Dr. Luciene (Lucy) Takagi

Dr. Takagi earned her Master’s in Educational Psychology with a concentration in Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology from Montclair State University (MSU) in 1999. She received her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the GSAPP at Rutgers University in May 2006.

Dr. Takagi has worked clinically with inner-city, ethnically, financially and culturally diverse populations and with adult and child victims of sexual abuse. She is a trained forensic evaluator and has done assessments and treatments of victims impacted by abuse and neglect. She has testified as an expert and fact witness in New Jersey’s civil courts. Dr. Takagi has also worked forensically, evaluating undocumented immigrants applying for documentation. Currently, she paused her forensic work, and is only doing clinical adult work because of her other commitments.

Dr. Takagi is a licensed psychologist in NJ, in NY State, registered to practice telehealth in FL, and has the Authority to Practice Interjurisdictional Telepsychology (APIT) through PsyPact. Dr. Takagi was the 2020 President of the New Jersey Psychological Association (NJPA); 2019-2021 elected Member-at-Large (MAL) of the American Psychological Association (APA) Committee of State Leaders (CSL); 2019 Past-President of the Essex Union County Association of Psychologists (EUCAP), and a Past-President of the GSAPP Alumni Organization at Rutgers University.

n 2019, Dr. Takagi testified in the NJ Regulated Professions Committee in Trenton for

Bill #5307, revising psychologists’ training requirements for licensure. She again testified on the same Bill in 2020 for the NJ Assembly. The Bill was unanimously passed both times and was signed into law on December 14, 2020 by Governor Murphy S2582/A543.

Dr. Takagi has also advocated and testified representing NJPA for the PsyPact Law, signed by Governor Murphy on September 24, 2021, A4505/S2506, entering NJ into Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact.

Additionally, in December 2017, Dr. Takagi and five other psychologists from NJPA, crafted a letter protesting the exclusion of psychodynamic and other psychological treatments from the list of effective treatments in the APA Clinical Practice Guidelines for PTSD. Her letter, co-authored by a group affectionately known as the "NJ6", eventually led to the development of the Alliance for the Inclusive Integration of Science and Practice in Psychology, a group that authored and supported the PTSD Petition. The petition has gathered over 57,000 signatures.

From September 2023 to December 2023, Dr. Takagi became an Affiliate Member of the United Nations (UN) Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI). As an SPSSI Affiliate Member, she participated in the Psychology Coalition (PCUN) meetings, attended and became a rapporteur for the "Peace, Human Security and Sustainability of People and the Planet" Conference on September 7, 2023, hosted and organized by the Conference of NGOs (CoNGO) at the United Nations.

Since January 2011, Dr. Takagi has been teaching at MSU’s Department of Social Work and Child Advocacy. In 2023, she was nominated to become the Graduate Program Coordinator (GPC) for the Child Advocacy Graduate Program. As such, she developed a Graduate Student Handbook, is leading the refresh of the Online MA Program in Child Advocacy and Policy, in addition to reviewing applications, teaching undergraduate and graduate courses full-time, addressing student issues, and collaborating with the MSU Graduate School.

In 2021, Dr. Takagi received the "Outstanding Psychologist Award" in a State Provincial or Territorial Psychological Association given by the APA Division 31. In 2022, Dr. Takagi also received the "Psychologist of the Year Award" from the NJPA for her leadership and advocacy for psychology during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Takagi is the recipient of the 2024 Peterson Prize, awarded by the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology (GSAPP) at Rutgers University. This distinguished award is presented to an alumna/alumnus who has made outstanding contributions to professional psychology.