DJ Ida, Ph.D.
D.J. Ida, Ph.D.
Executive Director
National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association
Denver, Colorado
Dr. D.J. Ida has over thirty years experience working with Asian American Pacific Islander communities and received her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Colorado. She helped establish the Asian Pacific Development Center, a specialty mental health clinic in Denver, served as a peer reviewer for the 2001 Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health: Culture, Race, and Ethnicity and was a contributing author for the subcommittee chapter on Cultural Competency and Reducing Disparities for the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. In addition to MHA, she serves on numerous other boards including the U.S. DHHS, SAMHSA, Center for Mental Health Services’ National Advisory Council, the Annapolis Coalition on Behavioral Health Workforce Education, the National Alliance of Multi-ethnic Behavioral Health Associations, and the Research and Training Center for Children’s Mental Health.
Dr. Ida is a strong advocate for improving the quality of services for underserved populations and children and served as the Principal Investigator for the first national training curriculum to train interns on how to provide culturally and linguistically competent services to Asian American, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders and helped develop a curriculum for use of interpreters in mental health settings. She is currently working with the Cambodian community to integrate physical and mental health and learn how to use technology for training and service delivery.
