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
Our Team
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, equity 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 Executive Director for the National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association (NAAPIMHA) and leads the National Asian American Pacific Islander Empowerment Network, which is a network of Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islanders (AANHPI) with lived-experience related to mental health concerns. She is the Associate Director of Equity for the Massachusetts Coalition for Suicide Prevention (MCSP) and the co-chair of the Greater Boston Regional Suicide Prevention Coalition. Pata is also founder and co-chair of the MCSP Alliance for Equity and 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 complex PTSD. Pata is a member of a number of boards and committees including the MCSP’s Executive Committee and the planning committee for the annual Asian American Mental Health Forum. She is also the chair of the Suicide Prevention Resource Center’s (SPRC) Lived Experience Advisory Committee (LEAC). In 2024, she won the American Association of Suicidology’s Transforming Lived Experience Award and 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 (she/her) is a proud Filipina American, the eldest daughter of first generation immigrant parents, the descendent of Filipino farmers, fisherman, and warriors, and carries both their generational wounds and legacy as a person with lived mental health experience and as a Deputy Director of NAAPIMHA, the National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association, a national organization dedicated to promoting and redefining the mental health of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI) across the United States.
Krystle is a national health equity leader with extensive leadership and management experience in the federal government, the nonprofit sector, academia, and AANHPI-serving organizations. Prior to NAAPIMHA, Krystle served as consultant for the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration, an ambassador for the White House Initiative on Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders, steering committee member for the National Network to Eliminate Disparities in Behavioral Health, health equity ambassador for the American Psychological Association, staff at the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, National Alliance on Mental Illness, and Georgetown University’s National Center for Cultural Competence, and founding Vice Chair of the Asian Mental Health Collective.
Currently, Krystle serves as Health Committee Co-Chair for the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, Mental Health Advisor for the Filipino Young Leaders Program Tayo, and enjoys living as a digital nomad and way finder traveling the country, reconnecting with the land, and living full-time in her RV with her partner and puppy, Evie.
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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 proud, second generation Filipina American from Maryland. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from The Catholic University of America in hopes to support her community’s mental health and to dismantle the stigma that surrounds it. She has been highly involved in leadership within the Filipino American community. She has served as an ambassador for the National Federation of Filipino American Association's Empowering Pilipino Youth through Collaboration (NaFFAA EPYC) program, as well as a fellow and Wellness Coach for 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.).
In her free time, Aryelle enjoys reading, attempting to play the guitar, and journaling. You can also find her in the crowd of a concert from time to time or at the gym.
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
Resident Artist & Illustrator
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
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.
Maureen P. Medina (she/her)
Adult Mental Health First Aid Trainer
Maureen is a proud Filipina and the author of My Fears Out Loud, her debut poetry collection. She holds generative writing workshops that incorporate somatic expression & foster a sense of safety & agency to explore the full human experience. Her movement is informed by her belief that all oppression - and therefore, all liberation - is connected. She believes that we must bear witness to ourselves and the world at large in order to heal individually and collectively.
Maureen has served marginalized populations for over 15 years in multiple capacities and, most recently, is a Certified Adult Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) Instructor. She is certified in both Adult and Youth MHFA; and has certificates for The Biology of Trauma & Healing, Providing Trauma-Informed Care, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), and Achieving Whole Health: Balancing Body, Mind and Spirit (with NAAPIMHA). Maureen has received trainings on Emotional Well-Being, Art, and Youth Work; Self-Awareness through Active Citizenship; and Transitioning into the Labor Market. She is always learning about suicide safety, normalizing & embodying mental health care, somatic healing, mutual aid/community building, and therapeutic art.
Maureen is committed to fostering spaces that center agency and consent. She hopes to inspire the pursuit of total and collective liberation through her work.
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.
Board of Directors
Dr. Ed Wang (he/they)
Board President
Ed is the proud grandfather of two inquisitive and creative granddaughters. He is an up-cycler of arts, a gardener, an author, a trauma researcher, and a storyteller. The Pandemic, human atrocities, hate crimes against Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders, and social injustices brought about writing the book Mending Education: Finding Hope, Creativity, and Mental Wellness in Times of Trauma. He is one of the co-founders of the Virtual Teachers' Lounge for Today (VTL4Today), a national support group for educators.
Ed explores the importance of individual ethnographic narratives, family, and community oral history on well-being. His Trauma-informed Care: Hope, Strengths, Resilience, Growth, and Healing, one of the two skill-based curricula, addresses the effect of Adverse Childhood Experiences and toxic stress on children and their families. The culturally responsive curricula include customization for community mental health agencies, schools, child protective services, housing stabilization programs, and youth development agencies.
After serving as clinical director of two nonprofits, he retired as the former Director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the former Director of Adults and Children Services of Metro-Boston of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health. In addition to the House and Senate citations of his public stewardship on mental health, he received the 2015 Community Hero Award from the Massachusetts Asian American Commission. Born in Hong Kong, he was the first Asian American clinical psychologist appointed to the National Advisory Council of Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration.
Ed is currently the Director of Policy and Planning at the Division of Global Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He mentors public sector psychiatry in practice, program, and policy development. He founded The Consortium for Advancing Mental Well-being of Children and Young Adults. An international consortium of researchers, health and mental health providers, advocates with lived experience, focuses on improving the social and emotional well-being of youth, adolescents, and young adults across the globe.
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.
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.