Our history and the design of our programs are rooted in the activism character of this community. In the mid-1970's the State Department of Health was responsible for providing necessary services to the people of the Wai`anae coast. The services, however, were insufficient, often times requiring our people to go outside of the community to receive treatment, not provided in a culturally sensitive manner, and built more around a professional-institutional system of service delivery rather than a client centered system. It was a crisis reactive system more often than a proactive system. The people served by this system felt unimportant and forgotten by the state.

In 1978, the State of Hawai`i agreed that mental health services were inadequate.

We began a transition program with the State, first, by separating our community service from the Leeward District by designating Wai`anae as a separate "catchment" area. We were called a "demonstration model" and formed our own advisory board. This board set the path for spinning off completely from the State, forming a community owned and governed not-for-profit mental health center. We incorporated in the State of Hawai`i in 1987. By January 1995, we became the first mental health center in Hawai`i to receive national accreditation by CARF (Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities) for mental health case management and out patient therapy. We received the maximum three-year accreditation. We were re-accredited in 1998 again for the maximum - three years.  We also became associated with the Hawai`i `Ohana Project - a Federal demonstration program to design a comprehensive system of care for families and youths with emphasis on a cultural basis for care.

In 1996, we moved out of very cramped quarters at the Satellite City Hall in Wai`anae into our current home - office. We began doing business as "Hale Na`au Pono," a Hawaiian name interpreted as "The Center for Inner Balance". From 1995 to 1998, we have more than doubled our staff and tripled our clients.

Mission Our mission is to "Support Humane and Resilient Communities Through Behavioral Health, Advocacy, Education and Other Human Services Competent in Addressing the Diversity of Cultural and Social Patterns in Individuals, Families, and Communities and Incorporate Community Members of the Wai`anae Coast in Governance, Service Delivery and Evaluation."

Geographic Area The Wai`anae Coast, on the Leeward side of O`ahu, is comprised of the communities of Nanakuli, Ma`ili, Wai`anae, Makaha, and Makua. Of the estimated 50,000 people on the Coast, the majority are Native Hawaiian. Other prominent ethnic groups include Caucasian, Filipino, Samoan, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Puerto Rican, Vietnamese and others. One-half of Wai`anae's population is under 20 years old.