Advocacy has been an important part of both my personal and professional life.

Member of Hawaii Psychological Association Legislative Committee (LC) for 17 years. Each year the LC members closely follow introduced bills that involve psychology. I have advocated by providing testimony (written and oral) for adoption or not, depending on the proposed bill(s). What follows are some examples of this work.

Prescriptive Authority for qualified psychologists. Consistently, I have advocated for this. Hawaii was the first state to propose a bill and had a bill approved, only to be vetoed by the then Governor. I will continue working on getting a bill passed this coming legislative season. Legislative bills with which I have recently been involved include:

• • Telehealth Scope of practice issues related to practice medical aid in dying
  • Child welfare Immunity from civil and criminal liability for individuals who provide information or assistance in child abuse investigations
  • Requiring training to University employees responsible for investigating and assisting victims of sexual and domestic violence
  • Requiring that Hawaii’s Council on Mental Health has members with demonstrated knowledge of or work experience involving Native Hawaiian practices

Federal Advocacy Coordinator (FAC) for APA Div52 (International Psychology) from 2013-2018. As a FAC, I advocated “on the Washington D.C. hill” annually with my state’s U.S. Senators and Congress persons on the issues that APA identified, including:

• • Advocated for the term “psychologist” to be included in the Medicare definition of physician and to have psychologists paid fairly for their services rendered under Medicare
  • To repeal the Sustainable Growth Rate (SRG) formula
  • Congress should fix the payment formula to halt declining psychologist Medicare reimbursement rates
  • Add psychologists to the Electronic Health Records Incentive (HITECH) Act
  • Encourage cosponsoring the reintroduced bill, Medicare Mental Health Access Act, to allow psychologists to practice without unnecessary physician supervision

Examples of Personal Advocacy include:

• • Serve on the Board of Directors, Project Satori, a non-profit organization providing comprehensive mental health services for survivors of human trafficking
  • Serve on the Advisory Council Member and Consultant, Reclaim 13, a non-profit organization devoted to ending sexual exploitation of childrenWork crew volunteer in Chuzhou, Anhui, China for Half the Sky, (renamed OneSky), an organization that teaches communities and caregivers to provide nurturing responsive care and early education to our world’s most vulnerable young children
  • Served as a Consultant at Fiaola Centre, Mo Fautuaga Liloia Counseling Center, Apia, Samoa, providing consultation and supervision with the permanent counseling staffServed as a Consultant, Women in Business Foundation and Ofaga o Tamai, Apia, Samoa, a non-profit NGO that promote and advocate women’s interest in business and to stimulate and support small business initiatives