Wellbeing & Belonging
Positive Psychology
Contemplative Practices & Sufi Psychology
Intercultural Competence
My scholarship advances relational, culturally grounded, and ethically serious approaches to wellness and happiness, counseling, positive psychology, social justice, and contemplative traditions. I study how people and institutions cultivate belonging, courage, and meaning across cultural contexts—and how we can move beyond individualistic models of wellness toward practices grounded in relationships and community.
Featured Scholarship
Contemplative Practices and Anti-Oppressive Pedagogies for Higher Education (co-edited): contemplative approaches as tools for anti-oppressive pedagogy across disciplines.
In Progress:
Bring Islam/ sufism into a direct dialogue with positive psychology, widening what wellness & happiness are to hold grief and joy, longing and gratitude,rupture and repair with practical ideas guided by Hz. Mevlana Rumi’s teachings.
Selected Publications
Peer-reviewed articles
- Rumi’s Guest-killing Mosque: Adlerian and Jungian Understanding. (2022)
- Positive Psychology: A Neo-Adlerian Perspective (2017)
- Gratitude journaling and adjustment/wellbeing (2017)
- Resilience predictors in Turkey (2014)
- Leaving abusive relationships—courage framework (2021)
- Refugee students in public schools—inclusive school counseling (2011)
- Adlerian encouragement group counseling effectiveness (2017)
Editorial leadership
- Editor: Mindfulness + Adlerian theory special issue (2021)
- Co-editor: Diversity & social justice special issue (2018)
Chapters
- Contemplative Learning Communities (2022)
- Empathy Through Contemplative Practices (in press)
Books in Turkish- Co-Authored with Şerife Işık
- Case Conceptualization (Translation) (2016)
- Applications of Positive Psychology in Education (Edited)(2015)
- Developing your theoretical orientation(Translation) (2014 )
- Contemporary theories in counseling (2013)