Aloha Summits- Maui 2024

In mid July, Don Havana and I packed our bags and headed to Maui for what would be my inaugural Aloha summit. This would be a three day continue education summit from mental health providers that I formed last fall. It’s a long story how it all came to be, and I told the story countless times to others, along with being witnessed by those in our therapist community who knew how it all came to be. I don’t need to write it down here because those who read this and those in my family know how it came to be that I formed a new company called deep diving retreats, summits and adventures. Aloha summits was part of that and we did our first continuing education summit to support a community that suffered deep betrayal, late last summer.  my intention was to support our community and to step in and offer Out of the box, deep training for mental health providers on the beautiful islands of Hawaii. I had tremendous support from people in my community. Some people I knew some people I didn’t know very well at all. Havana and Amara were supportive for nine months prior as I spent countless hours and time and energy preparing.

I was excited that the family would be there to join me. Unfortunately, Amara was going to Girl Scout camp. I was thrilled for her, but also sad that she couldn’t make it. I was thankful for the support from the rest of the family. They provided a lot of mental and emotional support, along with physical support when we arrived. Along with my presenters and some therapist friends who were attending the summit, Don and Havana and I put together a silent auction, got all the materials and swag bags organized and set up the room for our guests. It was a team effort and I was deeply humbled by all the love and support.

The Summit opened with two respected, local leaders, who led us in ceremony outside to honor the fire victims and to bless our Summit. It was a most powerful way to set the foundation. We were all deeply moved by the ceremony. From there we moved inside to start our Summit. All of the interactive and engaging sessions provided deep learning both professionally and personally. My goal of having a diverse panel of speakers and diverse clinicians in the room was noted and appreciated by the majority of our eighty guests from fourteen states. I was also proud that we had almost twenty-five clinicians represented by NUHW in the house. It was a very special moment.

The Summit was a success and we now have plans for next year. I am so thankful for the patience of the family during the nine months of planning, organizing and executing the birth of Aloha Summits. I had to work every day, morning and night, in between Kaiser and private practice. I was focused on this Summit to detriment of the family at times. Yet I know that it was important for the girls to witness first hand how I stepped in to support a community that suffered greatly; that having good intentions and being kind and doing good was good for us and others is how we are meant to walk on the planet, amongst our brothers and sisters and that doing good can also be good for oneself. 

The girls witnessed their parent go from feeling insecure and having no clue how to run a business to finding her way and making it work. They watched me learn, grown, make errors along the way and eventually be successful. They saw first hand how following one’s heart and the call of the Creator is the best and only way and that it all works out in the end. I may have done all the leg work to get this off of the ground but the patience and support from my two small gems nourished me along the way. Asking for support, receiving support, and following this path was good for our family and the community both.