Michael Tui, born and raised on Oahu, shares his experience navigating undergrad and grad school as a first generation student. Driven by his desire to uplift his community, he’s served in the mental health field by providing trauma-informed care and the law enforcement field as a police officer for the Honolulu Police Department. He now works on an award winning program in North Carolina as a Behavioral Health Specialist helping emergency medical personnel cope with physical and mental health conditions.

Tell us about your background and where you grew up.

I grew up in a traditional Hawaiian household, on the hills of Papakolea, on the island of Oahu with my parents and 4 siblings. My mom and grandmother were hula teachers and Hawaiian culture practitioners. Growing up, culture played an important role in my life. I’ve danced hula and performed since the age of 3 and participated in multiple competitions and festivals. My parents did their best to educate us about Hawaiian values, history, and taught us the language which gave me a strong foundation in the culture.

Since my parents had me at a young age, they were very open about the struggles of young parenthood. Growing up, drugs were easily accessible in the community, so they emphasized the importance of making healthy life decisions, avoiding traps, and focusing on sports, my studies, and faith in God.

You entered college with an interest in sports. How did you transition from sports to psychology?

I was an athlete for many years — I played American football, participated in track and field, basketball, and I loved outrigger paddling. I attended Menlo College in California to play football and with curiosity, I decided to take a Psychology 101 course. My professor was great and her class opened up my eyes to the types of careers I could pursue in the realm of psychology. I was so intrigued by the workings of the human mind and how it influences every single thing that we do in life.

After a year , I took a short hiatus from college to go on my LDS church mission for two years in the Ukraine (where I had the chance to learn Russian). After my church mission, I had a better focus on life and what I wanted to achieve. It became clear to me that I wanted to give back to my community somehow. I loved learning about the mind and human behavior. I recognized that in our Hawaiian community there were many that suffered from mental illness with little resources and education available. I completed my BA in Psychology from Chaminade University in Honolulu, Hawai’i.

While pursuing your MS, you worked at the Honolulu Police Department, helping abused children and families. Tell us about your first experience using psychology in the workforce.

During my undergrad, I was employed serving the community as a full-time police officer at Honolulu’s Police Department. I’m grateful to my supervisors for encouraging me to continue my education and complete an MS in Counseling Psychology. As I was completing my graduate degree, I had the transformational opportunity to intern and work for PACT (Parents and Children Together) a community organization reuniting families after experiencing domestic abuse in the home.

It was an interesting role and set up for me and my internship where, in the mornings I would take on police officer duties still working full-time, and in the evenings, I would be the primary group instructor for the perpetrators or those that were arrested for domestic violence. This role allowed me to use cultural understanding and compassion to teach perpetrators the skills they needed to repair their family relations and build stronger homes. I am a huge advocate and believer that healing our people starts in each home with parents teaching correct principles of aloha and respect.

Tell us about your experience as a behavioral specialist and how your work is impacting the lives of first responders.

We made the move to North Carolina about 5 years ago to pursue a great job opportunity where I could gain much needed experience under the guidance of a wonderful mentor. My wife’s family lives here in NC and this opportunity has allowed us to be closer to her family for the time being.

I first started as a clinical counselor and then assistant director at a therapeutic boarding school, yet with my previous experience as a law enforcement officer I was offered a role on a start-up county wide program to reduce suicide rates for first responders. This included working with not only law enforcement officers but dispatchers, paramedics, and firefighters.

It’s a critical group that doesn’t get much attention and unfortunately my county experienced the lost of 2 first responders to suicide prior to the program starting. The program focuses on holistic wellness incorporating body, mind, and soul. We educate both the community and our first responders on mental health and how to best protect themselves from the ill effects of their jobs.

Building relationships has been key. Bridging the gap between mental and behavioral health services and our first responders is the primary goal when breaking down the stigma that surrounds mental health. We have done much work in supporting and organizing peer support and critical incident stress management teams across the county. These teams are composed of active law enforcement officers, paramedics, dispatchers, and fire fighters. We train together and activate when called upon in the community leading debriefings and other interventions as needed.

My two colleagues Kaye Kanauff, Holly Metcalf, and I have been blessed with a lot of support from agencies in the area. We continue to grow the team adding as interns former first responders from other city and county agencies hoping to spread the news and share what has been working in our program with others in western north carolina. We’ve been awarded a 2019 LGFCU Excellence in Innovation Award and an International Crisis and Critical Foundation Award, which is evidence that our program and research is heading in the right direction. We have been recently invited to take part in creating the mental health curriculum for BLET (Basic Law Enforcement Training) which will be taught in all counties and agencies throughout North Carolina.

It feels like my work is starting to come full circle — first working as a police officer and now using my Counseling Psychology degree to help this community grow in understanding mental health. My long term goal is to return back to Hawai’i and become a police psychologist at Honolulu’s police department or work closely with the Hawaiian community creating successful mental health programs for all ages healing our native families. Ideally if I could do both that would be the fulfillment of my greatest dream. It would be the best way to come back full circle giving back to my community in the most meaningful way.

Do you have any tips for students who want to enter the psychological counseling fields?

Recognize your capabilities. There will be times when you want to give up on a particular career or path in life and there were times I wanted to throw in the towel and just give up because I believed I wasn’t good enough. Some days, classes may be difficult or you may feel like there is no one else who can relate to your struggle. There is a philosophy that I adopted early in my life which allowed me to move past some of these personal barriers. Essentially, if a human being has the capabilities to be in a particular career field, then I should have all the faculties and capabilities to be in that career field as well. In other words, if someone else can do it, I can do it, too. With time, effort, and focus, you can build your skill set and achieve your professional dreams.

Have mentors. Having mentors makes a world of difference, having mentors that care about your growth is even a greater blessing. You will learn not just the job but the little nuisance and interactions needed to be successful in your career choice. I was blessed to have mentors that both are great professionals and grounded in their cultural values.

Never forget where you came from. Remember your upbringing, your culture, and the aloha that has been passed down from generation to generation and share that with all.