Ahmet Tanhan

Education: BA: Psychological Counseling and Guidance, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey; MS: Clinical Mental Health Counseling, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA; PhD: Counseling and Counselor Education, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), Greensboro, NC, USA. Biography: Peace/Salaam, I got my bachelor’s degree in psychological counseling and guidance at Ege University in Turkey in 2008. I worked as a counselor for three years in Turkey and then moved to the U.S. for my master in clinical mental health counseling at University of Rochester, Rochester, NY in 2012. I had full scholarship for my school tuitions and life expenses from the ministry of education (government) in Turkey for my bachelor and master’s study. In 2012, I got a full scholarship from counseling department at UNCG and have been able to focus more specifically on Muslims’, in the U.S., approach toward mental health issues and formal mental health services. As a counselor-in- training, I am interested in how I can work on myself to increase my knowledge, openness, skills, and experience to attend/understand myself and others so that I/we can utilize mental health services to facilitate and accompany others including Muslim community and the new counselors-in- training so that we can give something meaningful to this world and make it more livable for all. I am interested in understanding spirituality/religiosity in counseling and more specifically what kind of biopsychosocial issues Muslims in the U.S. experience and how Muslims perceive mental health services (e.g., counseling) and how formal mental health providers (e.g., counselors) consider Muslims’ belief/spirituality while trying to accompany them in their journey. I believe these are important to pay attention so that we all as human tribe including our Muslim communities across the country and globe can utilize mental health services first and foremost to enhance the quality of life and second to address more specific biopsychosocial issues that we all go through as being part of life. I enjoy reading, reflecting, walking/running, swimming, playing tennis, being with my friends, cooking, and most importantly mindfully/intentionally and consciously collaborating and discussing how we –as Muslim community, mental health providers, and any others interested in the topic— can with individual and/or communities invest our resources (e.g., time, intelligence, hobbies, interests, associations, institutions, money) to contribute for a more meaningful and livable life for all starting from our own self, circles of family-friends- community, city, country, and all humanity. When I get a chance to collaborate, especially in the context of research that makes everything much more effective, with an individual and/or community to enhance the quality of life and/or address some biopsychosocial issues at individual, community, and/or global levels, I feel a deep meaning/peace, which is one of the most meaningful thing/hobby for me. I do deeply appreciate all the support from all parts (e.g., UNCG CED-RAM- MSA-Public Health-OIE, Muslim community in/around Greensboro, Zakat Foundation of America) that has made the research much more meaningful, productive, easy, and effective. Once I graduate, I want to go back to Turkey and teach, conduct more research, and practice counseling to keep learning more with-and- from others and continue to collaborate with my dear professors and friends at UNCG and especially the ones at UNCG to keep striving for a more livable and meaningful world/life for all of us.

There are 5 included publications by Ahmet Tanhan :

TitleDateViewsBrief Description
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy with Ecological Systems Theory: Addressing Muslim Mental Health Issues and Wellbeing 2019 5119 Muslims across the word underutilize mental health services for addressing their wellbeing and biopsychosocial, spiritual, and contextual issues. By 2030, the global Muslim population is expected to reach 2.2 billion people. This indicates that Musli...
Mental health issues and seeking of formal mental health services among Muslims in the Southeastern U.S.: preliminary investigation of a contextual theoretical framework based on the theory of planned behavior/theory of reasoned action and the social ecological model 2017 3117 The Muslim community in the Southeastern U.S., being a small part of the larger Muslim population in the U.S., faces many psychosocial issues and underutilizes mental health services. Muslims’ underutilization of mental health services to address the...
Muslims and mental health concerns: A social ecological model perspective 2019 2876 Muslims in the United States experience many psychosocial issues and underutilize mental health services. This study sought to systematically identify the common issues and strengths of the Muslims affiliated with a college in the Southeast region of...
Online photovoice to explore and advocate for Muslim biopsychosocial spiritual wellbeing and issues: Ecological systems theory and ally development 2020 2123 We aimed to examine the biopsychosocial spiritual strengths and concerns of college affiliated Muslims living in the southeast U.S. through an online photovoice study to enhance their biopsychosocial spiritual wellbeing. Muslims in the U.S., includin...
A Proposed Framework Based on Literature Review of Online Contextual Mental Health Services to Enhance Wellbeing and Address Psychopathology During COVID-19 2020 2023 Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) became a pandemic and is causing unprecedented biopsychosocial, spiritual and economic issues across the world while mostly affecting unprivileged populations. Turkey has gradually implemented new regulations, which slo...