Associate Professor, Clinical Psychology
School of Education and Behavioral Sciences
Email: joy.tanji@chaminade.edu
Phone: (808) 739-7428
Biography
Dr. Joy Tanji received her Ph.D. from the APA-accredited University of Nebraska-Lincoln counseling psychology program that emphasized clinical practice and applied research. Though she has worked in numerous settings that used a cognitive-behavioral or psychodynamic framework, her theoretical orientation draws primarily from systemic, humanistic, and symbolic experiential theories. These approaches provide students with exposure to empirically based systems beyond the theoretical frameworks currently required by the program and introduce them to process-oriented, experiential, and contextualized case formulation. This is particularly useful in working in community systems that are more collectivistic and kinesthetic. Dr. Tanji’s breadth of training and practice allows her to provide students with a more in-depth understanding of the history and systems of psychology. Her training in complementary medicine also provides students in the History and Systems class with a brief introduction to non-western systems of healing. Students in her classes learn to hone their skills in inductive and deductive reasoning, reflexive/critical thinking, procedural and moment-by-moment participant-observation, and case formulation. Dr. Tanji’s dual paradigm training in positivistic and interpretivistic research methodologies and clinical experiences have made her a helpful resource to students working on clinical research projects that focus on diversity, health psychology, trauma treatment, and spirituality. Her in-depth training in qualitative research design, ethics, and fieldwork contribute to the rigor of the Qualitative Inquiry course she teaches in the program.
Academic Degrees
Ph.D., Counseling Psychology, Clinical Studies Program, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, 1995.
M.S., Oriental Medicine, Clinical Studies Program, Institute of Clinical Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, Honolulu, Hawaii, 2013.
B.F.A., Studio Fine Arts, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1979.
