Rethinking American Indian Mental Health Services: Explorations in Alter-Native Psy-ence

Since the early stages of his career, Joseph P. Gone has been examining depression and problem drinking within his own community on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in Montana. During this work, he interviewed a cultural traditionalist named Traveling Thunder, who linked substance abuse challenges to the historical and ongoing impacts of Euro-American colonization on community life.

Building on these insights, Professor Gone proposes an alternative Indigenous mental health discourse, an “alter-Native psy-ence”, that contests and recasts mainstream psychiatric concepts and reframes “mental health” problems as postcolonial disorders.

This event will highlight Professor Gone’s research and perspectives on rethinking American Indian mental health services and will include time for audience Q&A. This event is free and open to the public.

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Speaker

Joseph P. Gone, PhD

Professor of Anthropology and of Global Health and Social Medicine; Faculty Director of the Harvard University Native American Program

Joseph P. Gone is Professor of Anthropology and of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard University, where he also serves as the Faculty Director of the Harvard University Native American Program. An international expert in the psychology and mental health of American Indians and other Indigenous Peoples, Professor Gone has collaborated with tribal communities for 30 years to critique conventional mental health services and to harness traditional culture and spirituality for advancing Indigenous well-being. As a clinical-community psychologist and action researcher, he has published over 100 scientific articles and received recognition in his fields through more than 25 fellowships and career awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship. Professor Gone is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Illinois, and he also trained at Dartmouth College and McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School. He taught at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor for sixteen years, where he directed the Native American Studies program prior to joining the faculty at Harvard. An enrolled member of the Aaniiih-Gros Ventre Tribal Nation of Montana, he also served briefly as the Chief Administrative Officer for the Fort Belknap Indian reservation. He is currently a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, and of seven divisions of the American Psychological Association. In 2023, Gone received a Gold Medal Award for Impact in Psychology from the American Psychological Foundation. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine.

Moderator

Vikram Patel, M.B.,B.S., Ph.D.
Paul Farmer Professor and Chair of Global Health and Social Medicine in the Blavatnik Institute’s Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School

About the Global Research and Innovation Speaker Series

The Harvard Global Health Institute’s Global Health Research and Innovation Speaker Series showcases the latest scholarly and scientific advancements in global health across Harvard and beyond, to make cutting-edge research accessible to a diverse global audience, and to spark innovative solutions in the pursuit of health equity and improved health outcomes worldwide. The public series takes place virtually on the second Tuesday of each month from 12:00 to 12:45 pm ET. Each session will include a presentation by a featured speaker showcasing their innovative research in global health, followed by a moderated Q&A.

The Harvard Global Health Institute provides a platform for different perspectives and debates within the field of global health through a variety of media. The views expressed in these events and programs are solely those of the speakers, authors, researchers, and participating audience. As such, they do not speak for the institute or the university.