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. As a visiting professor, he recently taught multicultural counselling in the clinical psychology program at the University of Tokyo during his sabbatical (2009-2010). He was a former David Lam Chair in Multicultural Education at U.B.C. He was born and educated in Japan, and earned his Master’s degree from McGill University and a Ph.D. from University of Victoria, both in counselling psychology.
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. He is known as the developer of “The Anti-discrimination Response Training (A.R.T.) Program: An Active Witnessing Approach,” which has been used in schools and community education programs in Canada for prejudice reduction and social justice training. He is also a co-developer of the Sociocultural Competency Training (SCT) Program, widely used in career and educational settings in Canada and overseas. He has authored facilitator manuals for the above programs.
Dr. Ishiyama is also internationally known for his teaching, research, and training clinicians in a Japanese psychotherapy system (Morita therapy), and serves as the Chair of the International Committee for Morita Therapy (ICMT) and sits on the Executive Board of Directors for the Japanese Society for Morita Therapy. He is the recipient of the Shoma Morita Award by the Society in 2007. He has been engaged in research and clinical training in such areas as: multicultural counselling and supervision, cultural diversity in help-seeking attitudes and healing paradigms, identity and spirituality in personal and cross-cultural transitions, social anxiety treatment, anti-discrimination and prejudice reduction program development, comparing and integrating Eastern and Western therapeutic approaches, and development of socio-cultural competencies among “cultural newcomers.” He has over one hundred published journal articles, books, book chapters, and technical papers in English and Japanese. He travels extensively to give lectures and workshops in Canada, Asia, and Europe.