Faculty profile
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Momoka Watanabe (Sunohara)
Postdoctoral Researcher
Momoka earned her PhD in Cultural Psychology from Concordia University and an MSc in Transcultural Psychiatry from McGill University (Montréal). Originally from Japan, her research focuses on culture and mental health using mixed methods approaches. As a postdoctoral fellow at IRMS, she studies diverse immigrant communities in Québec, examining how identity, language, and digital technology shape belonging, well-being, and health.
Her broader research portfolio includes cross-cultural differences in beliefs about mental illness (Japan–Canada); mental health experiences and service needs of Japanese immigrants in Canada—including culturally responsive care and Morita therapy; retention of anglophone psychotherapists in Québec; and mental health needs of underrepresented minority students.
Selected Publications
- Hirabayashi, M., Tomoda, Y., & Sunohara, M. (in-press). Cultural Psychiatry Meets Morita Therapy: Cultivating Belonging a Among Japanese Migrants in Montreal, Canada. Japanese Society for Morita Therapy.
- Duden, G. S., & Sunohara, M. (2026). Integrating cultural perspectives into the theory building of mainstream psychology. In F. Hutmacher & A. N. Wendt (Eds.), Theory & model-building in psychology. Palgrave Macmillan.
- Nomura, O., Sunohara, M., Akatsu, H., Wiseman, J., & Lajoie, S. P. (2025). Unraveling “feeling bad” in a non-Western culture: Achievement emotions in Japanese medical students. Medical Science Educator, 35(3), 1259–1267.
- Sunohara, M., Sasaki, J., Kogo, S., & Ryder, A. G. (2022). Japanese clinical psychologists' consensus beliefs about mental health: A mixed‐methods approach. Japanese Psychological Research, 64(2), 109-126.
Teaching activities
Lecturer
- PSYC 424: Cultural Psychology
Teaching Assistant
- PSYC 428: Cultural-Clinical Psychology
- PSYC 490: Honours Seminar
- PSYC 310: Research Methods I
- PSYC 311: Research Methods II
- PSYC 315: Statistical Analysis I
- PSYC 316: Statistical Analysis II