Jo (she/they) was born and raised in ‘Ewa Beach on O‘ahu, with ancestral roots in Kohala on the Big Island; Fukushima, Japan; Ainu Indigenous lands; the Azores, Portugal; Wicklow, Ireland; and Jewish Bavaria, Germany. They are currently focused on contributing to projects exploring Kanaka Maoli wellbeing (decolonial approaches, Indigenous frameworks and interventions), intervention design and implementation (contemplative and mind-body-spirit practices, equity), stress and trauma (historical, complex, transdiagnostic), and cultural considerations.

Jo is a clinical fellow in psychology through Harvard Medical School at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s Massachusetts Mental Health Center. They hold a BA from Tufts University, an MA in clinical psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University, and is currently pursuing a PhD in clinical psychology at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Jo has certifications in Global Mental Health (TC, Columbia University), Traumatic Stress Studies (Justice Resource Institute), The Science of Happiness (UC Berkeley), Psychological First Aid (Johns Hopkins), Yoga (Experienced Yoga Teacher; EYT-750), Tibetan Buddhist Meditation and the Modern World, Contemplative Psychotherapy (compassion year; Nalanda Institute), and Integrative Health and Medicine (ongoing). In community with Hawaiian and global Indigeneities, they are a proud participant of the Māori and Indigenous Scholar Network and the Summer Institute on Global Indigeneities. Jo most recently completed a fellowship through the NIH-funded Mechanisms Underlying Mind-Body Interventions & Measurement of Emotional Well-Being: M3EWB network.

Since 2007, they have been developing culturally conscious trauma-informed wellbeing programming, drawing from ancestry as a healer, training in Yoga and Buddhism, and empirical investigations of suffering and thriving. She has designed interventions for a range of underserved communities, including young female victims of abuse in halfway homes, community members living in government subsidized housing, women at a Native American reservation, a low-income neighborhood preschool in Dublin, schools in India and Thailand, and community centers and studios in California, the UAE, Hawai'i, and New York. They are currently co-lead for the Project Koa Yoga Teacher Training, focused on BIPOC and LGBTQIA-māhū+ community members.

Jo was co-owner of a cooperative health equity community center in New York (Third Root), and founder of Project Surya, an international service organization which brought free Yoga and wellbeing programming to communities in the United Arab Emirates, Arizona, India, and other regions. For these efforts she has received awards from the Yoga Service Council and Yoga Journal and was featured in the Hindustan Times, the Arizona Daily Star, and other media outlets. She is extensively trained (EYT750) in trauma-informed inclusive approaches to Sivananda (Madurai and Trivandrum ashrams), Vinyasa, Kids, Chair, Restorative, and Pre-natal Yoga. Read more about Jo’s contemplative practice and teaching background here (TBD).

Jo has provided services for organizations in integrative behavioral healthcare (Tripler Army Medical Center, VA Pacific Islands Healthcare), education, wellness (Sensei, Anjali Yoga, Project Koa Yoga), as well as state agencies, entertainment companies (Warp Records, Rough Trade Records, United International Pictures, Sony), and political and social justice organizations (Lead for America, Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest). As an education consultant, she had the honor of co-leading and contributing to projects funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, primarily focused on Kanaka Maoli educational outcomes with OHA (Mana Lāhui Kānaka, Hawaiian Language Immersion Program Assessments), NHEC, OHE (co-PI Nā Hopena A‘o - HĀ), and other Kanaka-serving institutions. They recently collaborated with the Kūkulu Kumuhana Working Group to deliver a six-week program to multiple sites in Hawai`i, based on a Kanaka Maoli view of wellbeing.

Jo mentors individuals whose backgrounds have presented them with challenges related to power and privilege, coming from a servant leadership model, emphasizing the collaborative spiritual kuleana (responsibility) of serving as a future ancestor within one’s multiple academic and community lineages. As an adjunct professor, they enjoy instructing semester-long undergraduate classes - Psychology of Emotions, Health Psychology, and The Psychology of Wellbeing at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.

As a clinical therapist, Jo’s approach is holistic, collaborative, and transdiagnostic. We build alliance and trust together, drawing from evidence-based practices, honoring ecological context, nourishing relationships and healthy lifestyle choices. We might explore your beliefs, emotions, values, and actions - we will likely engage in somatic (body-based), bottom-up approaches to balance and regulation as well. If it makes sense, processing trauma, issues of power and privilege (e.g., colonialism, racism, heteronormative patriarchy), cultural connection, and spirituality are open game. Jo is trained in ACT, CBT, DBT, Cognitive Processing Therapy (for trauma; certified pending licensure), Contemplative Therapy (compassion focus), and mindfulness-based approaches. (Jo is not yet licensed and is not offering therapeutic services through Pilina Center).

When not dissertating, Jo loves the balance of contemplative practice, the joy of pilina with loved ones, and a wild hike in the momona of home.