At A Glance
Alum
Haruka Kokaze
Program
BS in Applied Psychology (2023)
MA in Counseling for Mental Health and Wellness (2024)
Professional Pathway
Chief of Staff & Senior Lead, Japan Mental Health Initiatives
From the therapy room to the boardroom, Haruka Kokaze is transforming how organizations approach mental health on a global scale.
Bridging Clinical Care and Systemic Change
Haruka Kokaze's career thrives where organizational strategy meets human well-being. As Chief of Staff and Senior Lead, Japan Mental Health Initiatives at One Mind, she develops evidence-based workforce mental health frameworks tailored to Japanese subsidiaries based in the United States, as well as Japanese and global corporations operating in Japan, including expatriates and their families. In parallel, she works closely with CEO Dr. Kathy Pike, the Board of Directors, and the leadership team to drive organizational priorities, partnerships, and strategic alignment in advancing One Mind's mission.
For Haruka, this work is the realization of a dual-degree journey at NYU Steinhardt that inspired her to look beyond the confines of the therapy room. Her story began in the Applied Psychology undergraduate program, where her academic achievements and dedication to service earned her the honor of Departmental Banner Bearer. Even then, her sense of purpose reached far past the classroom walls.
Born in Kobe and raised across Tokyo, New York, Houston, and London due to her father's international assignments, Kokaze grew up inside the very communities she now serves. Watching Japanese expatriate families navigate mental health challenges that too often went unspoken, she came to believe she was uniquely positioned to help close that gap, having lived within it herself. That conviction crystallized during her graduate clinical internship at Weill Cornell Medicine's intensive outpatient program, where she worked as a substance abuse counselor guiding clients through individual and group psychotherapy. Over time, she began to notice the connections between personal hardship and larger systemic forces. She recognized that while clinical care is essential, truly holistic support means tackling the social determinants, stigmas, and barriers that keep people from flourishing. This realization raised the question that would define her path: What would it look like to address these challenges at the systems level?
Turning Research into Action
Bringing a deeply cross-cultural perspective to her research and clinical work, Kokaze explored how identity and culture shape mental health, collaborating with Dr. Lisa Suzuki on research examining the mental health experiences of Asian American communities. Her dedication to scholarship and community was recognized with the Founders' Day Award and the Steinhardt Graduate Student Organization Star Leadership Award.
My time in the BS/MA program was defined by a growing realization that mental health must be addressed not only at the individual level, but also at the structural and organizational levels."
Today, Kokaze describes the heart of her work as translation: taking cutting-edge science and turning it into something organizations can actually put into practice, mindful of both language and culture. She works at the intersection of the nonprofit, corporate, and global mental health worlds, helping employers act on the evidence voluntarily, at scale, and in ways that last. She continues to shape the field closer to home as well, mentoring emerging researchers in Applied Psychology's undergraduate fieldwork program through every stage of their academic journey. She also serves on the boards of the Japanese Medical Society of America and the Japanese American Association of New York as the youngest member of both organizations, and as Co-Chair of the U.S.-Japan Council's Mental Wellness Affinity Group, championing mental health advocacy and culturally informed mental health care.
Okage Sama De
By uniting clinical insight with organizational strategy, she has discovered how to make a worldwide impact. She often reflects that her program pushed her beyond conventional career paths, revealing that a counselor’s skills are just as powerful in boardrooms as in therapy sessions.
What began in the therapy room has expanded outward. The same attention to individual experience now informs her approach to organizations, systems, and access to care across borders. Kokaze credits that journey to the people who shaped it, a belief captured in a Japanese expression she returns to often: Okage Sama De, I am who I am thanks to others.
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