Dr. Bill Miller, expert in empathy, listening, and motivational interviewing, hosted a full-day workshop in Oahu this winter. Six members of the Pacific Quest clinical team were able to attend. His presentation, titled “Listening Well: The Art of Empathic Listening,” focused on the interpersonal skill of accurate empathy, and captivated a sold-out audience at the …
Blog
The Corrective Relational Experience: Improving Family Functioning with Emerging Adults
Dr. John Souza, Jr., LMFT, DMFT Introduction Outcomes studies on wilderness therapy/outdoor behavioral healthcare (WT/OBH) programs serving youth ages 12-17 have demonstrated that family involvement in treatment increases the likelihood of long-term maintenance of individual students’ gains from such programs. This same body of research has linked caregiver participation in family activities to an increase …
The Art of Empathic Listening- Bill Miller
Dr. Bill Miller, expert in empathy, listening, and motivational interviewing, hosted a full-day workshop in Oahu this winter. Six members of the Pacific Quest clinical team were able to attend. His presentation, titled “Listening Well: The Art of Empathic Listening,” focused on the interpersonal skill of accurate empathy, and captivated a sold-out audience at the …
Breathing Life Into Relationships
Pacific Quest’s Young Adult Family Program: Breathing Life Into Relationships By: Dr. John Souza, Young Adult Family Program Therapist Ohana In Hawaiian culture the taro plant symbolizes family or “Ohana”. The word Ohana itself comes from the taro. The “Oha” are the new growth emerging from the corm, an underground storage organ that is the …
PQ Success Story: Creating a Path in Life
By: Dr. John Souza & Janna Pate Linus came to Pacific Quest as a 25-year-old who struggled with four college failures, anxiety, and symptoms of depression. He often referred to himself as “lazy” and believed he could not finish anything. At Pacific Quest, Linus received a 391-page curriculum consisting of 242 assignments in English, environmental …
PQ Students Attend “Embrace” Screening: Documentary on Body Image + Positivity
By: Dr. John Souza, Jr Primary Therapist At 7:30 pm on a Monday evening, the movie theater in Hilo, Hawai’i was nearly filled to capacity as over 100 souls gathered to screen the documentary film Embrace: One Women’s Journey to Inspire EveryBODY. Of those souls, nearly 40 were from Pacific Quest and included young adult …
The Mango Twins from O’ahu
Last year my wife and I visited the town where my Portuguese ancestors first lived and worked on the sugarcane plantations– Waimea, Hawai’i, on the island of O’ahu. There we discovered a fruiting mango tree with the most succulent mangoes. My wife suggested I bring a seed home to plant. At first I rebuffed the suggestion. But, with a little cajoling, I was soon toting home one of the seeds for planting on the Big Island of Hawai’i. From that moment I began to feel a sense of connection with the seed; it was both the symbolism of the seed as a part of my Portuguese heritage and also my worry about whether or not I could actually grow a tree from a seed I found in the wild.
How Children Raise Their Parents
John Souza Jr., D.MFT Primary Therapist – Pacific Quest Several weeks ago my niece and nephew were visiting from Minnesota. I was so excited to show them all that Hawai’i had to offer. One day we decided to visit downtown Hilo, pulling into a parking stall in the packed lot of the bustling business district and excitedly gathered in …
COMING HOME: A Conversation with Dr. John Souza, Primary Therapist
Please take a moment to share a bit about yourself…and what brought you to Pacific Quest? Having been born on O’ahu and coming from several generations of Hawai’i-born Portuguese and Spanish, I’ve always had a connection to the islands. And while I was raised on the Mainland, including spending my formative years in California, Nevada, …