About Us

Alo·ha Psych Associates is a multidisciplinary group of specialist psychologists, psychiatrists, and psychotherapists who provide comprehensive behavioral health services across a wide spectrum of treatment settings in San Diego, California. We work in our office, primary care, hospital, alcohol and drug treatment, skilled nursing, assisted living and intensive outpatient settings. We are able to provide seamless integrated and continuous care across these treatment settings. Alo·ha Psych integrates the art and science of specialty psych services to transform behavioral, emotional, physical and social health.

Inspirational Hawaiian Words Driving Our Practice

Alo·ha = In Hawaiian, ‘alo’ means ‘presence’ and ‘ha’ means ‘breath’ or ‘breath of life’. The words combine to form ‘aloha’ which means affection, peace, love, compassion, and mercy as well as hello and goodbye. We are inspired by the principle meanings of ‘aloha’ using the word’s Hawaiian origins as a philosophy to help people heal, grow, and succeed in their lives. We believe in the ‘aloha spirit’ and that it can embolden patients and practitioners to create human experiences that are powerful/effective for mind/body success.

Mana = Mana is a form of a natural energy and healing power which can exist in places, objects, substances and people. Mana is the element that drives our clinician’s to guide, influence, and consult with authority providing optimum health and wellness. Mana also invigorates health encounters giving the energy necessary to manage and overcome illness. Mana is the collective healing power that exists in meaningful healthcare experiences; bringing comfort, confidence and wellness.

Ohana = Part of Hawaiian culture, ʻohana’ means family (in an extended sense of the term, including blood-related, adoptive or intentional). The concept emphasizes that families are bound together and members must cooperate and remember one another. To us ohana means family, trust, connectedness, good feelings and loyalty. With our ohana/family nobody gets left behind or forgotten.

Our Commitments — Integrating the art and science of psychology and medicine

We are committed to: Strength, resilience and positive focus

Our view that a person’s assets and virtues enable individuals and communities to thrive. We believe that people want to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives, to cultivate what is best within themselves, and to enhance their experiences of family, love, work, and play.

We are committed to: Biopsychosocial approach to health and wellness

The biopsychosocial approach emphasizes the importance of understanding human health and illness in their fullest contexts. The biopsychosocial approach systematically considers biological, psychological, and social factors and their complex interactions in understanding health, illness, and health care delivery. Biological, psychological (which entails thoughts, emotions, and behaviors), and social (socio-economical, socio-environmental, and cultural) factors, all play a significant role in human functioning in the context of improving disorder. While the biomedical approach takes the reductionistic view that all phenomena are best understood at the lowest level of natural systems (e.g., cellular or molecular), the biopsychosocial approach recognizes that different clinical scenarios may be most usefully understood scientifically at several levels of the natural systems continuum e.g. biosphere, society-nation, culture-subculture, community, family, two-person, person (experience-behavior), nervous system, organ/organ systems, tissues, cells, organelles, molecules, atoms, and subatomic particles.

We are committed to: Integration of research and clinical skills to make more informed and evidence-based decisions regarding treatment

Our clinician’s subscribe to a scientist/practitioner model that includes:

• Giving psychological assessment, testing, and intervention in accordance with scientifically based protocols
• Accessing and integrating scientific findings to make informed healthcare decisions for patients
• Questioning and testing hypotheses that are relevant to current healthcare
• Building and maintaining effective cross-disciplinary relationships with professionals in other fields
• Research-based training and support to other health professions in the process of providing psychological care
• Contribute to practice-based research and development to improve the quality of health care

We are committed to: Patient-centered care

This practice reinforces that the patient is a key stakeholder in integrated care. Patient-centered care is defined as health care that establishes a partnership among practitioners, patients, and their families (when appropriate) to ensure that decisions respect patients’ wants, needs, and preferences and that patients have the education and support they need to make decisions and participate in their own care.

We are committed to: Collaboration/communication

This practice creates partnership with our patients, psychiatric professionals, primary care physicians and healthcare professionals. We aim to create efficient processes of communication and systems that make it easy to apply consistent guidelines and protocols across treatment settings.

We are committed to: California law and strict codes of professional ethics as set by –

We are committed to: Our Core Principals

• Welcoming patients of all ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientation, and religious and/or political affiliations
• Integrating biological, psychological and social science in practice
• Individually tailored assessment/treatment
• Patient empowerment
• Maximizing health with calming and connecting environment
• Utilizing the knowledge/skill/technology of modern medicine
• Strive to work collaboratively
• Effective communication and business practices