Dr. Haunani ‘Iao is a Hawaii licensed clinical psychologist and the president and founder of ‘Iao Mind Body Health. She has master’s and doctoral degrees in clinical psychology from Hawai’i School of Professional Psychology. She is a kānaka maoli (Native Hawaiian), born and raised in Hawai’i with 13+ years of experience and solid training and 10 years of leadership experience in healthcare. Dr. ‘Iao was promoted to Integrated Health Director as an early career psychologist at a Federally Qualified Health Center. She went on to work for a large medical group on Maui as the CPC+ Medical Director where she was responsible for developing programs and processes to support a large scale payment transformation, and she went on to serve as Behavioral Health Director. She has experience supervising, managing, and training a multidisciplinary team. She also has experience supervising postdoctoral psychology trainees and practicum students.  She is highly specialized in treating trauma and promoting resilience. She has specific training and experience in behavioral medicine, somatic experiencing, cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, and cognitive behavioral therapy. She views therapy  as a process of new learning and healing, letting the body and inner knowing be the guide. Her role is to walk with you as your support, guide, coach, and educator. Her approach is to focus on whole health: body, mind, and spirit. She wants to equip you to feel empowered, skilled, and balanced.

Dr. ‘Iao is passionate about teaching and inspiring groups, workplaces, and communities to build resilience knowledge and strategies as a protection and prevention against adversity’s effects.  She developed Discover Your Inner Resilience (DiY-IR), an experiential corporate wellness training program designed to maximize new learning through neuroscience.

Areas of specialty: corporate wellness, trauma-based disorders, insomnia, depression, anxiety disorders, and adjusting to medical, physical, social, or psychological changes.

Ages served: 18+

Insurance Accepted: HMSA HMO/PPO, HMSA Akamai Advantage, HMSA quest, UHA, HMAA.

Therapy modalities: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-i), Somatic Experiencing (SE), mindfulness-based therapy approaches, and parts work with memory reconsolidation, and Eye Movement Desensitization Therapy (EMDR).

Personal: I enjoy nature. Simply watching the wind swaying through the grass or trees makes my body feel at ease. I love swimming in the ocean, paddleboarding, and hiking. Meditation and embodiment practices are part of my daily hygiene. Food, herbs, supplements, exercise, nature, and aloha are my medicine. I am level 2 Reiki trained, and I give Reiki to myself, my husband, my pets, and other family. I am a lifelong learner, and I thoroughly enjoy learning new skills; I am committed to constantly growing and improving my craft. My ‘ohana is everything. Time with my family, my husband, two dogs, and cat is precious.  We love sitting on our lanai at sunset in upcountry Maui, enjoying the view and the aloha.

Philosophy: We all have a tremendous capacity for learning and healing that involves being able to witness instead of reliving traumas. When astronauts are in space, they learn that they can simply release objects instead of placing them down.  Their pen will float next to them after writing. When astronauts return to Earth, they find themselves dropping things all the time! If an astronaut can unlearn and relearn gravity, we can unlearn and relearn an old knowing or truth and solidify our desired and healthy truths that already exist within.