Kauai student earns AlohaCare scholarship for mental health training

Marie Levek Silveria was the sole Kauai recipient in AlohaCare Foundation’s latest scholarship round, putting island workforce needs at the center of a student award. Silveria is studying in the marriage and family therapy clinical track at Touro University Worldwide and is getting hands-on experience through her practicum on Kauai, where she is focused on creating empowering spaces for clients and strengthening community well-being.

The foundation awarded $54,000 in scholarships to 12 students across six Hawaiian Islands, part of a program aimed at AlohaCare members or their family members pursuing careers in health care or social services. Francoise Culley-Trotman, the foundation president, said, “What you see in this year's recipients is a genuine commitment to uplifting the health of Hawaii.” For Kauai, that commitment matters in a field where trained clinicians are hard to replace.

The scholarships can cover tuition, books, supplies, certification, testing fees and course fees, up to $10,000 for each winner. That matters for graduate-level training, where the cost of getting licensed often stretches beyond tuition alone. Scholarship submissions closed March 16, 2026, and the foundation said it launched in 2025 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit after AlohaCare formalized its community giving in 2022 with an annual $1 million pledge through its Imua Loa program.

The latest round was smaller than the foundation’s broader 2025-26 scholarship effort, which totaled $75,000 for 19 students from Hawaii Island, Kauai, Maui, Molokai and Oahu. Even so, Silveria’s award lands in a county where mental health access remains a public-health issue. The Kauai District Health Office says the Kauai Community Mental Health Center Branch provides medication management, case management, psychosocial rehabilitation and forensic services to adults with serious mental illness.

State health workforce data portals also track mental health provider rates, underscoring how closely access is tied to the number of clinicians trained and retained in Hawaii. Silveria’s scholarship is one small step in that pipeline, and the larger question for Kauai is how many other students are preparing for similar work and what support will keep them serving on-island after graduation.