[1] As an interdisciplinary social scientist, Gone explores the intersection of culture, coloniality, mental health, and well-being among American Indians and other Indigenous Peoples.
[5] Upon graduating in 1985 from Flathead High School in Kalispell, MT, Gone attended one year at Oral Roberts University prior to enlisting in the U.S. Army.
In 1993, he entered the doctoral program in clinical-community psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he earned his Master's degree in 1996.
His thesis was entitled, “Affect and its Disorders in a Northern Plains Indian Community: Issues in Cross-Cultural Discourse and Diagnosis”.
[10] Joseph P. Gone's research has significantly advanced the field of cultural-clinical psychology,[11] particularly in understanding the mental health and well-being of Indigenous Peoples.
Gone's research in ethnopsychology explores how American Indian communities conceptualize aspects of mind, self, identity, emotion, personhood, and wellness.
In his re-imagining of mental health services, Gone highlights the cultural divergences between Western professional and Indigenous therapeutic traditions.
His research not only elucidates the inequities in mental health status among Indigenous populations but also provides innovative solutions for culturally appropriate therapeutic remedies.