Bridging Cultures, Building Support

It is an honor to announce Haruka Kokaze ’18 as the inaugural recipient of the ASIJ Young Alumni Changemaker Award. The award recognizes young alumni who graduated in the last 10 years that have brought about a significant positive change to a community or institution through service work, policy, advocacy, or the nonprofit sector. Haruka embodies the spirit of the award through her tireless research and advocacy to increase awareness and availability of mental health services for those of Asian heritage in the United States.

Haruka, who is currently a graduate student pursuing an accelerated program in counseling at New York University, was 14 when she joined ASIJ as a freshman, and in some ways her story is a typical ASIJ story. Born in Hyogo Prefecture, Haruka spent her early years back and forth between Tokyo and New York. At ASIJ, she enjoyed taking part in student service and spent two years doing Kyogen – she has fond memories of learning from Kyogen masters Yasutaro Yamamoto and his younger brother Noritaka. She made a lifelong friend in Myriam Bouchard ’18, with whom she is still in touch despite living in different countries since they left ASIJ. Unfortunately, like many ASIJ students, Haruka’s time at the school was cut short due to father’s next assignment in Houston, TX.

When her father’s transfer was confirmed, Haruka’s parents gave her the option of moving to Houston, or remaining in Tokyo with her mother to finish her last year at ASIJ. It was a tough call, and Haruka found herself caught between the desire to stay with friends and the potential for growth facing the unknown. She sought the advice of trusted friends and teachers about the choice and ultimately decided to move. “Naito-sensei [Machiko Naito-sensei (FF ’07–18)] advised me to move to Houston and take in all that Texas had to offer if I wanted to develop into a distinctively global individual, because my time in the South would be significantly different from my previous American experience in New York,” Haruka shared. “Thinking back, Naito-sensei was correct, and I’m incredibly appreciative that she pushed me to acquire such unique experiences that few Japanese people have. Even though it was one of the hardest choices I had to make, it turned out to be one of my best ones yet.”

The transition to Texas was a difficult one, but also led to some of the most important influences in Haruka’s life. Not only was the school a Scottish Episcopal school with only 25 students in each grade, where Highland dance and playing the bagpipes were the most popular after-school activities, Hurricane Harvey led to classes being moved to a Chinese church in the middle of Texas. Despite the culture shock, Haruka enjoyed her senior year after graduation, Haruka began her first year at NYU as an Early Childhood and Specialized Education major, pursuing an interest in working in a field that most influences emotional development.

After attending seminars and working at field sites, Haruka quickly realized teaching was not for her and she decided to take a gap year. She volunteered full-time at Houston's MD Anderson Children's Cancer Hospital and Memorial Hermann Health System Cancer Center, overseeing therapeutic play sessions for kids with cancer and their siblings to promote self-expression and coping. She collaborated closely with the hospital's care staff at Memorial Hermann as a trained Oncology Patient Lay Navigator to improve patient outcomes. “I loved getting to know more than 200 patients and their families on an emotional level and helping them discover necessary resources like housing, insurance, transportation, and support groups to remove any barriers to care,” Haruka shared. “I spent the rest of my gap year thinking about how to make the most of my time at NYU while pursuing my newfound passion for counseling. After learning that NYU had recently launched a new accelerated program that would allow me to earn a BS in Applied Psychology and an MA in Counseling for Mental Health and Wellness in just five years, I decided to switch my major and return to school.”

The program, made up of a 10-person cohort, was a perfect fit for Haruka and has provided her the opportunity to study graduate-level foundations in counseling from her junior year. It also grants her the opportunity to apply for New York State Licensure in Mental Health Counseling after completing all of the requirements. As Haruka progressed through the program, her curiosity in multicultural psychology and realization that mainstream mental health practices and resources frequently don’t work for non-Western populations, began to grow. During her gap year volunteer work in Houston, she saw oppressed and marginalized global majority groups express their need for mental health care that is best tailored to them. As one of the three Asians in her cohort and the only Japanese student in the program, Haruka experienced first-hand the inequalities that continue to cause difficulties for Asians and other racial groups in the field, which harkened back to previous experiences and lit a fire in her to work towards much-needed change.

“What made me very passionate about my current aspiration was seeing Texas become a popular state for Japanese corporations to house their headquarters and the rise of Japanese expat families,” Haruka shared. “This caused a rise in the demand for bilingual and multicultural mental health professionals who can communicate and understand the difficulties of assimilating into a distinctive American culture across the States.” Haruka became highly dedicated to incorporating her unique background to help her community. After all, who better to help than someone who had experienced moving back and forward between Japan and the United States, someone who had gone through ESL and struggled to write in English with confidence, someone who truly understood both sides of the cultural rift?

Haruka worked with numerous faculty when she interned at the Columbia-WHO Global Mental Health Program who helped her connect with their colleagues and secure research assistant positions at labs that matched her research interests. Through this network she had the opportunity to become the undergraduate research assistant at a lab whose principal investigator is Dr Lisa Suzuki,  a Japanese American female Counseling Psychologist.
“I am incredibly thankful that I finally found a role model that looks like me and is willing to mentor me,” Haruka commented, reflecting on the importance of diverse role models in the mental health field.

Networking and communication skills have been key in Haruka’s career. After first becoming aware of Dr Takashi Matsuki, an attending psychiatrist in the Mount Sinai Morningside and West Hospitals' Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Department, when Japanese expats around her were seeking mental health treatment from him in Texas in 2017. Dr Matsuki, who has extensive clinical training in Japan, offers bilingual telepsychiatry services in twelve states through web-conferencing platforms and is one of the few options in the United States for Japanese-speakers in need of therapy. “Since I first learned of his practice, I’ve always wanted to reach out to Dr Matsuki, but my inner Japanese told me there was no way a respected Japanese male doctor would reply to a random email from a Japanese female college student,” Haruka admitted. “However, at the same time, my American side told me that the worst that might happen is that I don’t hear back; therefore, there is nothing to lose.” In September 2021, Haruka finally reached out to Dr Matsuki and he responded immediately. He invited her to his office for a short chat between appointments, and upon hearing her pitch of herself, he simply replied “Kokaze-san, would you like to intern for me?” The internship has continued for almost two years now and has been a life-changing for Haruka and a huge step towards her future goals. “It has been an amazing honor to learn directly from him and witness the rise in demand for Japanese mental health professionals with backgrounds similar to mine,” she shared.

Another huge influence has been Haruka’s time interning with the US-Japan Council (USJC), a non-profit organization — which she discovered through ASIJ —  that develops and connects global leaders to create a stronger US-Japan relationship through people-to-people connections. Haruka is active in their New York Regional Committee and Mental Wellness Affinity Group. When she struggled with isolation and anti-Asian sentiment during the height of the pandemic, the USJC community helped Haruka find her inner strengths and inspired her to continue pursuing her dream. “I have finally found a beautiful chosen family,” Haruka shared warmly. “And because at least one or two members at events are either ASIJ parents or alumni, USJC feels like an extended community of ASIJ.”

It was through USJC that Haruka first met former ASIJ Board Member Dr Kathy Pike (AP ’99–’10) in January 2022. “Dr Pike’s background initially piqued my interest because she has extensive clinical and research experience in Japan for over a decade as a non-Japanese psychologist. I was thus thrilled to learn that she is the Director of the Columbia-WHO Center for Global Mental Health at Columbia University, which provides summer internships for graduating senior undergraduate students, and even more thrilled to learn that her children attended ASIJ and the same elementary school as me in Scarsdale, New York!” Haruka was chosen as the only Japanese student intern in the 2022 cohort, which allowed her to assist Kathy directly in drafting a chapter on her research on rethinking eating disorders from global perspectives, a role which Haruka continued even once the internship ended. As of October 2023, Kathy and Haruka had secured the publication of a peer-reviewed manuscript on this research in Springer. “What makes this even more thrilling is that Dr Pike has generously granted me the role of first author!” Haruka shared excitedly. Furthermore, Haruka and Kathy will speak together later this fall on a panel discussion hosted by the Global Citizens Initiative, an organization founded by Yumi Kuwana ’86, on youth mental health, and Haruka will be joining Kathy’s team at One Mind at Work, a global coalition of leaders committed to improving workforce mental health to support human thriving for which Kathy serves as President and CEO. The role will evolve around enhancing workplace mental health, with a specific focus on member companies with headquarters in Japan and their subsidiary locations in America.

Haruka’s projects and accomplishments are so impressive in breadth and depth that it’s difficult to fully comprehend all of the work that she’s done in the past few years while also completing her degree — from leading multiple panels and events on mental health through USJC to providing individual and group psychotherapy counseling to people struggling with substance abuse and alcohol addiction and beyond, her resume is beyond impressive. Her most recent project was researching cancer stigma amongst people living with HIV in Vietnam, for which she presented the complete results at the American Psychological Association 2023 Convention in Washington, DC as the first author of the study while continuing to intern for Dr Matsuki, in addition to her work with Kathy Pike.

Haruka continues to strive towards her short-term goal: to work as a provider for Japanese clients in New York, Texas, and other states. “After getting clinical experience, I also want to pursue a PhD in Counseling Psychology where I hope to study the mental health trends of Japanese and Japanese Americans, evaluate the cross-cultural validity of the current assessment tools, and create tools that are inclusive of our culture,” she shared. “I want to study workplace mental health and provide advice on developing better wellness initiatives tailored to Japanese workers in the United States to aid Japanese subsidiaries in expanding their operations. Finally, I hope to eventually open my private practice and partner with other clinicians, organizations, and companies to improve my community's mental health and well-being.”

But Haruka understands more than anyone the importance of self-care, so her life certainly isn’t all work and no relaxation. “I strive to put my mental health first and constantly remind myself that I am only human,” she shared. She also recently began seeing a therapist herself, as all of her graduate professors stressed how crucial it is for students studying mental health and wellness to seek therapy early in their careers if we want to become competent counselors. “I didn't understand it until I discovered that if we don't allow ourselves to be vulnerable, we can't be ready to welcome and support clients doing the same in front of us. Therapy has changed my life in that it has helped me understand how I respond to different kinds of stress and how to manage it,” she expressed. “Unfortunately, there is still a stigma around mental health,” Haruka shared.

“This award represents a tremendous acknowledgment of the labor of love and service to our community that my colleagues and I have put forth,” she shared sincerely. “The recognition served as a motivating factor for me to continue working towards my goals and making a positive impact on my community and beyond. I felt proud, excited, and honored when I found out I was selected,” she added. Her final piece of advice: “Always prioritize your mental health. Not everyone has a mental illness, but everyone has mental health, whether you are a CEO or a student at ASIJ. Mental health doesn’t discriminate by your race, socioeconomic status, or access to care. Asking for help is never a sign of weakness; it is one of the bravest things you can do.”