  

Between September and November 2019, I run psychological counseling sessions at Madalyon Psychiatry Center, Suadiye and Levent, Istanbul, between September and November 2019, and at Korto Psychology Erenköy and Nişantaşı between November 2019 and March 2021. Between March 2022 and May 2022, I had functioned as consultant clinical psychologist in a 12-weeks mindfulness and self-compassion workshop program that was run by Deniz Began, the content creator of Meditopia App. Additionally, I have providing psycho-education sessions to various associations and companies on request.(Association and companies: The Association of Turkish College Graduate Women (TUKD) , Turkey Educational Volunteers Foundation (TEGV), Pınar Milk Factory, Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, Ankara ODTU High School,, Ankara Given Hospital. Psycho-education topics: Emotional Eating, Stress Reduction, Time Management, Self-esteem and Self-worth, Communication Skills, Communication and Relation with Elder People, Mindfulness and Self-compassion).

Currently I am running psychological counseling sessions in Istanbul and online psychological counseling sessions with clients who are not located in Istanbul.

The received psychothterapy trainings and supervisions:

  • Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (120-hours theory and practice) – King’s College London
  • Schema Therapy (42-hours theory and practice) – Gonca Soygüt, Prof., International Institute of Schema Therapy (ISST)
  • Schema Therapy Supervision (6 group sessions)- Gonca Soygüt, Prof., International Institute of Schema Therapy (ISST)
  • Acceptance and Committment Therapy (Mindfulness and Self-compassion) (32-hours theory and practice)– Joe Oliver, PhD., Mehmet Zihni Sunger, MD., Yusuf Sivrioğlu, MD. Association of Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies
  • Family and Couples Therapy – King’s College London (25-hours theory and practice) and Hürol Fışıloğlu, Prof. (Relationship Compass Model) (40-hours theory and practice)
  • Group Psychotherapy (80-hours theory)– Middle East Technical University
  • Neurocognitive Music Therapy (60-hours theory and practice, including hospital visits)– University of Barcelona, Pompeu Fabra University, Catalan Institute of Music Psychotherapy
  • Expressive Art Psychotherapy (16-hours theory and practice) – Association of Art Therapies and University of Roehampton
  • Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR, 8-weeks including 1-day of silence and retreat) – Accredited by EAMBA (European Association of Mindfulness Based Approaches)
  • Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT, 8-weeks including 1-day of silence and retreat) , Zümra Atalay, Prof., Accredited by EAMBA (European Association of Mindfulness Based Approaches)
  • Gottmann Method Couples Therapy (Level-1 and Level-2, 36-hours) – John Gottman, PhD. and Julie Gottman, PhD., The Gottmann Institute
  • “Self-Compassion: Emotional Resilience” Workshop – Kristen Neff, PhD. and Christopher Germer, PhD., Walk of Life
  • Mindfulness Workshop – Mark Williams, Prof., Walk of Life
  • EMDR Level I Training (6 days) – Emre Konuk, MA and Asena Yurtsever, MA., DBE Institute, Accredited by EMDR Europe
  • EMDR Level I Training Group Supervision (2 sessions) – DBE Institute
  • “Living with Self-Compassion”: A workshop on self-compassion, mindfulness, nervous system and polyvagal theory (10-weeks) – Deniz Bağan