Ho'oikaika Annual Conference 2024

Health disparities in Hawaiʻi are linked to our history of colonization. In fact, the legacy of displacement and marginalization in 'ōiwi communities is embedded in our health care systems and service modalities. The social circumstances in which we exist today are the direct result of this legacy, and they greatly influence health outcomes. The disease experience of HIV at the individual, interpersonal, and community levels offers a snapshot of some of the most varied and stark ways in which disparity exists in health care. Additionally, providing HIV care in ʻōiwi communities is best accomplished when we can equitably address our needs and deconstruct systems that don't serve us. This session will provide an overview of colonization in Hawai'i, a brief focus on the sociology of colonization, and bring these two concepts together to talk about systemic barriers to positive health outcomes. This presentation offers a robust background to talk about the issues today in context of our history, but will offer tangible solutions to service providers.  

"Design for Belonging: ALOHA for All in All We Do".  Have you ever felt like you didnʻt "belong" in a space?  Was it the way people acted? Was it the shape of the room? Was it the way it spoke to your soul?  In this session, we will share about the Design for Belonging framework we have contextualized in Hawaiʻi through the ALOHA teachings of Uncle Pono Shim and Aunty Pilahi Paki, and consider how we might design our interactions and spaces (physical, metaphorical, emotional) to be inclusive and protective, to help all we serve and meet feel like they are welcomed and belong.

The workshop will explore the ideas of losing ourselves as a result of Vicarious/Secondary or Complex Trauma and the importance of finding our paths to well being in order to help heal, guide, and care for others.  

Throughout history and in personal life, many challenges can lead to profound loss. Grief can extend beyond death, echoing from separation, injustice, trauma, and even everyday disconnections. During these distressing times, children are often the last to be considered. Reflecting on both generational and present experiences can reveal what is helpful and what hurts. In communities that value family, making such changes that support the individual can introduce new challenges, both internal and external. How do we process the nuances of loss across family and community members? This interactive, grief-informed presentation will be child-centered and family-focused. From educational, developmental, and leadership perspectives, presenters will explore collective stories, self-reflection, and the delicate process of acknowledging change while honoring personal narratives.

What does it take for us to live pono in contemporary society? Finding that balance as we operate in multi-faceted systems in a modern time, while remaining grounded in ʻike Hawaiʻi. Through engaging in guided discussions that reflect on and explore well-being and cultural resilience, we will strengthen our resolve as kanaka today to live pono.

The moʻolelo, stories, of Hawaiʻi are the lifelines for the health and wellbeing of its people. Grounded in a Native Hawaiian perspective, Andrea Dias-Machado of Huliau Aloha, LLC will facilitate a series of moʻolelo that explore and deepen the interconnectedness between our identity, our place and our overall wellbeing. This session aims to provide an ala, pathway, with concrete strategies and skill-building activities on how leaders, staff and community organizations may cultivate, lokahi, harmony across personal, professional, organizational and community spaces.

This session will be led by parents who have helped to write a publication which promotes a new way of supporting families when they are facing challenging times. The authors are promoting a different way for mandated reporters to work with families.  They will be discussing effective strategies that these reporters have used in other states. These strategies include: helping families identify their protective factors, linking them to community resources, creating new family engagement tools and using parent navigators to help develop these strategies. Building pilina (relationship, community) involves making a paradigm shift in the way families and providers relate to one another.  Too often, families are reluctant to seek services for fear of being reported.  It is our communities -- which includes educators, neighbors, medical professionals, social workers and service providers -- that have the kuleana (responsibility) and opportunity for connecting families to supports which will help prevent child abuse and neglect from happening.  This panel will talk about how supporting families helps protect children. This session is their Kahea or Call to Action: Support families rather than report them, and learn new ways you can get involved.