Psychology Network as a social enterprise [ENG]

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Psychology Network (Psikoloji Ağı) is Turkey’s first and largest psychology social enterprise. The company producing psychology-related projects, products, and services with three core principles: Ethics, Quality, and Scientific grounding. Through our uninterrupted work since 2017, we aim to expand quality psychological support services, make them accessible to all segments of society, and transform scientific psychological knowledge into public benefit.

Since our establishment, we have connected countless individuals with reliable psychological support while empowering numerous colleagues to start their professional careers through our training, internship, and development programs. By generating significant sectoral business volume and an active professional ecosystem, we take pride in impacting millions of lives through our services and scientific knowledge.

On this page, you can explore the organizational structure of Psychology Network, our impact-driven social enterprise model, and our vision to empower community mental health.

Social entrepreneurship

“Social entrepreneurship is an approach by individuals, groups, start-up companies or entrepreneurs, in which they develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. This concept may be applied to a wide range of organizations, which vary in size, aims, and beliefs. Social entrepreneurship typically attempts to further broad social, cultural and environmental goals often associated with the voluntary sector in areas such as poverty alleviation, health care and community development.“

The journey of our logo back to the past

Impact-Driven Social Entrepreneurship

Psychology Network builds a sustainable bridge between traditional profit-oriented structures and grant-dependent non-profit models. All resources and economic value generated are reinvested into expanding quality psychological services, producing open-science content, and fostering the professional growth of early-career colleagues.

Accessible Support: We make quality and ethical psychological services accessible to all segments of society.
Sustainable Ecosystem: By generating substantial sectoral volume, we create a safe and ethical professional space for both clients and specialists.
Community Mental Health Literacy: We enhance public awareness by delivering accurate, evidence-based knowledge to millions through open-access principles.

Impact Summary

Democratized access to psychological services by connecting experts with the public and institutions (B2C & B2B).
Created a trustworthy ecosystem: verified professionals, qualified content, and easier access to psychological support.
Direct beneficiary: 3000+
Team: 50+ active volunteers & 3 employees
Sector business volume (direct & indirect): 500k+ EUR

🏆 Competition Award

Third place 🥉 Innovative Projects in Software Competition organized by İKÜ Incubation Center, 2017

Team: S. Hakan Uzunlar, Berker A. Gonca, Taner Türker

Founded in February 2017 as an independent content platform, Psikoloji Ağı (Psychology Network) took its official step toward entrepreneurship in 2018 upon being accepted into the İstanbul Kültür University Incubation Center, gaining its initial momentum by winning 3rd place in the fİKÜr competition.

At the beginning of 2019, it joined İTÜ Çekirdek Early Stage Incubation Center (Turkey’s most respected entrepreneurship ecosystems) as a social enterprise, actively participating in BIG BANG competition and training processes while operating out of the İTÜ Çekirdek Open Office. In 2022, it expanded its operational capacity by establishing the Psikoloji Ağı Psychology Center and moving its headquarters to this office. Throughout this journey, it has inspired the creation of numerous social enterprises and communities, pioneering innovative practices across the sector.

What We Do?

Psychological Support for the Public: We expand reliable, impact-driven, and accessible psychological counseling and guidance frameworks.
Career Launch & Professional Development: We offer internship, supervision, and development programs that enable new graduates and early-career psychologists to enter the field with strong, high-quality, and ethical standards.
Open Science & Digital Publishing: We practice accessible and reliable psychology publishing that bridges academic research with field practice.
Regulatory & Rights-Based Guidance: We raise industry standards by providing up-to-date and transparent information on professional rights, legal frameworks, and ethical guidelines.

The principles

🌱 Ethics • ☑️ Quality • 🥼 Scientific grounding

Working rules (high-level):

content and services prioritize ethics and scientific quality,
avoid revenue models that conflict with the field’s interests,
keep the initiative independent from political/religious ties.

My role

I co-founded Psikoloji Ağı and helped evolve it from an early-stage project into a sustainable social enterprise.

My responsibilities have included:

strategic direction & product focus (B2C + B2B),
building programs and partnerships,
designing scalable operations with volunteer-led execution,
ensuring alignment with Ethics / Quality / Scientific grounding.

Sub-brands / Units (Ecosystem)

Center for Psychology (Psikoloji Merkezi)
Expert Network (Uzman Ağı) — diploma verification + listing + referrals
PA Academy
PA Design (PA Tasarım / shop)

How the business model works

The core mechanism: “We connect two sides”

Psikoloji Ağı’s model is built on the belief that:

there are experts suitable for every income level, and
everyone with sufficient information should be able to access psychological services.

The revenue model

The organization sustains itself by producing its own products/services—such as:

ethical advertising (aligned with principles),
trainings & events,
design product sales,
commissions from some referrals— and reinvests revenue back into growth.

Why it’s user-centered

To avoid blocking help-seeking behavior, the payment burden is structured in a way that does not discourage potential clients, with fees taken from experts in the model described.

The problems we tackled

Problem 1 — Low psychological well-being + access barriers

Barriers include:

perception: price, stigma, low awareness,
system: difficulty finding experts, unclear quality criteria, trust/ethics concerns,
information: therapy is known; counseling/psychoeducation less known; low awareness for child/elder services.

Problem 2 — Low employment in psychology

Challenges include:

young professionals struggling to find consistent clients,
difficulty reaching service recipients,
misuse by unqualified individuals (fake experts, exploitation risks).

Timeline

2017

Feb: foundations, targets, roadmap
Mar: publishing strategy → content & launch; first team; IKU incubation/open office
Jun: 3rd place in İKÜ competition; shift into social enterprise

2018

Jan: reached target audience; updated strategy and org structure
Oct: started service sales for sustainability; reinvested into infrastructure/projects; refreshed brand
Dec: launched Expert Network beta (Uzman Ağı); redesigned site

2019

Jan: entered İTÜ Çekirdek; training/mentorship; worked from ITU ARI Teknokent open office
Aug: groundwork for company transition; productivity & process redesign; new site + business model foundations
Nov: launched PA Design products

2020

Jan: consolidated trainings/events into PA Academy
Feb: ran volunteer psychological support projects with BAMBU GEP
Jun: infrastructure and “single roof” consolidation of pages/databases

2021

Jan: implemented Expert Network beyond beta; continued listing experts/institutions/jobs

Metrics

Scale

Direct beneficiary: 3000+
Active volunteers: 50+
Employees: 3
Sector volume impact: 500k+ EUR

Positioning

Social enterprise operating with Ethics / Quality / Scientific grounding
Bridges public ↔ experts ↔ institutions