I Ola Lahui provides training in effective, culturally-minded interventions for use in Hawaii's rural and medically underserved communities. The goal of the program is to increase Hawai'i's capacity to address the growing behavioral health needs through training in traditional mental health care, integrated behavioral health in primary care settings, chronic disease management, substance use treatment, child and adolescent mental health, and psychopharmacology.
The program offers clinical and research training using the scientist practitioner model where interns use research to inform clinical practice and conduct research on topics related to their clinical work and other current projects.
Interns work in clinical settings on different islands (O'ahu, Lana'i, Molokai, Hawai'i island) to gain experience in 4 core clinical areas: Primary Care/Integrated Behavioral Health, Behavioral Medicine and Health Psychology, Adult Outpatient, and Child/Adolescent. Didactic instruction and supervision are provided weekly to support interns training in topics including but not limited to, cultural competence, cognitive behavior therapy, motivational interviewing, geropsychology, couples therapy, psychopharmacology, family therapy, PCIT, DBT, trauma informed care, rural ethics, health provider resilience, suicide prevention, chronic pain management, diabetes management, and other chronic conditions, etc.. Interns receive clinical supervision along with weekly professional development and research supervision. Interns are encouraged to engage in program development and research projects as part of their training.
Post doctoral fellowship positions are available, although they vary in and placements year to year; interns are encouraged to apply.