Jo 'Okika Shigeko Qina'au (she/they) was born and raised in ‘Ewa Beach on O‘ahu, with ancestral roots in Kohala on Hawai'i island; Fukushima, Japan; Indigenous Ainu Moshiri; the Azores, Portugal; Clare, Ireland; and Jewish Bavaria, Germany.

Honoring universalities and uniqueness, Jo connects with the naʻauao (wisdom) of their spiritual and academic roots to fulfill kuleana (responsibility) with and in community. They’re currently focused on transformative trauma-informed projects exploring Kanaka ʻŌiwi wellbeing (decolonial approaches, Indigenous frameworks and interventions), intervention design and implementation (contemplative and mind-body-spirit practices such as Yoga, mindfulness), stress and trauma (intergenerational, complex, transdiagnostic), and equity and culture. Open to collaborative innovations in teaching, scholarship, program design, and community advocacy, Jo draws from multiple disciplines to bring pono (balance) and pilina (connection) to each project.

Jo is an NIH Health Disparities Research Institute scholar and T32 research fellow with the UCSF Osher Center, which provides integrative health and wellness programs in clinical care, education, and research from a whole-person perspective. They are also providing holistic clinical services to those affected by the Lāhainā fires with Hui Ho'omalu, a group of traditional Kanaka ʻŌiwi healing practitioners and counseling professionals using a multi-eyed seeing model. Jo completed their clinical fellowship 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 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; E-YT750), 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 and is a Plasticity of Well-being Network Emerging Well-being Scholars Collective member and WeMerge lead.

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 and worked for organizations in integrative behavioral healthcare (Tripler Army Medical Center, VA Pacific Islands Healthcare), education (McREL International), 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, privilege) of serving as a future ancestor within one’s multiple academic and community lineages. As an adjunct professor, they enjoy instructing undergraduate classes - Psychology of Emotions, Health Psychology, and The Psychology of Wellbeing at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.

As a clinical therapist (licensure in progress), 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 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 only providing grant-funded services through Hui Ho‘omalu, to those affected by the Maui fires).

Jo envisions a puʻuhonua where ecological healing bring to full circle the naʻauao of ancestors for a present-future shining in mauli ola. While we work toward external puʻuhonua, much of the work these days is developing internal puʻuhonua. Though work can be a form of play, when the days are open, they love the ea of Yoga, the joy of pilina with loved ones, and a wild hike in the momona of home.