Open Dialogue on LGBT and Pacific Islander Mental Health: Lived Experiences of a Veteran  

Come join in on the next webinar in the ‘Ohana Center of Excellence web series focused on the intersection of LGBT Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander mental health.

K Mataōtama Strohl (they/them) will be sharing their lived experiences at the intersection of being a Black, Sāmoan, Queer, Transgender, and disabled veteran with ADHD, PTSD, and substance use disorder. The presentation will focus on K’s experiences in order to educate and increase awareness for those in the LGBT, Black, Sāmoan, and veteran community as well as their providers. Dr. Lesther Papa (he/him/siya/esuna) will be hosting this open dialogue and encourages attendees to be open, curious, and ask questions to learn more about K’s experiences together.

This event has passed. You can watch the replay on our YouTube, or here on the website.

Workshop Presenters

In 2018, K decided to take their own life after internalizing the behavior of an unsafe workplace. After years of working in Aviation Maintenance and Human Resources (HR), K made a pivot towards work that would allow them to continue to serve others. They now work with organizations to create psychologically safe environments for people who share their identities or their lived experiences and coach individuals on how to make boundaried decisions that prioritize their mental health.

K is Black, Sāmoan, Queer ,Transgender and a disabled veteran. K lives with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and a Substance Use Disorder.

Culturally Adapted Depression Assessment for Chinese Americans: How to Reduce Mental Health Disparities and Improve Access to Care

The workshop will cover culturally based symptom expressions for depression, including psychological, somatic, and interpersonal symptoms, used by Chinese American adolescents, adults, and older adults and how healthcare and community providers can better detect depression and engage clients with mental health care. The workshop showcases educational videos and symptom checklists developed by the San Francisco Bay Area Chinese Community Depression Education Project. The project used a community-based participatory approach to develop culturally sensitive tools to address disparities in mental health and access to services. While the assessment and educational tools were developed for a Chinese-speaking population, they are also applicable to other communities.

What will you learn in this workshop?

• Articulate a Chinese culture-based construct of depression with three dimensions—psychological, somatic and interpersonal;
• Articulate Chinese culture-specific expressions of depressive distress used by Chinese Americans;
• Articulate how you can integrate culturally sensitive depression assessment and educational tools into your professional practice and social services with Chinese speaking patients/clients;
• Recognize differences in the differential endorsement of depressive symptoms based on level of acculturation to U.S. society, gender, education, and other factors.

Who is this workshop for?

• Behavioral health care providers who work with Asian American communities.
• Members of Asian American community-based organizations.
• Asian American individuals and those who support them.

DOWNLOADS & REPLAY

This event has passed. You can watch the replay on our YouTube, or here on the website.

Workshop Presenters

Rose Wong is the Director of Social Work at Palo Alto University, where she is starting a master of social work (MSW) program with a specialization in culturally informed behavioral health. Prior to this position, she served as associate professor and department chair of social work at California State University East Bay and as founding director of the MSW program at University of the Pacific. Before earning her master’s and doctoral degrees in social welfare from UC Berkeley, she studied public and international affairs at Princeton University and public administration and psychology in universities in France.

In Dr. Wong’s research, she teams up with community professionals to develop culturally sensitive mental health educational materials in Chinese language, including brochures with symptom checklists and videos for use by professionals and community members. Dr. Wong’s practice experience in the Asian American immigrant community includes counseling for children and families who experienced domestic violence and supporting the implementation of integrated care treatment programs for older adults with depression. In 2022, Dr. Wong published a book entitled, Which Evidence-Based Practice Should I Use?: A Social Worker’s Handbook for Decision Making.

Fostering Dialogue on Gender, Sexuality, and Mental Health in AANHPI Communities

Join us for an engaging workshop where facilitators will openly discuss their personal experiences and professional contributions in the fields of gender, sexuality, and mental health within educational and clinical contexts. Throughout the session, we will explore a diverse range of topics, including the transformative journey of coming out, the significance of visibility, effectively navigating generational disparities, recognizing the strengths and challenges in mental health, and the influential role of advocacy.

Who should come?

  • Educators
  • Mental health professionals
  • Community members for AANHPI communities

This event has passed. You can watch the replay on our YouTube, or here on the website.

Workshop Facilitators

Dr. Kyoung Mi Choi (she/her or they/them) is a co-founder of International Safe Zone and the Queer Educators and Counselors Network. She fosters a safe space for college students, university staff, and faculty across various campuses (domestic and international). In her role as a professor in the Department of Counselor Education at San Jose State University, she teaches counseling theories and techniques for master’s level students in the field of school counseling and college counseling. To learn more about Dr. Kyoung Mi Choi’s work, please visit the following links: 

 

Dr. Lesther A. Papa (He/Him/Siya/Esuna) is an assistant professor of psychology at San José State University’s (SJSU) Clinical Mental Health Counseling program. He was born and raised on the westside of the island of Kauai to immigrant Filipinx parents.

Dr. Papa’s research focuses on the experiences of minoritized people in the form of microaggressions and examines racial/ethnic microaggression detection in higher education, misgendering of trans/non-binary individuals, colorism within the Filipinx community, and intersectional microaggressions toward queer/trans Black, Indigenous, people of color (QTBIPOC). His lab also focuses on training students who have minoritized identities as well and together they focus on making a difference in the lives of minoritized people.

Read Dr. Lesther Papa’s full bio.

Continuing Dialogue on Gender, Sexuality, and Mental Health: Afakasi Experiences

We’re continuing the dialogue on gender, sexuality, and mental health and focusing on the experiences of LGBTQ+ Afakasi! The session will feature Stanson Afoa and Li‘olemāsina “Li‘o” Pele Lubanski who will be hosted by Dr. Lesther Papa. Throughout the session, we will explore a diverse range of topics, including navigating Afakasi/Queer identity, experiences with mental health, and messages for both members and providers of the Samoan community.  

What will you learn?

Experiences navigating intersectional identities and mental health.

Who is this for?

Members of the Samoan community and providers who serve them.

This event has passed. You can watch the replay on our YouTube, or here on the website.

Workshop Presenters

Stanson Afoa is a Content Creator on TikTok where he has curated a following of over 117,000 people. His content predominately revolves around the intersections of his identity as a queer, mixed-Samoan born and raised in Alaska. He utilizes his background in Communication Studies to inform his content style, utilizing both serious and humor-forward approaches. He has been able to use his platform to connect and create cultural conversations that have gained traction in the diaspora, in the islands of Samoa and across Oceania.

Li‘olemāsina “Li‘o” Pele Lubanski (li-oh-leh-MAH-see-nah PEH-leh loo-BAN-skee)

Li‘o’s mom is from Mālie, Sāmoa and their dad is from Fox Lake, Illinois.  Li‘o was born in Southern California and raised in Arizona where they still live. They have always wanted to know more about fa‘asāmoa especially what life was like before colonization. This led them to majoring in Asian & Pacific American Studies at Arizona State University where they were the first to graduate with that degree in 2014.

They are an alumnus of the 6th cohort of Pacific Islander Leaders for Tomorrow (PILOT) through Empowering Pacific Islander Communities (EPIC) and was asked to return as a Mana Mentor for the 10th cohort. They currently serve as Community Organizer for Arizona Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders for Equity (AZ AANHPI For Equity) and as board member and secretary for Island Liaison.

Li‘o is trans nonbinary (culturally fa‘atama), queer, ADHD, and Autistic and has always advocated for underrepresented people like them. They believe taking into account a person’s whole identity and understanding cultural history are keys to uplifting one another in community. This shows up in their Community Organizer work facilitating healing circles for their local Asian and Pacific Islander communities. Li‘o hosts these circles as spaces to discuss mentally and emotionally heavy topics like climate change, LGBTQ+ issues, intergenerational trauma, and more.

In their free time, Li‘o loves to draw, write, sing, and cuddle up with their partner and 3 cats.

Hānai Ahu: Development and Launch

PRESENTED BY THE AANHPI ʻOHANA CENTER OF EXCELLENCE, MĀPUNA LAB, and PAPA OLA LŌKAHI

Join the Māpuna Lab’s virtual summer training series: Hānai Ahu: Anchoring Culture in Substance Use Treatment & Prevention Models. The series focuses on adopting cultural anchors for substance use treatment and prevention strategies. This series provides a tri-lens cultural view of substance use emphasizing “The Impacts of Colonization on Ahupuaʻa. Conceptualization, V3.0” framework that recently launched with the Hawaiʻi State Plan for the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division of the Department of Health. Learn more at mapunalab.com/hanai-ahu. 

What is your ahu?
What is your pua‘a?

Next Steps: Development and Launch

Kealiʻimakamanaonalani Poʻoloa leads the seventh training in the Hānai Ahu: Anchoring Culture in Substance Use Treatment & Prevention Models series in collaboration with the AANHPI ‘Ohana of Excellence. This is Makawalu Naʻauʻao Primary Prevention Curriculum for Substance Use: Reconnecting to Culture, Part 4 ~ Next Steps: Development and Launch

Learning Objectives:

  • Participants will engage in an immersive learning experience and identify ways SAMHSAʻs Working Definition of Recovery can be utilized through engaging with the Makawalu Naʻauʻao Primary Prevention Curriculum for Substance Use.
  •  Participants will learn how to utilize The Impacts of Colonization on Ahupuaʻa. Conceptualization, V3.0 to understand the importance of itʻs relation to place based learning as presented in the Makawalu Naʻauʻao Primary Prevention Curriculum for Substance Use, as it relates to substance use and recovery.
  • Participants will understand how the activities presented in the Makawalu Naʻauʻao Primary Prevention Curriculum for Substance Use, a culturally based curriculum can be applied in their professional role using the 12 Core Functions of a Counselor for Substance Use (CSAC) working with middle school to high school age youth.

DOWNLOADS & REPLAY

Download the Training flier here

Hānai Ahu: Patient and Practitioner Empowerment through AI

PRESENTED BY THE AANHPI ʻOHANA CENTER OF EXCELLENCE, MĀPUNA LAB, and PAPA OLA LŌKAHI

Join the Māpuna Lab’s virtual summer training series: Hānai Ahu: Anchoring Culture in Substance Use Treatment & Prevention Models. The series focuses on adopting cultural anchors for substance use treatment and prevention strategies. This series provides a tri-lens cultural view of substance use emphasizing “The Impacts of Colonization on Ahupuaʻa. Conceptualization, V3.0” framework that recently launched with the Hawaiʻi State Plan for the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division of the Department of Health. Learn more at mapunalab.com/hanai-ahu. 

What is your ahu?
What is your pua‘a?

Patient and Practitioner Empowerment through AI

Hawaii Opioid Initiative (HOI) Workgroup members, social workers, health care providers, and community members will come together to learn the Ahupua’a Framework and its applications. Attendees will learn how AI can empower them as patients and/or practitioners within the healthcare system. Specific 1 examples of the use of AI will involve substance use.

Learning Objective 1
Participants will understand the history and use of the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) acronym in data collection and the importance of data disaggregation for other Pacific Islanders in Hawai‘i.

Learning Objective 2
Participants will identify strategies to avoid creating harm with data-informed decision making and evaluation by understanding how data can provide context on historical and generational trauma of different population groups which can be used as a CSAC screening tool.

Learning Objective 3
Participants will engage in an immersive learning experience with cultural knowledge to develop strategies for inclusion of programming that serves the other Pacific Island communities.

DOWNLOADS & REPLAY

This event has passed. You can watch the replay on our YouTube, or here on the website.

Hānai Ahu: Train the Trainers: Curriculum Framework & Application

PRESENTED BY THE AANHPI ʻOHANA CENTER OF EXCELLENCE, MĀPUNA LAB, and PAPA OLA LŌKAHI

Join the Māpuna Lab’s virtual summer training series: Hānai Ahu: Anchoring Culture in Substance Use Treatment & Prevention Models. The series focuses on adopting cultural anchors for substance use treatment and prevention strategies. This series provides a tri-lens cultural view of substance use emphasizing “The Impacts of Colonization on Ahupuaʻa. Conceptualization, V3.0” framework that recently launched with the Hawaiʻi State Plan for the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division of the Department of Health. Learn more at mapunalab.com/hanai-ahu. 

What is your ahu?
What is your pua‘a?

Train the Trainers: Curriculum Framework & Application

Kealiʻimakamanaonalani Poʻoloa leads the seventh training in the Hānai Ahu: Anchoring Culture in Substance Use Treatment & Prevention Models series in collaboration with the AANHPI ‘Ohana Center of Excellence. This is Makawalu Naʻauʻao Primary Prevention Curriculum for Substance Use: Reconnecting to Culture Part 3 – Train the Trainers: Curriculum Framework & Application.

Learning Objectives:

  • Participants will engage in an immersive learning experience and identify how holistic recovery pathways in the Makawalu Naʻauʻao Preventative Curriculum, a culturally based curriculum for middle and high school students, is aligned with SAMHSA’s Working Definition of Recovery.
  • Participants will learn how the Makawalu Naʻauʻao Primary Prevention Curriculum for Substance Use is integrated with The Impacts of Colonization on Ahupuaʻa. Conceptualization, V3.0.
  • Participants will identify how educational, culture-based health frameworks, Pilinahā and 4MAT, may be applied to substance use prevention among middle and high school students.

DOWNLOADS & REPLAY

This event has passed. You can watch the replay on our YouTube, or here on the website.

Hānai Ahu: The “Other” Pacific Islanders: Who is Micronesia in the NHPI Communities We Serve in Hawaiʻi’s Health Systems

PRESENTED BY THE AANHPI ʻOHANA CENTER OF EXCELLENCE, MĀPUNA LAB, and PAPA OLA LŌKAHI

Join the Māpuna Lab’s virtual summer training series: Hānai Ahu: Anchoring Culture in Substance Use Treatment & Prevention Models. The series focuses on adopting cultural anchors for substance use treatment and prevention strategies. This series provides a tri-lens cultural view of substance use emphasizing “The Impacts of Colonization on Ahupuaʻa. Conceptualization, V3.0” framework that recently launched with the Hawaiʻi State Plan for the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division of the Department of Health. Learn more at mapunalab.com/hanai-ahu. 

What is your ahu?
What is your pua‘a?

The “Other” Pacific Islanders: Who is Micronesia in the NHPI Communities We Serve in Hawaiʻi’s Health Systems

Summary: Hawaii Opioid Initiative (HOI) Workgroup members, social workers, health care providers, and community members will come together to learn about the importance of data disaggregation of the Pacific Islander population in Hawai‘i centered around SAMHSA’s Recovery Model, The 12 Core Functions of a Substance Abuse Counselor, and Papa Ola Lōkahi’s The Impacts of Colonization on ʻAhupuaʻa Conceptualization V3.0. Attendees will be equipped with learning tools to facilitate deeper connections to the Micronesian communities represented in Hawaii which can be engaged in their personal and professional practices.

Learning Objective 1
Participants will understand the history and use of the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) acronym in data collection and the importance of data disaggregation for other Pacific Islanders in Hawai‘i.

Learning Objective 2
Participants will identify strategies to avoid creating harm with data-informed decision making and evaluation by understanding how data can provide context on historical and generational trauma of different population groups which can be used as a CSAC screening tool.

Learning Objective 3
Participants will engage in an immersive learning experience with cultural knowledge to develop strategies for inclusion of programming that serves the other Pacific Island communities.

DOWNLOADS & REPLAY

This event has passed. You can watch the replay on our YouTube, or here on the website.

Hānai Ahu: Knowing Our Audience: Meeting Our Youth Where They’re At in Hawaiʻi and Abroad with Trevor Atkins

PRESENTED BY THE AANHPI ʻOHANA CENTER OF EXCELLENCE, MĀPUNA LAB, and PAPA OLA LŌKAHI

Join the Māpuna Lab’s virtual summer training series: Hānai Ahu: Anchoring Culture in Substance Use Treatment & Prevention Models. The series focuses on adopting cultural anchors for substance use treatment and prevention strategies. This series provides a tri-lens cultural view of substance use emphasizing “The Impacts of Colonization on Ahupuaʻa. Conceptualization, V3.0” framework that recently launched with the Hawaiʻi State Plan for the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division of the Department of Health. Learn more at mapunalab.com/hanai-ahu. 

What is your ahu?
What is your pua‘a?

Knowing Our Audience: Meeting Our Youth Where They’re At in Hawaiʻi and Abroad with Trevor Atkins

Kealiʻimakamanaonalani Poʻoloa leads us through the fifth training in the Hānai Ahu: Anchoring Culture in Substance Use Treatment & Prevention Models series in collaboration with the AANHPI ‘Ohana Center of Excellence! This is Makawalu Naʻauʻao Primary Prevention Curriculum for Substance Use: Reconnecting to Culture – Part 2 – Knowing Our Audience: Meeting Our Youth Where Theyʻre At in Hawaiʻi and Abroad with Trevor Atkins.

Learning Objectives:

  • Participants will engage in an immersive learning experience and identify how addressing trauma through the Makawalu Naʻauʻao Preventative Curriculum, a culturally based curriculum(s) fit into SAMHSA’s Working Definition of Recovery.
  • Participants will learn how to utilize The Impacts of Colonization on Ahupuaʻa. Conceptualization, V3.0 to understand the root causes of trauma disconnection from our past, and the ‘āina that impact our keiki, as it relates to substance use and recovery.
  • Participants will understand how to utilize the Makawalu Naʻauʻao Preventative Curriculum, a culturally based curriculum in their professional role.

DOWNLOADS & REPLAY

This event has passed. You can watch the replay on our YouTube, or here on the website.

Hānai Ahu: Understanding the Upstream – How does the Compact of Free Association (COFA) affect Social Determinants of Health and Policy for Federated States of Micronesia migrants in Hawaiʻi

PRESENTED BY THE AANHPI ʻOHANA CENTER OF EXCELLENCE, MĀPUNA LAB, and PAPA OLA LŌKAHI

Join the Māpuna Lab’s virtual summer training series: Hānai Ahu: Anchoring Culture in Substance Use Treatment & Prevention Models. The series focuses on adopting cultural anchors for substance use treatment and prevention strategies. This series provides a tri-lens cultural view of substance use emphasizing “The Impacts of Colonization on Ahupuaʻa. Conceptualization, V3.0” framework that recently launched with the Hawaiʻi State Plan for the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division of the Department of Health. Learn more at mapunalab.com/hanai-ahu. 

What is your ahu?
What is your pua‘a?

Artwork illustrated by Kealiʻimakamanaʻonalani Parker Poʻoloa

Understanding the Upstream – How does the Compact of Free Association (COFA) affect Social Determinants of Health and Policy for Federated States of Micronesia migrants in Hawaiʻi

Hawaii Opioid Initiative (HOI) Workgroup members, social workers, health care providers, and community members will come together to learn the Ahupua’a Framework and its applications. Understanding the Upstream: How does the Compact of Free Association (COFA) affect Social Determinants of Health and Policy for Federated States of Micronesia migrants in Hawaii aims to provide insight on how upstream protective and risk factors dictated by the Compacts of Free Association affect pathways that may lead to substance use and prevention.

Learning Objective 1
Participants will engage in an immersive learning experience and learn how (the) Understanding the Upstream: How does the Compact of Free Association (COFA) affect Social Determinants of Health and Policy for Federated States of Micronesia migrants in Hawaii fits into the SAMHSA’s Working Definition of Recovery and the Ahupua’a Model.

Learning Objective 2
Participants will learn to identify the barriers to substance use prevention and care that acculturation can create for Federated States of Micronesia Compact of Free Association (COFA) migrants in Hawaii using the Ahupua’a Model.

Learning Objective 3
Participants will understand how to utilize the Ahupua’a Model to improve health services access for Federated States of Micronesia Compact of Free Association (COFA) migrants.

DOWNLOADS & REPLAY

This event has passed. You can watch the replay on our YouTube, or here on the website.