About Us
The mission of NAAPIMHA is to promote the mental health and well being of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.
What We Believe and What We Do
NAAPIMHA firmly believes in the following social justice issues:
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Suicide prevention among youth
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Empowering mental health consumers
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Access to high quality affordable mental health services for all
NAAPIMHA believes that these public policies and social justice issues have direct correlation with mental health. Without equality and justice in our healthcare, immigration, education, and social systems there will be no peace in people’s heart and mind.
We accomplish our goals by...
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Working closely with those with lived experience by developing a national network (NAAPIEN)
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Working closely with community-based organizations that address mental health and health related issues
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Providing technical assistance and training to service providers such as cultural competency training, interpreter training, and clinical training
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Advocating for policies that will positively impact the mental health of AANHPI communities.
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Working closely with high school and college students to discuss mental health and develop the next generation of mental health leaders.
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Developing mental health fact sheets in languages such as Hmong, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Mandarin, Thai, and Vietnamese
Learn more about NAAPIMHA:
Who We Are
Pata Suyemoto, PhD, she/they
Executive Director
Consumer Advocate, Mental Health First Aid & Achieving Whole Health Trainer
Pata@naapimha.org
Dr. Pata Suyemoto is a feminist scholar, writer, educator, curriculum developer, diversity trainer, mental health activist, jewelry designer, and avid bicyclist. She earned her PhD. from the University of Pennsylvania and did her research on anti-racist education and issues of race and racism. She is the incoming Executive Director for the National Asian American Mental Health Association (NAAPIMHA). Pata is a master trainer for NAAPIMHA’s Achieving Whole Health Program and the director of the National Asian American Pacific Islander Empowerment Network, which is a network of AAPIs with lived-experience related to mental health concerns. She is the co-chair for the Greater Boston Regional Suicide Prevention Coalition and the founder and co-chair of the Massachusetts Coalition for Suicide Prevention (MCSP) Alliance for Equity. Pata is one of the authors of Widening the Lens: Exploring the Role of Social Justice in Suicide Prevention – A Racial Equity Toolkit. She has spoken and written about being a suicide attempt survivor and her struggles with chronic depression and PTSD. She is a co-founder of The Breaking Silences Project, which is an artistic endeavor that educates about the high rates of depression and suicide among Asian American young women. Pata is also member of a number of boards and committees including the MCSP’s Executive Committee, the planning committee for the annual Asian American Mental Health Forum, and the board of directors for the American Association of Suicidology. Her claim to fame is that she rode her bicycle across the country in the summer of 2012.
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Krystle Canare, she/her
Deputy Director
Mental Health First Aid Trainer
Krystle@naapimha.org
Krystle Canare is the Deputy Director for the National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association (NAAPIMHA), a nonprofit organization that promotes the mental health and well-being of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. Krystle is a national health equity leader with extensive leadership and management experience in the federal government, the nonprofit sector, academia, and AAPI-serving organizations. As Deputy Director, she leads works in close coordination with the executive director, co-directors, staff of NAAPIMHA, as well as partners that include community organizations, government agencies, private philanthropy, and news organizations. Krystle is responsible for coordinating operations, budgeting, personnel allocation, and supervising the work of staff engaged in a variety of projects and initiatives.
Prior to joining NAAPIMHA, Krystle managed the Center of Excellence for Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC) at Georgetown University’s Center for Child & Human Development. In that capacity, she directed national trainings for IECMHC programs and mental health consultants across the United States. She provided leadership on priorities to advance health equity, including the Center’s inaugural conference, Equity from the Start, and Equity in IECMHC ECHO training programs. Before Georgetown, she served as a Senior Project Coordinator at the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, where her portfolio included more than five quality improvement projects, such as National Council’s CDC public health portfolio, which including public health initiatives related to tobacco cessation, comprehensive cancer control, integrated care, behavioral parent training for young children with ADHD, and informed CDC’s internal plan for mental health initiatives.
Krystle has served as consultant for the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration, an ambassador for the White House Initiative on Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders during the Obama Administration, steering committee member for the National Network to Eliminate Disparities in Behavioral Health, health equity ambassador for the American Psychological Association, policy intern for National Alliance on Mental Illness, Vice Chair of the Asian Mental Health Collective and now serves as the Health Committee Co-chair of the National Council for Asian Pacific Americans.
Krystle's mental health advocacy and nonprofit leadership expands to the Filipino American community as mental health advisor for the Filipino Young Leaders Program (FYLPRO) and Co-Founder of Tayo Trails, an initiative uplifting Filipino American historical sites and communities through her full-time RV travels.
Raised in the Washington D.C metropolitan area, Krystle graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park with a B.S in Neurobiology & Physiology with Honors. Krystle attributes her passion for mental health, policy making, and community building to the university’s Filipino American History & Biography course, Multicultural Involvement & Community Advocacy Office, and the Filipino Cultural Association.
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Elizabeth Sweet, she/they
Community Engagement Manager
NAAPIEN Coordinator
elizabeth@naapimha.org
Elizabeth Sweet (천혁 (Cheon Hye-ok), she/they), is a Korean American adoptee and graduate of the University of Washington’s neuroscience and political science programs. Transracially and internationally adopted from South Korea into a rural town in Washington state on S’Klallam land, she was raised outside of Asian American community and culture. She has since worked to reclaim her Asian identity and reconnect with Korean culture, advocating that there is no singular way to be Asian American. Elizabeth identifies as a queer person of color with lived mental health experience whose identities have shaped her vested interest in mobilizing around racial justice, global liberation, and intersectional advocacy. She is a model minority denouncer, who lived under the control of this deeply problematic stereotype for years until realizing her value existed outside of it. Currently serving as the Community Engagement Manager at NAAPIMHA, Elizabeth champions visibility for AA & NHPI issues, decolonization, dismantling mental health stigma, and the convergence of science and cultural knowledge with policy. In her free time, Elizabeth enjoys hiking, paddleboarding, discussing Asian representation in media, and reclaiming/wearing Korean traditional dress or 한복 (hanbok).
Aryelle Montecer, she/her
Project Coordinator
Mental Health Awareness Training Center
aryelle@naapimha.org
Aryelle Montecer (she/her) is a recent graduate of The Catholic University of America in Washington D.C, where she received her B.A in Psychology and double minored in Social Work and Latin American and Latino Studies. She is a second gen Filipina who is passionate about dismantling the stigma surrounding mental health. Aryelle has been involved in leadership
within the Filipino American community, having served as an ambassador for the National Federation of Filipino American Association's Empowering Pilipino Youth through Collaboration (NaFFAA EPYC) program, and as a fellow of the Filipino Young Leaders Program (FYLPRO). She has also served as Culture Chair and Co-Chair for District VI of the Filipino Intercollegiate Networking Dialogue (FIND Inc) as well as Event Coordinator for The Filipino Organization of Catholic University Students (F.O.C.U.S.). She is excited to now join the NAAPIMHA team as a project coordinator. In her free time, Aryelle likes to read, listen to music and spend quality time with her friends and family.
Jinny Choi (she/they)
Project Coordinator
Friends DO Make A Difference Program
jinny@naapimha.org
Jinny Choi (she/her) is a queer, first-generation Korean-American. She was raised in an ethnically diverse part of New Jersey—in a county with the highest population density of Korean-Americans in the U.S. Jinny is proud to be Asian and hopes to use her lived experiences to inspire and uplift youth.
Jinny graduated from Bentley University with a Bachelor of Science in Management and a concentration in Leadership. She was actively involved with the new student orientation program, served as president of the university’s co-ed business fraternity and the Korean Students Association, and received various leadership awards for her contributions to the community.
Jinny brings experience from a wide range of industries including consulting, Big Tech, government, youth services, and travel. She has worked as a growth marketer for a DEI consulting firm and as a grant writing consultant for nonprofits.
In her free time, Jinny volunteers at Asian Girls Ignite, a Denver-based nonprofit serving AANHPI girls and women, and takes digital photography and American Sign Language classes. She also enjoys live music (especially K-pop), traveling, strength training, and playing with her two small dogs.
DJ Ida, Ph.D., she/her
Senior Advisor & Executive Director Emeritus, Achieving Whole Health Trainer
Dr. DJ Ida has over forty years of experience working with Asian American/Pacific Islander communities. She received her doctorate in clinical psychology and helped establish numerous organizations, including the Asian American Educational Opportunity Program at the U of Colorado, the Asian Pacific Development Center, a specialty mental health clinic in Denver and the National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association. She has served on numerous advisory boards including the US Dept HHS Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration National Advisory Board, Mental Health America, the Annapolis Coalition for Behavioral Health Workforce, the Hogg Foundation and the UC Davis Medical School Center for Eliminating Health Disparities. She received the Robert Wood Johnson Award for Health Equity for her efforts to focus on the impact of mental health on the health and wellbeing of ethnically diverse and linguistically isolated populations. She was the primary author for the Office of Minority Health’s Integrated Care for AANHPIs: A Blueprint for Action (2012). In 2001 she served as a peer reviewer for the Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health: Culture, Race, and Ethnicity and was a contributing author for the Eliminating Disparities for Racial and Ethnic Communities Subcommittee report for the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health as well as the Annapolis Coalition on Behavioral Health Workforce’s paper An Action Plan for Behavioral Health Workforce Development. In an effort to improve the quality of care for AANHPIs she helped develop Growing Our Own to train clinicians on how to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate mental health services; Achieving Whole Health to train community members to become Wellness Coaches; and the Mental Health Interpreters Training to work in mental health settings recognizing the unique challenges faced when interpreting with immigrant and refugee populations.
Allyson Goto, A.B., she/they
Program Consultant
Allyson Goto is a fourth generation Japanese-American from Colorado. Allyson received her Bachelor of Arts from Brown University in Sustainable Development and Public Policy. Prior to working with NAAPIMHA, Allyson worked at a public health department as a special projects coordinator focused on community-based projects related to food justice and systemic change. While working in public health Allyson collaborated closely with community members, policy makers, funders, and community based organizations. Her work included organizing community coalitions, educating on and advocating for local policies, and advising in discussions for equitable federal funding distribution during the COVID-19 pandemic. She also served as a member of the internal equity action committee for the department and lead racial equity committees around food justice efforts with the local Food Policy Council.
Allyson is passionate about ensuring mental health is accessible to everyone in the AANHPI community and believes that re-imagining what mental health means is a beautiful and important way to achieve this vision. Her own journey around mental health has included exploring the intergenerational trauma that remains from her family's incarceration during WWII and the ways in which her cultural upbringing has impacted her understanding and relationship with mental health. Outside of work she enjoys caring for her mental health through gardening, fly fishing, DIYing, traveling, and photography.
Zoë Cain, They/Them/She/Her
Zoë Cain is a queer, Korean-American illustrator, art teacher, and mental health advocate. They are passionate about “art with impact” and have created illustrations for nonprofits including NAAPIMHA, TaskForce, and Half the Story. Zoë is an experienced online crisis counselor, Rare Beauty Ambassador, and MTV Mental Health Youth Fellow. They are a social media advocate, drawing and writing about their identity and lived experience with mental health challenges to create community, share culturally relevant resources, and normalize conversations about mental health.
Mental Health Awareness Trainers
Dr. Rachele C. Espiritu, PhD
Achieving Whole Health Trainer
Dr. Rachele C Espiritu is a Founding Partner of Change Matrix a women-owned, minority-owned small business. Dr. Espiritu is the evaluator on NAAPIMHA projects and was one of the authors and trainers for the AchievingWhole Health Training. She played a key role in developing a virtual model of AWH so it can expand NAAPIMHA's outreach to community based organizations. Dr Espiritu is a first-generation Filipina research psychologist who centers equity in the training, technical assistance, and capacity building that she provides in the areas of behavioral health, evaluation, workforce development, systems change, and policy development. Rachele has worked with a variety of federal, state, and community representatives to build capacity for behavioral health care services and collaborating systems.
Dr. Espiritu is passionate about service leadership and community engagement. She serves on numerous community and state boards and is a former School Board Member of Denver Public Schools (DPS). She received her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she was a Patricia Robert Harris scholar. She lives in Denver, Colorado with her husband and two teenage sons.
Michelle G. Garcia (she/her)
Youth & Adult Mental Health First Aid Trainer
Michelle G. Garcia is a second-generation Filipina American who is dedicated to supporting the mental health of Asian youth, families, and communities. A macro-level social worker by training, Michelle began her career in global health & education. She developed programs in human rights, refugee resettlement, higher education, and JEDI training across Southeast Asia, the Middle East, New York, and Boston.
Following her own lived experience as a trauma survivor, Michelle transitioned into the mental health field. In 2019, she founded Thriving Asians - an organization dedicated to advancing the mental health & holistic success of pan-Asian communities. In her role as Founder & Director, Michelle developed the AANHPI/Filipinx Mental Health Leadership Program Series which provides culturally- grounded mental health education & training reflective of Asian values & perspectives; messages mental health as a foundation for holistic success; and promotes leadership in shaping mentally healthier families, communities, and future generations. Michelle leads Thriving Asians community programming & consulting services which have made impacts in reaching 1,500+ community members in North America, Asia, and the Middle East.
With NAAPIMHA, Michelle serves as a Mental Health First Aid Trainer. She is also an Achieving Whole Health Coach through her role with FYLPRO (Filipino Young Leaders Program). She led Thriving Asians in serving as a community partner & endorsing organization for the national resolution to recognize AANHPI Mental Health Day.
Outside of work, Michelle enjoys traveling, photography, cooking, and going on dates with her husband.
Kevin Faleulu Niuatoa (he/him)
Adult Mental Health First Aid Trainer
Kevin Faleulu Niuatoa, the youngest of eight children to Rev. Fautua Sr. and Mata’u Niuatoa, proudly identifies as a Samoan American. Raised in San Francisco’s Hunter’s Point/Bayview Area, Kevin witnessed the impact of community service through his parents’ dedication to their village, family, and faith. He graduated from J Eugene McAteer High School in the Bay Area and eventually continued his academic journey at the Kanana Fou Theological Seminary in American Samoa, earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Divinity in 2015. His pursuit of knowledge led him to Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, where he received a Masters in Divinity in 2018 and a Masters in Theology in 2019. Currently, Kevin serves as the Pastoral Care Counselor for the Pacific Islander Wellness Initiative at RAMS, Inc.
He is a certified Mental Health First Aid Instructor for both Youth and Adult Certifications, as well as conducting psychoeducation workshops using NAAPIMHA’s Achieving Whole Health curriculum. Kevin also facilitates support groups like “Coffee Break with the Fellas,” “Weaving Resources for Clergy/Community Leaders,” and “Talanoa for Wellness.”
Beyond his professional role, he ministers at The First Samoan Congregational United Church of Christ in San Francisco, “Light of Life,” where he combines his cultural roots and faith to serve his community.
Interns
Lishan Carroll (she/her)
2024 Policy & Advocacy Intern
Lishan Carroll (she/her) is a rising senior at Stanford University double majoring in Human Biology and Asian American Studies. She identifies as mixed race Chinese American and white. On Stanford campus, she leads MXD (the Mixed Race Student Group), serves as Cultural Awareness Co-Chair for Asian-interest sorority alpha Kappa Delta Phi, and adores being a Resident Assistant for freshmen, high schoolers, and upperclassmen. Born and raised in the Bay Area, Lishan’s interest lie deeply with Asian American mental health, particularly how communities can heal from generational and incident-based trauma. Outside of work, her hobbies include reading, weightlifting, making beaded jewelry, golfing, and watching reality TV.
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Ciboney Reglos (she/her)
2024 Policy & Advocacy Intern
Ciboney Reglos (she/her) grew up in Minneapolis, MN, and is currently majoring in Global Health with minors in Health Policy and Leadership at UW-Madison. Since her arrival, you can find her involved in a variety of campus activities: serving as a Filipinx American Student Organization (FASO) executive board member, working as an intern in the Office of Inclusion Education, co-leading a health project for Public Humanities Exchange for Undergraduates (HEX-U), and more. With a passion for cultural representation and supporting individuals with minoritized identities, she is also excited to fulfill the DEI director position for the Senior Class Office. As a proud Filipino American, she aims to imbue the strong community values and inclusivity of Filipino culture into her work, which is what propelled her to join the NAAPIMHA team as a Policy & Advocacy Intern. In the future, she hopes to work in public health and pursue an MPH program. She is excited to engage in community work with marginalized populations and utilize culturally informed mental health practices.
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Aatina Shaikh (she/her)
2024 Policy & Advocacy Intern
Aatina Shaikh is a junior at the University of Texas at Austin majoring in Sociology and Government. She is a first-generation Pakistani American on the pre-law track. On campus, she is a part of Minority Women Pursuing Law and on the Executive Board as the Advisory Chair for Texas Lady Lifters. Her interests have remained within immigration issues and prison reform for over five years as she's volunteered with organizations that align with those areas. Her hobbies include weightlifting, writing, and learning.
Yuxin "Christina" Gu (she/her)
2024 Policy & Advocacy Intern
Yuxin “Christina” Gu (she/her) is a rising senior at Milton Academy. She is a 1.5-generation Chinese American passionate about Asian American history and advocating for mental health awareness specifically in Asian American communities. At Milton, she is a co-head of Tang, the Chinese culture club, where she helps organize club meetings, workshops, and fundraisers to support education for women in rural Asia. Additionally, she has volunteered with Project Citizenship to help immigrants apply for American citizenship and acts as an interpreter for Mandarin-only speakers. Outside of school, she loves playing tennis, clarinet, and video games, going on biking trips, and playing card games with her family.
Tehani Chandrasena Perera (she/her)
CAPAL 2024 Community Action Project Intern
Tehani is a rising senior at Mount Holyoke College majoring in International Relations with a minor in Psychology and a Nexus in Law, Public Policy and Human Rights. Her International Relations major focuses on Global Commons which consists of areas related to migration, refugees, diasporas and ethnic politics. Tehani hopes to learn more about feminist health politics in the South Asian subcontinent as well as gender, sexuality and minority health in rural communities. She is passionate about advocating for gender equality and fixing educational inequity. She has been a part of social service organizations for most of her high school life going into college and has initiated many projects related to empowering women and girls.
On campus, she currently serves as the Social Chair for the 2025 Class Board, Co-Chair of AWAZ the South Asian Students Association, Captain of the JHUMKA dance team and Vice President of the MHC Pre-Law Association. She has worked on several teams at non-profit organizations and has held internships in Sri Lanka, The U.S. and remote positions in China and the Seychelles. This summer, Tehani is thrilled to join the CAPAL cohort and be able to research on a Community Action Project at NAAPIMHA with the goal of bridging her interests in public service with psychology and access to mental health!
Ally Huang (she/her)
CAPAL 2024 Community Action Project Intern
Ally Huang (she/her) is a rising senior at Pomona College studying Public Policy Analysis with a concentration in Economics. Born in the Bay Area, she identifies as Chinese American but has also lived in Switzerland and China. At Pomona, Ally builds community as a head mentor for the Asian American Mentor Program and an intern for the Asian American Resource Center. She also connects with others through dance and self-expression as the incoming president of the Claremont Colleges Ballroom Dance Company and a head partner at the Writing Center. In her free time, she enjoys writing book reviews, learning dances, and trying non-spicy instant ramen flavors. Ally is incredibly excited to join the CAPAL cohort and support NAAPIMHA's Vote for Wellness initiative. She hopes to facilitate conversations that destigmatize mental health and promote AANHPI civic engagement.
Heather Webb (she/her)
2024 Policy & Advocacy Intern
Heather Webb is a high school junior in Denver, Colorado. She identifies as a second generation mixed Filipina. Heather was first introduced to NAAPIMHA during an overnight sumet, and continued involvement in the Friends DO Make a Difference program. Prior to that, Heather has worked with other organizations, such as Asian Girls Ignite. NAAPIMHA has helped Heather engage with the AAPI community in her area, as well as other AAPI based organizations. Through community involvement, Heather feels more connected to her culture and has found passion in helping her community. In her free time, she loves to play tennis and spend time with her family and friends. In the future, Heather hopes to continue her involvement with NAAPIMHA and learn more knowledge to help those around her in regards to mental health.
Board of Directors
Dr. Ed Wang
Board President
Dr. Ed K.S. Wang is an Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and the Director of Policy and Planning for the Chester M. Pierce, MD Division of Global Psychiatry. As the former Director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, Dr. Wang has developed expertise in caring for and developing programs for racially and ethnically diverse chronically mentally ill adults, children and adolescents with serious emotional or behavioral disturbances.
Dr. Wang’s teaching and consulting work focuses on U.S. and international mental health policy, program development, and clinical excellence. He works with organizations and governments to integrate evidence-based practice, community-based participatory research, informatics, network development, and community partnerships to transform public policy as well as organizational programs and practices.
Dr. Wang has consulted with groups providing community based mental health services in the U.S, Canada, Liberia, Kenya, China, and Hong Kong. He was the first Asian American psychologist appointed to the National Advisory Council, Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration, Department of Health and Human Service and participated in the White House National Conference on Mental Health. He spoke at the 21st IFP World Congress of Psychotherapy on the “Essential Role of Psychotherapy for Person-Centered Health Care: A Global Perspective”.
Born in Hong Kong, Dr. Wang is currently the President of the National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association. He participated in the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Debriefing by the White House Commission’s on Asian American Pacific Islanders. He has been a member of a national group addressing health and behavioral health needs through integrated care for Asian Americans organized by the Office of the Minority Health, United States Department of Health and Human Services.Dr. Wang is a national consultant for the National Center for Cultural Competence for children’s and families mental health. He has been on the faculty of the Training Institutes of System of Care since 2002 of the National Technical Assistance Center for Children's Mental Health at the Georgetown University Child Development Center in Washington, D.C. His clinical, teaching, and public service continues to transform policy, program and practice in the United States and internationally. His career aspiration is to continue the expansion of a network of global experts to improve mental health conditions and overall wellness of underserved communities.
Dr. Francis Lu
Board Vice President
Francis Lu is the Luke and Grace Kim Endowed Professor in Cultural Psychiatry, Director of Cultural Psychiatry, and Associate chair for Medical Student Education at the UC Davis Health System. Dr. Lu’s career has focused on cultural competence and diversity, mental health disparities, psychiatric education with an emphasis on recruitment and mentorship, and the interface of psychiatry and religion/spirituality especially through film.
He currently works with both the Asian American Center on Disparities Research and the Center for Reducing Health Disparities at UC Davis and has served on the California State Department of Mental Health Cultural Competence Advisory Committee since 1996. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) awarded him the 2001 Kun-Po Soo Award for his work in integrating Asian issues into psychiatry; in 2002, he received a Special APA Presidential Commendation for his work in cross-cultural psychiatry. In 2008, the American Psychiatric Foundation awarded him one of its Advancing Minority Mental Health Awards and the Association for Academic Psychiatry honored him with its Lifetime Achievement in Education Award. He currently serves as an issues representative on the National Steering Committee of the Association of American Medical Colleges Group on Diversity and Inclusion and as chair of the University of California Committee on Affirmative Action and Diversity of the Academic Senate. He received an M.D. from Dartmouth Medical School.
Dr. Terry Gock
Board Member
Terry Gock, PhD, MPA, is director of Pacific Clinics' Asian Pacific Family Center, which serves the Asian-American and Pacific Islander populations in the San Gabriel Valley through programs in mental health, substance abuse prevention, child abuse prevention, gang and violence prevention. The Asian Pacific Family Center is the only culturally and linguistically competent public mental health service agency for Asian immigrants in the San Gabriel Valley area of Los Angeles. Gock oversees programs that keep teenagers away from drugs and gangs and offers parenting workshops that help immigrant families adjust to American culture. He is also an organizational consultant and a program proposal reviewer in private practice for various nonprofit and government organizations, as well as a clinical and forensic psychologist.
Gock, born and raised in Hong Kong, credits his high school’s emphasis on community service for inspiring him to become a psychologist. He came to the United States in 1970 for college at California State University in Chico, and earned his clinical psychology doctorate at Washington University in St. Louis. He has served in a number of roles for the American Psychological Association, including membership on the Council of Representatives, chair of the Board for the Advancement of Psychology in Public Interest and president of the Society for the Psychological Study of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Issues. In February 2011, APA President Melba J.T. Vasquez, PhD, honored his work to promote multicultural psychology with an APA Presidential Citation.
Theanvy Kuoch
Board Member
Theanvy Kuoch is Executive Director of Khmer Health Advoctes, Inc. Kuoch is a great example of resilience and surviving in the face of profound trauma. She turned her own experience as a Cambodian refugee into something positive - she now helps other victims of persecution to overcome the scars of the past and has won international recognition for her achievements.
After suffering for four years under the Khmer Rouge regime, she managed to escape from Cambodia in 1979. She recalls the horror of the 1970s: "From 1975 to 1979, I was a slave of the Khmer Rouge and forced to do heavy labour. I watched as my family died one by one from starvation and abuse until I had lost more than 19 relatives." Following the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia, Kuoch, fearing Khmer Rouge reprisals, ran away with her six-year-old son and her niece. They hid in the forest, staying until it was safe to go back to her home, where she was reunited with her father and three sisters.
In the refugee camp, Kuoch was able to regain her self-respect, lost during the long years of harsh treatment. She began working for a surgical hospital operated by the German Catholic Relief Organization and was trained as a theatre nurse. After spending two years working in various refugee camps, she was resettled in the United States. In America, she obtained a master's degree in Cross Cultural and Contextual Family Therapy at Goddard College, Vermont.
Since 1982, Kuoch, together with other devoted nurses from the Khao-i-Dang camp, has provided health services to survivors of torture and persecution through Khmer Health Advocates. As she has said: "I learned that my own pain was eased by helping others." This organisation, based in West Hartford, Connecticut, co-operates closely with other international refugee agencies and assists families to locate and resettle relatives. Finding her own son after 11 years of separation was the greatest reward for her lifelong work.
In the late 1980s, Kuoch started a project called Cambodian Mothers for Peace, a women's group that advocated an end to fighting in Cambodia through discussions and presentations about their Cambodian experience. This year, she organised the National Cambodian American Health Taskforce to address a health crisis in Cambodian communities across the United States.
Kuoch has been awarded on several occasions for her enduring refugee work: in 1984, she was one of the humanitarians honoured as "Outstanding Women" in commemoration of the United Nations Decade of Women. In 1991, President George Bush declared her a "point of light" on National Refugee Day. In 1992, she received an award by the Women's Refugee Commission for Refugee Women and Children for her advocacy work.