Executive Members of ICMT
Dr. Ishu Ishiyama is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia, Canada. He is also an Associate Member of the Department of Psychiatry at U.B.C. He is a certified psychotherapist registered with the Japanese Society for Morita Therapy in Japan. He teaches counselling graduate courses and supervises master’s and doctoral students in their research and clinical work at U.B.C.
Read More
Professor MIZUNO Masafumi, MD, PhD is currently the Hospital Director of Tokyo Metropolitan Matsuzawa Hospital, Japan, and Director of Early Psychosis Unit ‘Il Bosco’, Toho University Omori Medical Centre.
Read More
Dr. Kenji Kitanishi (M.D., psychiatrist) is an executive member and honourary consultant of the International Committee for Morita Therapy (ICMT) and the Director of the Institute of Morita Therapy and Kitanishi Clinic (Tokyo, Japan), where he currently practises outpatient Morita therapy and investigates theoretical and clinical themes and issues related to Morita therapy. He is the past president (2005-2011) of the Japanese Society for Morita Therapy (JSMT). He served as the Director (1975-1995) of Jikei University School of Medicine’s Institute of Morita Therapy at Daisan Hospital, which is now called Jikei University Centre for Morita Therapy. He continues to take a leading role in the professional training of Morita therapists.
Read More
Dr. Kei Nakamura, M.D., is a professor and the director at the Department of Psychiatry in the Jikei University Daisan Hospital and the vice director at this hospital. Dr. Nakamura is also the director of the Jikei University Center for Morita Therapy which has an inpatient Morita therapy unit. He graduated from the Jikei University School of Medicine in Tokyo with a doctoral degree in medicine. He is well known in Japan as a psychiatrist specialized in Morita therapy, psychopathology, and cross-cultural studies of anxiety disorders (especially social phobia) and depression treatment.
Read More
Faculty of Human-Environment Studies, Kyushu University, Japan
Dr. Masahiro Minami is an associate professor in the Faculty of Education at the Simon Fraser University, Canada. Dr. Minami received his Ph.D. degree in counselling psychology from the Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada. He is a Registered Clinical Counsellor in British Columbia, Canada, and also a certified Morita psychotherapist registered with the Japanese Society for Morita Therapy in Japan. He is the Director of Prison Fellowship Rwanda-Morita Centre for Peace and Reconciliation Research in Kigali, Rwanda.
Read More
ICMT Secretariat
Currently located at:
Simon Fraser University
Faculty of Education
250-13450 102 Avenue,
Surrey, BC, Canada
V3T 0A3
Email: contact@moritatherapy.org
Ayumi Sasaki is a PhD student in the Counselling Psychology program at the University of British Columbia, Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education. She is currently working as the assistant to the Secretary General for the International Committee for Morita Therapy. Currently, her main research interest is in cultural psychology, particularly in examining acculturation and its impact on long-term mental health and well-being, and scale validation for ethnic minority groups. She has furthermore worked with Dr. Ishu Ishiyama in exploring the personal and professional impacts of learning Morita therapy for trainees in the therapeutic model.
ICMT International Consultants
Dr. Alden is a Registered Psychologist and Professor of Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia. Her research interests are in the areas of: cognitive processes in the anxiety disorders, social anxiety disorder, adult-onset post-traumatic stress disorder, and cognitive-behaviour therapy.
Dr. Theresa Benson is a holistic health educator, trainer, and counseling psychologist incorporating expressive arts and nature-based practices to facilitate healing and promote holistic health and well-being. She holds an MA in Holistic Health Education from JFK University and a doctorate in counseling psychology from The University of Akron. She is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist in the State of Illinois. Currently she is employed at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Counseling Center as trainer and program coordinator of the Counseling Center Paraprofessional Program. Additionally, she co-facilitates an expressive arts group at Ascend, a local Intensive Outpatient Program for eating disorders. She is also available to provide individual and group counseling as part of her private practice, Whole Life Expression. She has been teaching Morita therapy to undergraduate students at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign since 2008.
Dr. Jiangbo Li is the fourth Chair (August 2017 – present) of the Mental Health Morita Therapy Application Special Committee in China. He is the Chief Physician in the Clinical Psychology Department at Wuhu City Second People’s Hospital affiliated with Wannan Medical College. Dr. Li holds a Doctoral degree in Japanese Medicine and supervises Masters students at Wuhan University and Wannan Medical College.
Read More
Dr. Lu is a professor at the Chinese National State Council Expert for Special Allowance (国務院政府特殊津贴専家), the Director of the Zibo Mental Health Center of Shandong Province, and the chair of the China Society for Morita therapy. Over the past 10 years, Dr. Lu received eight scientific research achievements awards and provincial or municipal scientific and technological progress awards. He has authored or translated over 30 professional books and popular science books, including: 森田療法入門 (Introduction to Morita therapy) from Japanese, 不安と葛藤 (Anxiety and conflict) from Japanese, and Notes of a psychologist, published by the People’s Medical Publishing House.
Read More
Current interest: theories of mind, racism
Certified clinical psychologist (not practicing)
Areas taught in tertiary institutions: research design, statistics,
Cognitive psychology, cross-cultural psychology
John Mercer is a Chronic Condition psychologist in Australia, has been a Member of the Australian Psychological Society for fourteen years, and currently works in the Public Health system in Tasmania. He holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne, and a MPsych from Monash University. His PhD research was a qualitative investigation of non-theistic Zen principles in Classic Morita therapy.
Read More
Prof. Eugene Mullan is the Director of Clinical Training at the University of Exeter, a co-founder of the Mood Disorders Centre (2004), and the founder of the Clinical Education Development and Research (CEDAR) Group in 2012.
Dr. Brian Ogawa is Professor and Department Chair of Human Services at Washburn University, where he has taught since 2001. The department has academic programs in addiction counseling, mental health, gerontology, youth services, developmental disabilities, victim/survivor services, non-profit management, and Morita Therapy. Dr. Ogawa’s areas of expertise include Eastern therapies, post trauma, cultural competence, and hate and bias crimes. He is internationally recognized as a primary educator and practitioner of Morita Therapy in the United States, having formally studied Morita Therapy for more than 45 years.
Read More
David A. Richards, Ph.D., is the professor of Mental Health Services Research in the Mood Disorders Centre at the College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, UK. He is an expert in health services research methods including systematic reviews, clinical trials and complex interventions research methods. He is prominent in international efforts to improve access to treatment for those suffering from high prevalence mental health problems such as depression. This work involves developing and testing evidence based treatments, and then translating these into routine clinical environments (e.g., development and testing of psychological therapies for depression, particularly low-burden, low-intensity treatments).
Read More
Dr. Natalia D. Semenova is a clinical psychologist in the Department of Outpatient Psychiatry, Moscow Research Institute of Psychiatry, Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. Her publications include articles and book chapters on psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy.
Since 1997, her clinical work, teaching, and academic interests have focused on schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders. In recent years, she has been pursuing her interest in development of a clinical service for treating early psychosis as well as community-based treatment and rehabilitation services for individuals living with long-term psychotic illnesses and their families.
Read more
Dr. Spates is a Professor of Psychology at Western Michigan University. He received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana and worked for 10 years with the Michigan Department of Mental Health as a Senior Mental Health Executive. As Professor of Psychology at Western Michigan University for the past 25 years, he served as Director of Clinical Training for 20 of those years, and Department Chairperson for 3 years. He engaged in private practice for approximately 8 years, specializing in the treatment of anxiety disorders and post-traumatic stress. He is widely published the areas of anxiety, depression and traumatic stress interventions. Dr. Spates is a Diplomate of the American Board of Experts in Traumatic Stress. He has maintained in interest in Morita Therapy for the past 12 years and was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Morita Therapy Center in Tokyo Japan in Fall of 2003.
