Christi Morales-Kumasawa

Christi Morales-Kumasawa (she/her) is an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist, who is passionate about helping people achieve wellness which is why she pursued a career in mental health, after being a journalist for almost a decade. She was born on occupied Karankawa Land, also known as Corpus Christi, Texas. In 1991, she and her family moved to the Philippines, where she finished all of high school and two years of college at the University of the Philippines. During this time, she began recognizing how the legacy of colonialism impacted her identity and mental health — something she continues to unpack to this day.

Today, she splits her time between clinical work providing therapy to school-aged youth at StarVista and advocating for equitable, culturally responsive mental health services for the Filipinx community, as a co-chair of the Filipino Mental Health Initiative of San Mateo County. She is also a certified Mental Health First Aid Instructor, training community members to identify signs of mental health or substance use challenges and assist folx in getting the appropriate help.

She is deeply dedicated to her mental health work and continues her passion for writing and creating through shades Magazine and Exceptional Women in Publishing (EWIP), where she is a board member. Through these platforms, she has curated panels and segments on the importance of talking about mental health, including how to responsibly report on this in the media.