WAILUKU–A county council committee heard testimony Monday morning regarding the island’s desperate need to offer more mental health resources.

The Water Authority, Social Services, and Parks Committee met at 9 a.m., with the topic of Maui’s mental health resources, one of the two agenda items being discussed, being front and center.

Committee Chair Shane Sinenci, who holds the county council seat for East Maui, led the meeting where a few members of the public came to testify on a topic that lingers on many an individual’s mind after the devastating Aug. 8 Lahaina wildfire.

The committee heard reports from Jonathan Grau, director of client development for Mental Health First Aid USA and Danielle Schwarz, a data analyst and peer support coordinator for the Tompkins County Department of Emergency Response in New York. A representative from the Resiliency and Justice Center in Las Vegas was also present.

However, local input was limited.

Nicole Galindo, a licensed clinical social worker who has been providing mental health services on Maui for 20 years, said the lack of local voices Monday was a concern.

“I’m really surprised we don’t have anyone talking about what’s going on here and what we’re doing,” she said.

Galindo said not having a locally-trained group of mental health providers is part of the problem.

“Please also consider creating mental health initiatives that are culturally competent,” she said. “That includes all people and that includes our indigenous values and our multi-cultural values.”

Lisa Grove was not at the meeting Monday but is the lead researcher of the Maui Together Wildfire Assessment and currently the interim director of Maui United Way until the end of the month. In a report she helped spearhead that was published in June 2024 that surveyed 2,097 Maui County residents and 1,105 fire-impacted individuals, she said they found 24% of the county said they or someone in their household needed mental health care and that number jumped to 29% to the fire-impacted community.

“What we do know from the survey we did is we have a mental health crisis,” she said.

“We have 64% who were fire-impacted and think their mental health is worse since the fires,” she said. “Which is a gigantic number.”

She agreed with Galindo’s statement and said more culturally-sensitive, locally-trained workers are needed.

“Culturally competency is a big part of this,” she added.

According to a scholarly article in Med Journal titled “The Health and Social Impacts of the Maui Wildfires: Post-Disaster Care from a Sociocultural Lens,” the fires left 6,000 people houseless, and countless others experiencing long lasting psychological injuries from the tragedy.

According to the report, survivors commonly reported experiencing post-disaster symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety. Long-term health care needs for survivors were also described as limited, and included barriers such as inter-island distance, rurality, and, as Galindo and Grove pointed out, lower availability of providers relative to demand in Hawai’i.

The article also addressed the issue of the sociocultural and community impacts of the fire, particularly for Native Hawaiians. Lahaina was home to culturally-significant artifacts and historic sites, many of which were more than a century old and were either destroyed in the fires or suffered immense damage.

Grove said it’s important that local politicians continue to support community-led initiatives.

“We know that homegrown talent is our best shot because it’s hard for people to move here, stay here and like living here so we have to do more to train our own people,” she said.

All nine members of the county council were present Monday.

No legislative action was taken; however, council members discussed the importance of prioritizing the issue moving forward.

“Our office will be contacting the Lahaina Comprehensive Resiliency Center and hopefully that will be our next stop in this process,” Sinenci said.

For more information about mental health resources visit The Maui Behavioral Health Resources network online, or visit www.mauiunitedway.org.