Three Pilina Center hui members to lead critical conversation at APA 2024

(L-R) Co-presenters Caleb Rivera, Jo Qinaʻau, and Pauahi Souza

Three Kanaka ‘Ōiwi (Native Hawaiian) Pilina Center hui members will be leading a critical conversation at APA’s 132nd Annual Convention, under this year’s theme of Social Equity. The group will travel from their current home bases of Hawai‘i and British Columbia to attend and present at the convention, slated for August 8-10, 2024 in Seattle and online.

The group’s session is titled Weaving Wisdoms: Decolonialism and Culture-as-Health in Clinical & Community Settings, and was accepted by Division 27 - Society for Community Research and Action: Division of Community Psychology. As a critical conversation, the 50-minute session will begin with a short presentation, followed by breakout discussions between the presenters and participants, and an opportunity to network with attendees. After learning about decolonialism and culture-as-health, the presenters hope participants will explore applications for their own communities, and take concept to action. In addition, the presenters hope to foster pilina (connection) between participants, and will provide a platform for continued connection to those interested. The graduate student presenters come with a cumulative 40 years of experience in applied and academic clinical and community settings, and will pull from their primary dissertation research, as well as the extant literature. 

Co-presenter Caleb Rivera (he/him) will begin the session by presenting on culture-as-health, situating it within the cultural interventions continuum. He’ll then be providing examples of interventions with Kānaka ʻŌiwi, based on his work in community psychology. Following Caleb’s introduction, co-presenter Jo Qinaʻau (she/they) will elaborate upon an interdisciplinary view of colonialism. They will present on decolonial and indigenized wellbeing in clinical psychology, and considerations for addressing symptoms of settler colonial stress. Following Jo, co-presenter V. Pauahi Souza (she/her) will provide perspective on the importance of culture-as-health and decolonial approaches in relation to notions of “paradise." This notion combines psychology, Hawaiian history, and a political lens that challenges the way therapeutic interventions are conceived of and conducted for Kānaka ʻŌiwi in the diaspora. 

Together, the group looks forward to holding space for constructive inquiry and reflections on the issues of decolonialism and culture-as-health in psychology. While the experiences and examples shared will be rooted in the Indigenous contexts of these presenters, one of their goals is to explore how these concepts can be applied to serve both Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.

Register for APA 2024 and join this session at https://convention.apa.org/.  

For more information, contact us on our online connection form.