Dr. Joelle Taos Taknint is an Assistant Professor who joined the Counseling Psychology Department in Fall 2025. Her program of research focuses on migrant mental health equity for and with migrant communities. Employing a social-ecological perspective on mental health, she approaches this work across multiple intervention levels. She investigates systems (e.g., health care, immigration) and structures (e.g., discrimination) that drive health inequities to inform multi-level intervention development. On a policy level, most recently she has conducted research on the impact of prolonged family separation stemming from the asylum case-back log in US Immigration courts on the physical and mental health, and health care utilization patterns of asylum seekers. While a faculty member at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine (2022 –2025), Dr. Taknint served as Director of Behavioral Health at Boston Medical Center’s Immigrant and Refugee Health Center. In this role her research and clinical leadership focused on organizational level health equity interventions (health care system redesign) in the safety net hospital setting including: a) implementing and evaluating psychological assessment access for US citizenship applicants with suspected disabilities into primary care and b) designing, implementing, and evaluating a stratified care model for refugee women’s mental health embedded in the OBGYN setting. Dr. Taknint looks forward to cultivating local partnerships with health care systems in WI to continue this line of work. At the community level, Dr. Taknint believes in research as service. As communities know what they need to be healthy, Dr. Taknint enjoys lending her program evaluation skill set to support the evaluation, adaptation, and scaling of community-led mental health interventions. At the level of individual and group intervention, Dr. Taknint is interested in co-designing mental health interventions with migrant communities and adaptation of evidence-based treatments to local care settings.
Clinically, in addition to migrant mental health care, Dr. Taknint has a broader interest in cultivating anti-oppressive psychological practice within health care systems and teaching anti-oppressive psychological assessment practices. In keeping with this, she has received her level 1 certification in Therapeutic Assessment, and has a small line of research focused on experiences of therapeutic assessment amongst people with severe mental illness.
Dr. Taknint is a settler in the U.S. and a second-generation immigrant of Amazigh (indigenous North African), Middle Eastern, and European ancestry. Dr. Taknint will be building a research lab focused on migrant mental health equity (name suggestions welcomed!) and is welcoming of inquiries from undergraduate, graduate, and prospective graduate students interested in collaborating on this work.
Education
- Postdoctoral Fellowship , Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine /Boston Medical Center, 2022
- Clinical Psychology Doctoral Internship , Boston University Medical Campus, 2020
- PhD Clinical Psychology (Lifespan Development Specialization), University of Victoria, 2020
- MSc Clinical Psychology (Lifespan Development Specialization), University of Victoria, 2015
- BA Psychology, Macalester College, 2010
Select Publications
- Alshabani, N., Godfrey, L. B., Taknint, J., Sahib, W., Atari-Khan, R., & Price, k. (2025). Intergenerational resilience in the context of historical and ongoing trauma. Translational Issues in Psychological Science
- Harper, K. L., Taknint, J., Salomaa, A. C., Duncan, A., & Valentine, S. E. (In Press). Person-Centered Screening, Assessment, and Case Formulation for Diverse LGBTQ+ Individuals. N. A. Livingston, B. A. Feinstein, & M. P. Galupo (Eds.), Addressing minority stressors and enhancing resilience in therapy with diverse LGBTQ+ clients Springer Nature.
- Taknint, J., Depestre, S., Alshabani, N., Martin, A. M., Virkar, S., & Milord, J. (2024). Assessing psychotic spectrum disorders in partnership with patients: Three culturally-responsive therapeutic assessment cases. Practice Innovations
- Taknint, J., Marzoughi, M., Gellatly, R., Krengel, M., & Kimball, S. L. (2024). Improving access to disability assessment for U.S. citizenship applicants in primary care: An embedded neuropsychological assessment innovation. Annals of Family Medicine
- Taknint, J., Thomas, F. C., Gellatly, R., & Ameresekere, M. (2024). Responding to trauma: A critical review of mental health and psychosocial interventions for refugee women. Current Psychiatry Reports
- Mattar, S., Ipekci, B., Louis, E. F., & Taknint, J. (2022). Training considerations for providers engaged in refugee mental health care. International Perspectives in Psychology: Research, Practice, Consultation
- Thomas, F. C., Bowie, J. A., Hill, L., & Taknint, J. (2019). Growth-promoting supervision: Reflections from women of color psychology trainees. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 13(3), 167.
- Costigan, C. L., Taknint, J., & Miao, S. (2017). Parenting and family influence on positive development among ethnic minority adolescents in the United States and Canada. Handbook of Positive Development of Minority Children Springer, Netherlands.
Select Presentations
- Saadi, A., & Taknint, J. (2025). Common challenges in assessing neurocognitive impairment among U.S. asylum-seekers: A case-based learning workshop. International Refugee and Migration Health Conference, Halifax, NS, Canada.
- Majid, H., Taknint, J., Gellatly, R., Alshabani, N., & Price, K. (2025). The impacts of prolonged family separation and asylum seeker status on migrant health in a US safety net hospital. International Refugee and Migration Health Conference, Halifax, NS, Canada.
- Taknint, J., Ameresekere, M., Darai, R., Gellatly, R., Rous, D., & Mattar, S. (2025). A Stratified Care Model for Refugee Mental Health: A Work in Progress from Boston Medical Center’s Immigrant and Refugee Health Center. Society for Psychiatry and Culture Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
- Ijebor, E., Taknint, J., Alshabani, N., Gellatly, R., Oruganti, S., Thornlow, O., & Fondacaro, K. (2025). Chronic Traumatic Stress Treatment (CTS-T) for Haitian Migrant Women in an Integrated Perinatal Care Setting. The 8th Biennial APA Division 45 Research Conference, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
- Sokoto, K. C., Milord, J., Ijebor, E., Al Mosawi, L., Alshabani, N., Vincent, L., Julien, J., Mattar, S., Gellatly, R., & Taknint, J. (2024). Advancing Health Equity: Accessible and Culturally Informed Group Behavioral Healthcare for Immigrants in Hospital Settings. Roundtable presented at the Coming Together For Action, Global Alliance for Behavioral Health and Social Justice, Chicago, IL, USA.
- Taknint, J., Gellatly, R., Dickerson, A., Ameresekere, M., Alshabani, N., & Prince, K. (2024). Embedding Behavioral Healthcare into a Refugee Women’s (OBGYN) Health Clinic: A Process Evaluation. North American Refugee Health Conference, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
- Mattar, S., Alshabani, N., Taknint, J., Quran, R., Ijebor, E., & Sokoto, K. (2024). Ways We Perpetuate Colonized Refugee Mental Healthcare: A Panel Discussion on Our Continued Mistakes. North American Refugee Health Conference, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
- Ameresekere, M., Jennissen, K., Louis, K., Taknint, J., & Gellatly, R. (2024). Behavioral Health Screening Implementation in a Perinatal Refugee Women’s Health Clinic. Perinatal-Neonatal Quality Improvement Network of Massachusetts (PNQIN) Fall Summit, Boston, MA, USA.
- Taknint, J., Martin, A., & Alshabani, N. (2023). Training Students in Anti-Oppressive and Culturally Responsive Collaborative/Therapeutic Assessment. American Psychological Association Annual Convention, Washington DC, USA.
- Taknint, J., & Syeda, H. S. (2023). Identity Under Threat: How Adult Immigrants Experience and Manage Ethnic and National Identities When Facing Discrimination. Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture, Annual Conference, San Diego, CA, USA.