Ho`oipo DeCambra

I was the last child born to Helena Freeman Liftee Gaughen, and the first to be born in a western hospital. At birth, I was secretly taken to a native Hawaiian healer after the western doctors had broken one of my arms to get me out of the birth canal in order to save my mother's life and mine. This experience has prompted me to ask the question, "When will native Hawaiian practices and knowledge receive rightful recognition and status in the broader society"?

I am in a Master's program for Rehabilitation Counselor Specialization at University of Hawaii at Manoa asking the question, "How does indigenous "deep culture" and knowledge get reflected within the theories of counseling and mental health and disability theory"?

I currently work at Hale Na`au Pono, a community-based mental health center, using cultural foundation to assist adults diagnosed with serious mental illness in managing their lives.

-Received the 2000 Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leader Award -

In 1996, as a Community Scholar in Residence, Political Science Department, University of Hawai`i at Manoa, with the help of Dr. George Kent and community leaders, we stirred up community discussions on Charter Schools in Wai`anae which spurred the movement in Hawai`i and resulted in the first Charter School on the Wai`anae Coast.