I received my BA from Ankara University, and completed my PhD in Guidance and Psychological Counseling at Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey. I started my career as a counselor at Private Arı Schools in Ankara. Later on, I worked as a research assistant at Middle East Technical University’s guidance and psychological counseling department, followed by a posts as Assistant Professor at Akdeniz University and TED University.
I worked as a visiting researcher at the Family Institute of Florida State University, where I was a co-researcher in a project titled ‘Healthy Romantic Relationships’.
Currently, I work as the coordinator of the Guidance and Psychological Counseling Program at Middle East Technical University’s Northern Cyprus Campus.
I wrote my doctoral thesis in ‘’self-forgiveness’’, which, at the time, was a completely new area of research in Turkey. Forgiving others, forgiveness in marriage, and forgiveness in romantic relationships are some of the areas I continue to work in – both, in practice and theory-based contexts. Besides forgiveness, my research interests also include emotion regulation, rumination, school environment, attitudes towards women and romantic relationships.
I had the pleasure of receiving the prestigious KOÇ-KAM Project Award by Koç University Gender Studies Center with my research titled ‘Attitudes toward women and their causes in Turkey’. I coordinated a TUBİTAK 1001 Project titled ‘Investigation of the school climate in Turkey through psychological variables’, which included students from 55 schools in 12 provinces. Currently, I am working on evaluating, developing and restoring environment of several schools and institutions. Furthermore, I am currently taking part in a TUBİTAK 1001 project titled ‘The development of online training courses for psychological counselors focusing on cases of natural disasters’. I authored several national and international publications, as well as presented at national and international conferences in my areas of expertise as summed up above.
* METU Northern Cyprus Campus , Guidance and Psychological Counseling Program
e-mail: abugay@metu.edu.tr