History

The Institute for Family Enrichment, affectionately known as TIFFE, is a local organization founded in 1981 in Honolulu, Hawaii.  28 years ago, we started with a mission to provide creative and effective training and services for children and families in Hawaii.  We also dared to dream that someday we would be able to provide opportunities for other professionals to work in a nurturing and creative team environment.

We invite you to explore TIFFE through this website as we “enjoy the ride together.”

From the humble beginnings of working out of our car trunks and a P.O. Box, TIFFE now operates from the corporate office in Honolulu, with local office sites in Kaneohe, Hilo, Kealakekua Kona, and Pahoa on the Big Island.  Our prevention program services are available on every island in the state, specialized intervention and treatment programs are available on Oahu and the Big Island, with training and education services available statewide.

Our individual dreams have been surpassed and we are deeply grateful to be able to share the dream with others who love to work with children and families.  From the five founders in 1981, we now have over 370 staff statewide providing an array of services for and on behalf of children, adolescents, adults and families across the state of Hawaii.

m.j. amundson, phd, aprn

Has more than 50 years experience in behavioral health nursing, community mental health nursing, community mental health education, program development, administration and service programs.

barbara naki, rn, ma

Has more than 40 years experience in implementing training programs, curriculum design and clinical services, national trainer/consultant for the Nurturing Program, co-author of the Nurturing Program for Prenatal Families and the Multi-Cultural Parenting Guide’s Hawaiian Parenting Component, instructor at LCCW in the Social Science Department for 20 years.

linda honda, lsw

Has 30 years of experience in the field of Human Potential Development with a background in integrating system concepts through program design and implementation of services for children and families in the community.

thomas k. naki, mph

Has over 35 years of experience in community outreach, advocacy, training and education. A National Nurturing Parenting Program Trainer/Consultant specializing in culturally relevant curriculum for fathers and co-author of the multi-Cultural Pare .

linda taylor, msw

Has 20 years experience in counseling with women, children, and families, and has been instrumental in organizational development for the provision of human services and business.