our founder

Dr. Anita Johnston, PhD, CEDS
Clinical Director, Co-Founder, Owner

Many years ago, I was supervising a young intern researching the incidence of eating disorders in Hawaii. As we discussed the problems we were seeing, we found ourselves saying, “There is a really big problem here. There should be a center to help those struggling.”

So, in 1982 we created the Anorexia & Bulimia Center of Hawaii, where individuals of all ages, all sizes and shapes, all ethnicities, and all kinds of struggles with eating and body image could come for treatment. As they say, we built it, and they came…

It is important to me that those who struggle with eating disorders and those who treat them, receive the message that with proper treatment, and by addressing the underlying issues, it is totally possible to fully recover from an eating disorder.

In 1986, I developed Hawaii’s first inpatient eating disorder treatment program at Kahi Mohala Hospital, and in 2001, I created ‘Ai Pono Honolulu, the first free standing Eating Disorders Intensive Outpatient Program (EDIOP) in the country. After many years of sending those in need of a higher level of care to treatment centers off-island, I finally had the opportunity to create Hawaii’s first residential treatment program on Maui in 2012, in a beautiful eight bed home-like ocean front setting.

Today ‘Ai Pono Hawaii’s Eating Disorder Programs offer multiple levels of treatment as well as working in close collaboration with a ‘sister site’ in San Luis Obispo, California. We are licensed by the State of Hawaii Department of Health and accredited by the Joint Commission. Each program accepts a small number of clients, with a caring, empathetic staff that I have trained in my approach and is as dedicated as I am to healing the suffering that comes with having an eating disorder.

I know the courage it takes to seek treatment and that entering a program is a difficult step. At ‘Ai Pono Hawaii we support you in solving the mystery of your eating disorder and in developing the necessary skills you need for long-term recovery. I know that healing is possible.