Michelle Jenkins has worked at Hale Kipa since 2018, serving as the Program Coordinator for the O‘ahu CAMHD programs overseeing the Intensive Independent Living Skills, Intensive In-Home Therapy, and Transitional Family Homes programs. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs in psychology and went on to obtain a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy from Chaminade University of Honolulu. Michelle is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor with over a decade of clinical experience addressing child and adolescent mental health, marriage and family therapy, trauma therapy, and forensic mental health care for adjudicated adult offenders.

Born and raised in New Mexico, she lived in Alaska, Arizona, and Colorado before arriving in Hawai‘i in 2005. She began her career working in mobile outreach programs supporting families with young children experiencing homelessness and facilitating a nurturing parenting curriculum in several emergency and transitional homeless shelters on O‘ahu. She then became a state-wide educator and public speaker on domestic violence, a role that allowed her to engage in system advocacy while impacting both local and national public policy. Michelle has extensive experience serving on multi-disciplinary committees, treatment teams, task forces, volunteer groups, and non-profit Board of Directors.