As the Türkiye Youth and Education Service Foundation (TÜRGEV), we implemented the project “Enhancing Well-Being, Empowering Youth” in cooperation with the Ministry of Youth and Sports (GSB) to support young people living in the earthquake-affected region. After ten months of on-site implementation, the project was discussed as a best-practice model at a workshop we organized in Gaziantep.
29 December 2025
We shared the outcomes of the project—carried out between March and December 2025 in Gaziantep—during a workshop held on 24 December 2025 at the TÜRGEV Hatice Hatun Higher Education Dormitory. During the sessions, we emphasized that disasters not only cause physical destruction but also leave deep and lasting emotional and social impacts on young people.
Within the scope of the project, we directly reached 500 young people aged 14–29, delivering:
art-based therapeutic workshops,
psycho-education group programs,
social activities, and
referrals for individual counseling.
Through these activities, we also indirectly reached over 1,000 individuals. Our primary goal was to strengthen young people’s ability to cope with trauma, uncertainty and loss.
We later evaluated the experiences gained during the ten-month fieldwork in depth together with academics, psychologists and representatives from public institutions.
During the workshop, we also introduced our newly prepared e-book titled “Post-Disaster Psycho-Social Support Processes”, which compiles findings from the field. The sessions focused on the contribution of art-based practices to psychological recovery, the role of group work in building resilience, and the importance of inter-institutional cooperation.
Our participants also shared their views on how this psycho-social support model could be implemented in different regions and similar disaster settings.
TÜRGEV Director General Dr. Selim Gençal emphasized the importance of adopting a human-centered, holistic and sustainable approach when designing support programs for young people in post-disaster contexts.
Highlighting the strong tradition of solidarity in our society, Dr. Gençal stated that transforming the experiences gained into a widespread and applicable model would make a meaningful and lasting contribution to the well-being of young people.
The workshop outcomes underlined that psycho-social support efforts should not be limited to temporary interventions. Together with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, we aim to ensure that the model we have developed becomes long-term, sustainable and scalable.
In this direction, we plan to continuously update and enrich the published e-book, and eventually transform the accumulated experience into policy recommendations.
The project concluded with a closing program held on 25 December in Gaziantep. During the event, we shared key learnings and outcomes with the public, while also presenting the e-book and workshop findings. In addition, artworks produced by young participants during the art-based workshops were showcased.
As TÜRGEV, we will continue to carry out programs that strengthen the emotional, social and psychological well-being of young people across Türkiye.
