Psychological Development Unit in 8 Questions

1. Who is the Psychological Development Unit (PDU) and What Does It Do?

            PDU is the psychological support unit that carries out intervention and preventive studies aimed at contributing to the psychological development of Özyeğin University students and staff. The entire PDU team consists of psychological counselors who have completed undergraduate and graduate education in psychology, specialized in different psychotherapy schools, and follow the developments in their field. PDU has 4 full-time specialists working in the day office and dormitory office. The day office works between 8 am - 4.45 pm on weekdays except for public holidays. The dormitory office works between 8 pm - 4 am every day of the week and between 8 am – 4.45 pm on Sundays.

            PDU experts provide free individual and group psychological counseling to Özyeğin University students. The aim of the psychological counseling services offered at PDU is to facilitate students' adaptation to university life, to contribute to their personal development by raising awareness, to help them overcome academic, personal and social difficulties they may encounter, and to provide them with the various skills they need to cope with problems in daily life. Psychological counseling (psychotherapy) is only provided to our students.

            Seminars, informative articles, webinars, brochures, panels, group studies can be for both our students and our staff. The scope of these activities may vary in each academic term according to current common experiences that will contribute to psychological development, world and country agenda, issues that need to raise awareness and so on.

            In order to benefit from psychological counseling, students must apply individually. Announcements of all other events can be followed on MyOzU.

            From time to time, our students may think of PDU as the guidance services they have been acquainted with from the previous years of their education life. PDU is not a unit where you can stop by the door and chat and get advice in a negative situation or tell you how you can focus better on your studies. Our university has other student units that provide support in academic and social issues.

2. Where is PDU Office?

            PDU Day Office is located in Student Center Building on the -3rd floor (on the floor of Simitçi Dünyası and it is opposite the Ozu Chamber Theatre). The Dormitory Office is located next to the infirmary in the building where Dormitory 3 is located in the Dormitories section.

3. What is Psychotherapy?

            Psychotherapy is a process of self-understanding and discovery in which your feelings and thoughts are handled in a safe environment and situations are tried to be made sense of without judgment. This process can also be defined as the transformation of dysfunctional thoughts and behaviors that lead to negative emotions into functional thoughts and behaviors by the therapist using scientific techniques and approaches.

            Making sense of the situations you are experiencing with one or a few psychotherapy sessions and finding solutions to the difficulties in a short time will not be realistic expectations. There are psychotherapy processes that can last for months or even years. Psychotherapy is not a process where the counselor listens to you, interprets and gives advice. The specialist follows the methods suitable for the school he/she is working with in the sessions and the sessions are held within the framework of certain ethical rules.

            You can think of the therapy process as a driving experience. The client sits at the wheel and the therapist accompanies her/him in this process by sitting next to the client on this road.

4. When Should I Get Psychological Support?

            Situations such as going through an academic or socially challenging period, being in a grieving process, trying to adapt to university, feeling negative emotions are not the only reasons for seeking psychological support. Some experiences in daily life may be more challenging than others. Just as everything in the universe exists with its opposite, negative emotions are as much a part of the natural flow of life and being a human being. Experiences such as feeling down and unmotivated from time to time, being sad or angry are very likely. The fact that challenging experiences, feelings and thoughts affect you more and longer than usual may be an indicator for the need for psychological support. If what you've been through lately

• lowers your life function, makes you unable to do what you were able to do before,
• causes you to constantly disrupt your daily routines or not be able to perform them at all,
• reduces your self-care skills,
• causes difficulties in your interpersonal relationships,
• lowers your academic achievement,
• the methods you use to cope with these situations do not work, you may consider seeking psychological support.

5. In Which Subjects Does PDU Provide Support to Students?

            Our experts provide support to students in issues such as stress, anxiety and feeling depressed, academic problems, traumatic experiences, loss and grief, and communication and relationship problems (family, friendship and romantic relationship) that negatively affect students' life function and daily routines.

6. How Can I Get Psychological Counseling Support from PDU? / How does the psychotherapy process work in PDU?

            Students who feel the need for psychological counseling should apply to PDU individually. Unless there is an emergency, students who want to get support need to choose an intake interview appointment on MyOzu (https://my.ozyegin.edu.tr/tr/page/2441) according to their own available times. On the online appointment page, there is all the information about which specialist you got the intake interview appointment from, what time the appointment is, and the forms that must be filled in and sent before the appointment. The system works smoothly when logging in from the computer, but sometimes it gives an error when logging in from the phone. For this reason, it is recommended to use computer while making an appointment. If the appointment process is successful, an automatic confirmation e-mail is sent you from the system. All intake interviews are held online via the Teams app and take a maximum of 30 minutes. No link will be sent to you by your psychological counselor for the intake interview. Your counselor will vide call you via the application. You just need to be online in Teams at the appointment time. The intake interview is carried out in order to understand your needs and to provide you with the most appropriate guidance for your needs. If you have trouble making an online appointment, you can always reach us at counseling@ozyegin.edu.tr.

            Since PDU is receiving a lot of applications, there is a waiting list for individual psychotherapy. The waiting time may be extended during periods of increased density. For this reason, sometimes a group of people who apply with similar experiences and experiences that would be beneficial to work with group dynamics is formed and group psychotherapy support is provided to these people instead of individual support. When it's your turn on the waiting list, you will be directed to the specialist that best suits your needs, which you mentioned in your intake interview. The psychological counselor, who will conduct your psychotherapy process, will reach you by your OzU e-mail address and arrange your appointments. One of the important missions of PDU is to provide equal support to all students. Accordingly, the support that each student can receive from PDU is limited to an eight-week period. If the unit specialists anticipate that you need longer-term support, they may suggest that you continue your process with an outside specialist. In addition, if you do not respond to the e-mail sent to you for an appointment within a week, process will continue with the next person on the waiting list due to unit procedures, and if you still need support, you need to apply from the beginning. Similarly, in order not to be unfair to other students who are waiting, if you miss a session twice while your process in the unit is active, or if you cancel the session at the last moment, your process in the unit will end and you have to apply for the process from the beginning if you still need it.

            Individual sessions are conducted online or face-to-face. Online sessions are carried out through the Teams application. Sessions are held once a week or once every two weeks, depending on the student's needs. Session duration is 30-50 minutes for each session.

            While your process in PDU is progressing actively, your psychological counselor may refer you to the external contracted psychiatrist of the unit, where you can get support with an appropriate budget. In this case, your process is carried out in cooperation with the PDU and the psychiatrist. However, it is not possible for people who are not followed up in the unit to be referred to a psychiatrist, and even if they are being followed up in the unit, it is not possible to refer them to a psychiatrist on their own request without expert opinion.

 7. What is an Emergency?

            Experiencing an individually challenging process can feel like the need of immediate and priority intervention for many. However, the definition of emergency and the definition of emergency in psychological support sometimes do not overlap. Urgency for psychological support means the possibility, plan or attempt of harming oneself or another person, or being disconnected from reality for various reasons. PDU works by appointment unless there is an emergency. When you apply to the unit without an appointment, if the unit specialists evaluate that there is no emergency, they will request you to make an appointment.

            You can visit our PDU office in case of an emergency during daytime. Our students stay in dormitories can go to the PDU dormitory office and request support in case of an emergency during the night. In cases where you cannot reach our offices, you can reach us via our e-mail address counseling@ozyegin.edu.tr. You can request support from the Health Center in case of an emergency that may occur outside the working hours of the PDU offices.

8. Will Others Know That I Receive Support From PDU?

            There are some ethical principles valid all over the world for psychotherapy processes. One of them is the privacy policy. Your application to PDU and your psychological counseling process are kept completely confidential. Unless you share it with others, everything spoken in the sessions remains between you and your psychotherapist and is not shared with third parties. However, in cases of harming yourself or someone else, the confidentiality principle is suspended, and your counselor has the right to share this situation with the people she/he deems necessary.

            The Consent Form, which is one of the forms filled in when applying to PDU, contains detailed information on the confidentiality policy and the mutual rights and responsibilities between PDU and you during the period of support. It is recommended that you read this form carefully before starting the process and ask any questions you may have in the intake session.