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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.

Horticultural Therapy is one of the cornerstones of Pacific Quest’s integrative, holistic approach. Recently, over sixty Pacific Quest employees participated in an all day training in horticultural therapy. Therapists and direct care staff worked side-by-side utilizing creative interventions, combining evidence-based practices with mind-body techniques. Horticulture Therapy Training One of the main goals of this training …

January is National Mentoring Month—does your college student have a mentor? According to a report compiled by the Institute for Higher Education Policy, both undergraduate and graduate students alike report mentoring as having helped them develop the proper skills and mindset necessary to succeed professionally. “Ultimately, mentoring connects a young person to personal growth and …

For many of us, winter means snow-covered walkways, freezing temperatures and commutes lengthened by the presence of puddles and slush. However, winter in Hawaii is idyllic, with sunny days and average daily temperatures often hovering around 75°F. These pristine weather conditions mean that outdoor activities continue unabated during the Hawaiian winter. Specifically, winter is a …

The “Dirty Work” of Transformation: Horticultural Therapy & Rites of Passage Presentation to be held Saturday, August 29 in Park City, Utah at the OBH Wilderness Therapy Symposium PQ’s Horticultural Therapy Director, Travis Slagle and Adolescent Field Manager, Clementine Wilson invite you to join them as they present: The “Dirty Work” of Transformation: Horticultural Therapy …

By: Mike Sullivan, Primary Therapist & Lori Armbruster, Communications Director PQ staff members were honored and humbled by the overwhelming turnout of alumni, students and families who gathered at the San Francisco Children’s Garden in Golden Gate Park for an inspiring day of service to the community! PQ alumni spent the day working side by …

By Lori Armbruster, Communications Director In the Hawaiian culture, the word “Ohana” means family, which can be blood-related, adoptive or intentional. The concept emphasizes that families are bound together and members must cooperate and remember one another. When a young person enters Pacific Quest, they become part of a larger Ohana. As they discover the …

By Tess Barnes Dunn, Academic Coordinator Recently, I had an opportunity to spend a day working with my new Pacific Quest colleagues in the area of our garden set aside for our Rites of Passage ceremony, known as Huli Ka’e. A rite of passage is an important event that serves to mark the passage from …

By Bridger Jensen, Therapist Each morning, our newly-arrived Nalu and Kuleana adolescent students and staff travel from our sleeping quarters up the mountainside of the great volcano Mauna Kea. The short trip to our day camp is performed in silence to aid in self-reflection. From these historic, rolling hills through which we travel, sugar cane …

Pacific Quest wilderness therapy program is pleased to welcome Mark Dunn as a Primary Clinician!  Mark has been helping individuals and their families in therapeutic settings for over twenty five years. In 1997, he became a Licensed Substance Abuse Counselor and joined a specialized team that developed specific clinical services for individuals with substance abuse …