President Erdoğan Inaugurates Green Crescent Counseling Centers (YEDAM)

The Green Crescent marked the joint inauguration of its Green Crescent Counseling Centers (YEDAM) with a ceremony attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. There are now 104 YEDAMs providing services in Turkey’s 81 provinces as well as in TRNC. The ceremony also celebrated the launch of the book, Those Who Regained their Color, being a collection of the stories of the counselees of YEDAM.

Stating his hope to see the newly opened YEDAMs bringing benefit to the country, and especially to those who want to rid themselves of their addictions, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, speaking at the joint opening ceremony held at the Green Crescent Headquarters, said:
 
“I would like to thank all the management, expert staff and volunteers of Green Crescent for their efforts to resolve tobacco, alcohol, substances, gambling and technology addictions. I believe that these YEDAMs, through the services they provide in a total of 104 locations across our country and in TRNC, will contribute to the efforts of our citizens of all ages to regain the color of their lives. The services provided free of charge in these centers are not limited to the patients, but are part of a broader strategy that includes also their families and social circles. A wide range of support services, from health insurance to employment, and from spare time activities to job opportunities, is provided to those who have recovered from addiction, allowing them to open the door to a new era. The ultimate aim of these grueling and long-term prevention efforts, involving a team with a wide range of specializations, from psychologists to social workers, is to prevent people who have conquered their addiction from relapsing. We follow with deep appreciation the success achieved through the YEDAM model, which was developed by Green Crescent in line with the realities of our country and our ever-expanding service network.”

“As is the case in all our activities, or works in the field of addiction are carried out in a human-centered manner”

Stating that the Green Crescent puts people first in its efforts in the field of addiction, Erdoğan said: “The works carried out through various programs, targeting families, adults, children and young people, indicate the extent to which Green Crescent remains committed to its mission of more than 100 years. As a person who has devoted his whole life to tackling harmful habits and substances, I have always stood by Green Crescent, and I will continue to do so in the future. As I have always underlined, alcohol, drugs and gambling are the roots of all evil. Tobacco use is harmful to both ourselves and our environment. Technology addiction steers us away from our human characteristics and traps us in an unreal world. All harmful and bad things are the same, wherever you go, and under any circumstances. Our sole aim in the struggle we have been waging with Green Crescent is to raise mentally and physically energetic generations for the benefit of our country. I hope we will continue this struggle until our last breath, and with the determination and commitment to not to leave a single person with an addiction in our country.”

Turkey-Specific Model Devised by YEDAM

Stating that they had put significant effort into the development of YEDAMs since 2015, Prof. Mücahit Öztürk, Green Crescent President, said:
“We established the first Green Crescent Counseling Center demurely in 2015, as a call center through which people could reach a clinical psychologist. A few years later, after seeing the demand for these centers, we made an analysis of the treatment approaches to addiction in 20 countries, 10 of which were visited, to come up with a model specific to Turkey. Since then, we have been continuing our work to reach every corner of our country and to provide free services to those who want to rid themselves of addiction. Today, we take pride in being the only non-governmental organization in the world offering treatment to all five addictions on the basis of scientific methods, and with such a large network, and we are very happy to have increased the number of YEDAMs to 104, serving in every province of our country. Although the priority of Green Crescent has always been to ensure the prevention of addictions through preventative studies, we also attach great importance to rehabilitation studies, believing that providing support to those who want to rid themselves of an addiction, and to their relatives, is an indispensable aspect of our works. In this context, increasing the reach of YEDAMs and ensuring that our citizens know that they can come to us when they need support make us more powerful in our efforts to tackle addictions. We believe that all the studies we carry out will contribute to the raising of healthy generations who are free of addictions. I would like to thank our President for his constant support of our efforts, and for honoring our opening ceremony today. I wish all the best to the newly opened YEDAMs.”
 Talking about the results of the studies carried out by YEDAMs, Öztürk said, “45 percent of those who continue their treatments with us for 3 months stay clean. This is a very good ratio when compared to the global average of successful centers. If treatment continues for 6 months, the rate of those who stay clean increases to 70 percent. As part of this process, we not only offer psychological support but also social service support through our social workers. With this holistic approach, we end the treatment and ensure they stay clean, and work in cooperation with the Turkish Employment Agency (İŞKUR) to find jobs for our clients.”

Life stories brought color through YEDAM’s promise of hope
At the opening ceremony, a copy of the book “Those Who Regained their Color”, telling the stories of those who have received support from YEDAM, was launched, and the first edition of the book was presented to President Erdoğan. The book, which is based on real-life events, relates the stories of 19 people with an addiction describing their experiences with an approach aimed at instilling hope. The book brings together those who want to understand people with an addiction, and those who are looking for hope beyond their addiction or the addiction of a loved one, with very meaningful stories. “Those Who Regained their Color” can be purchased from yesilaymarket.com and from bookstores.

YEDAM provides free support to people with an addiction and their families

Green Crescent provides free psychological counseling and rehabilitation support to people with an addiction and their relatives through the Green Crescent Counseling Centers (YEDAMs). The teams in YEDAMs include psychologists and social workers who are specialized in the field of addiction, and who provide free psychological and social support services to those with problems related to alcohol, tobacco, drugs, gambling and technology, aiding them in their integration into normal life. YEDAMs support both the restoration of disrupted life order and the maintenance of healthy relations through the support provided to families and relatives. YEDAMs can be reached via the 115 YEDAM Support Hotline.