Laughter Heals Association aims to provide psychosocial support to children and their families who need to laugh but cannot get support due to serious illnesses and traumas. It believes in the healing power of laughter.

It was founded by Bahar’s mother, Aslı Bastıyalı, who started treatment with leukemia in 2014 and regained her health in 2016, based on the psycho-social support needs she experienced during her own treatment process. In the Hygienic Play Center located in Altunizade, Istanbul it provides special, free play and socialization services to children of preschool age who are immunocompromised due to cancer treatment and who cannot go to school or participate in social life. The centers also offer free psychologist support to families.

It is a member of Açık Açık, a transparent and accountable association platform that recognizes donor rights.

Our Mission

• Providing free support to individuals and their families who need psychosocial support due to serious illnesses and traumas.
• Bringing together public, private sector and NGOs in joint projects.
• Reducing the effects of traumas on society through social awareness projects.
• Helping mothers who have to leave their jobs during treatment to return to their jobs and social lives with ease through the Guidance Family Program and the Smiling Institutions Project.
• Increasing the number of active volunteers, awareness of volunteering in society and drawing attention to children’s rights to play through the Volunteer Education Program.

Our Vision

• To contribute to the creation of a society; where families go through difficult times, benefiting from the healing power of laughter and a positive perspective, where mothers have equal opportunities with fathers, where there is an equal division of labor between them, where individuals do not hesitate to ask for help and demand their rights for a happier life, where industry, government institutions and NGOs work in synergy in designated areas to produce productive results, where NGOs in Turkey work in close and synergistic relationships with NGOs from other countries, where active volunteering increases, and where a happier country can be “lived with more smiles”.