Rather than specific learning objectives for this lesson, our goal is to offer a community-centered discussion on addressing obstetric violence as a public health crisis.
Our Guest
Kalena is a Native Hawaiian wahine, clinician, scholar, activist and dual certified Family and Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner and Certified Lactation Counselor. She has practiced Maternal-Child nursing for over 20 years, first as a staff RN in Pediatrics and the NICU, and then as an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse. As a Family Nurse Practitioner she has cared for clients in a private obstetrics practice since 2015 with a focus on screening and care for womxn experiencing Perinatal Mood & Anxiety Disorders (PMADs). She also runs her own perinatal psychiatry practice where she holds space for other diaspora Native Hawaiians & Pacific Islander wāhine experiencing PMADs, and combines her expertise in medication management, supportive psychotherapy and lactation counseling to help improve client outcomes. Kalena developed and implemented a Quality Improvement Initiative to improve perinatal emotional wellness in the obstetric setting through appropriate screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment and follow up in womxn needing care for PMADs. She successfully leveraged her position as a community perinatal mental health leader to disseminate her findings and scale the initiative throughout the county in which she resides.
She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from California State University, Northridge in 2011, her Master of Science in Nursing degree and Family Nurse Practitioner certificate from Western University of Health Sciences in 2014, her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from Frontier Nursing University in 2018 and a post-doctoral Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner certificate from Brandman University in 2021.
Throughout her career she has practiced across a wide range of specialities, and currently enjoys working in the field of Womxn’s Health; specifically treating pregnant and postpartum people with Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders. In addition to her clinical practice, she has experience in both undergraduate and graduate nursing education and enjoys teaching the next generation of nurse leaders.
Kalena’s clinical areas of interest surround perinatal emotional wellness and its intersectionality with cultural and historical trauma. She has a long history of community level engagement and has served on boards for several local maternal-child health organizations throughout the unceded Ventureño Chumash territory now known as Ventura County in Southern California.