Tiare Akana Tiare Akana is honored to be a Resident Advisor in Lydia House’s Huliau Program, designed to support teens and young adults on their paths toward thriving. Huliau provides myriad services. They include: Case management; educational and career pathways; housing options; social-emotional support; and daily necessities, such as food, hygiene facilities, and a place to sleep. Additionally, Huliau incorporates Hawaiian values in its programs to strengthen cultural identity and pilina among youth. Tiare is excited that her role at Huliau enables her to connect with her own culture and delve further into Queen Liliʻuokalani’s legacy. “My hope for this path is to help kamaliʻi feel a sense of purpose and self-worth while giving them the space to feel safe,” she says.Before joining Lydia House, she spent three years as an Outreach Case Manager with the nonprofit agency Hale Kipa. “I realized it was time for a break when I saw that the population I served, wasn’t getting the 100% version of me, due to burnout,” she says.Tiare took a two-year break from her social work duties and relocated to Kauaʻi, where she labored in a field that “wasn’t as mentally intense but more physically demanding.” The hiatus provided Tiare with a fresh perspective on life, one that she hopes to share with the youth at Huliau and Lydia House. She studied Social Work at Leeward Community College and Honolulu Community College, and aspires to pursue a Master’s degree in social work in the future.In her leisure time, Tiare enjoys hiking, swimming in the ocean, and engaging in activities where she can bask under the sun. Immersing in the ʻāina helps her to rejuvenate the mind, body, and spirit. Tiare’s greatest passion is to find solutions to end the cycle of unhoused youth in Hawaiʻi. “My purpose may be helping the houseless on a larger scale,” she says. “I’m excited to see where this journey with LT takes me.”