Cottage Grove, MN — Pahoua Yang, Ph.D., believes in the power of cultural healing. A leader at Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, the largest regional mental health provider for Southeast Asian communities, she understands how valuable culturally based healing can be yet how infrequently it is included in care. She wants to integrate traditional healing practices within the formal mental health system to improve outcomes for her Hmong community. To lead this visionary expansion in mental health services, she wants to gain more expertise in traditional healing and health care policy to address harmful systemic assumptions and better understand where transformation is possible. She will also study inclusive leadership practices, connect with tribal nations and governmental entities that have piloted successful traditional healing as part of health care, and engage the local Hmong community to build collective will for change.
