Blog

By:  Janna Pate, Academic Coordinator Makahiki is a holiday season that marks the end and new beginning of the yearly farming cycle in Hawaii. It is similar in timing and purpose to Thanksgiving, Oktoberfest, and other harvest celebrations. At Pacific Quest, we celebrate Makahiki throughout the month of November. Our celebrations culminate in a day …

As I sat in my dining room with my seven guests for our annual Thanksgiving meal, I recounted what I was grateful for in my life. Thanksgiving is actually my favorite holiday, not because of what it represents in terms of American history, but because it is a day that I am able to celebrate …

By: Yvette Slagle, Communications Manager Pacific Quest’s Clinical Director, Dr. Lorraine Freedle and Medical Director, Dr. Britta Zimmer recently co-presented at the 2016 Independent Educational Consultant Association conference in New Orleans.  Their presentation “The Gut Brain Connection: Emerging Trends in Integrative Health” began with the simple question, “What comes to mind when you hear the term ‘gut …

Pacific Quest is pleased to announce a new member of the Clinical and Wellness teams: Dr. Robert Voloshin, Integrative Psychiatrist.  Dr. Robert joins Dr. Shelly Ham and will be on-site full time.  We are very excited to add another Integrative Psychiatrist to our team! Dr. Robert received his BS from UCSD in Biology where he graduated …

By: PQ Alumni Student I didn’t realize how much of my life I was hiding from, and how much I didn’t know about myself, until the three months I spent at Pacific Quest.  Prior to going to PQ in February, I was in a severe depression. I hated every minute and everything about myself.  It …

By: Yvette Slagle, Communications Manager Pacific Quest’s Horticultural Therapy Director Travis Slagle M.A. recently accepted the national award in Therapeutic Garden Design from the  American Horticultural Therapy Association (AHTA). The nomination process included an outpouring of inspiring testimonials from families, alumni, educational consultants, and mental health professionals from across the country. Travis comments, “The greatest …

By: Teresa Bertoncin, LPCC, LMFT, Primary Therapist Pacific Quest is excited to announce that a cohort of 13 of its clinical staff recently attended EMDR training with Dr. Roger Solomon, a Senior Faculty Member of the EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) Institute, as they work to join PQ therapists already certified in the practice …

By: PQ Alumni Student Before Pacific Quest, I was alive, but I wasn’t really living. I was surviving, but I was far from thriving. My life had become completely consumed by depression and anxiety. It was back in 2014; I had dropped out of college, and not for the first time. I had been suffering …

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 …

By: Sharon Findlay Admissions and Communications Manager Pacific Quest is pleased to announce the formation of the Pacific Quest Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity dedicated to supporting the Hawaii County community and its existing non-profit organizations. “After years of working in and contributing to the Hawai’i Island community, we are excited to formalize our efforts …