About Michael

Michael has a deep appreciation of his intersectional identities - of being an Asian American, a man, an immigrant, and a queer person, and a keen understanding of how those specific intersections influence how he walks through life and experience systems. Michael has honed his skills in teaching topics related to cultural responsiveness, anti-racist practice, and philosophies related to decolonizing systems of care - to a wide range of audiences from incarcerated populations, to grade school students, and to service providers and healthcare institutions alike. 

Accomplishments: 

*Lead trainer since 2010 for several statewide cultural competency training/ technical assistance consortiums - conducting organizational cultural responsiveness assessments, developing curriculum, leading training-of-trainers for consortium partners and staff 

*Keynote presenter at multiple professional conferences - including California Friday Night Live Partnership (CFNLP) Leadership Training Institute (July 2024) and Youth Summit (Nov 2025); California Consortium of Addiction Programs and Professionals (CCAPP) Multicultural Conference (Summer 2018, 2017, 2016) - on topics related to intersectionality, LGBTQ+ identities, anti-racist practice, and radical healing

*Provided training to multiple institutions and organizations on topics related to National CLAS Standards, and other cultural responsiveness - including UCSF, Kaiser Permanente SF + South SF, San Francisco State University, UC Berkeley, San Francisco Department of Public Health, Institute on Aging

Michael also has a wealth of experience with addictive disorders, both personally and professionally. Growing up as a child to a parent who is addicted to alcohol, and later as a step-child to a parent who is addicted to gambling, Michael was impacted firsthand by the ripple effects of addiction. In his career, Michael has worked as an adolescent substance abuse counselor, and later helped develop prevention and treatment programming for the Chinese Community Problem Gambling Project in San Francisco.

Accomplishments: 

*Developed statewide curriculum aimed at training clinicians and other health professionals about problem gambling – including knowledge building (facts/stats, prevalence) and skills building (assessment tools, clinical models). Also developed youth curriculum aimed at educating adolescents about problem gambling prevention.

*Provided training and consultation to institutions and organizations to enhance their capacity to serve clients/ patients with problem gambling issues - including North East Medical Services, Kaiser Permanente South San Francisco, Tuolumne County Department of Public Health, Options Recovery Services - Offender Mentor Certification Program at several state prison facilities

*Collaborated with UCLA Gambling Studies Program to co-develop and oversee an Asian-language problem gambling telephone intervention program, the first of its kind in California - including training of clinicians, and establishment of treatment program protocols

Throughout Michael's career, he has always had an affinity to working with young people - whether it be providing counseling to justice-involved youth, or supporting young people in child protective service or foster care, or fostering youth leadership and peer mentors among students.