The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation received a presidential citation from the American Psychological Association on behalf of President Cynthia De Las Fuentes for its work to promote improved mental health and to understand the effects of long-term mental health trauma.

During the annual Heart Mountain Pilgrimage on July 27, APA President-Elect Debra Kawahara presented the award to HMWF Executive Director Aura Sunada Newlin and Board Chair Shirley Ann Higuchi. Kawahara said the foundation’s Mineta-Simpson Institute has excelled as a “leader in developing empathy, courage, and cooperation in the next generation of American leaders.”

The foundation says Japanese Americans are still uncovering the effects of the incarceration of 125,000 members of their community during World War II because of racism and war hysteria after the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Imperial Japanese government on Dec. 7, 1941.

About 14,000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned at Heart Mountain during some point in the war. While many rebounded to successful careers in science, law and medicine to become known as a “Model Minority,” many others carried the shame and stigma of their unjust incarceration, the foundation says, adding that those feelings have often carried over to successive generations of the community.

The foundation conducts multigenerational discussion groups and healing circles during its annual pilgrimages and at other forums throughout the year. It also hosts workshops for educators to learn more about the incarceration to share that information with their students.

“I appreciate Dr. Kawahara and Dr. Jared Skillings making the trek out here to Wyoming to celebrate our achievement,” said Higuchi, who is APA’s associate chief of professional practice for justice, legal, and state advocacy. “As a longtime APA employee, I’ve discovered how psychology can help resolve trauma and the current effects of societal divisions that the Mineta-Simpson Institute was created to help heal.”

The Mineta-Simpson Institute officially opened July 27 and is named after the late former Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta and former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson of Cody, who first met as Boy Scouts at Heart Mountain in 1943. During their 79-year friendship, the foundation says they exemplified the ability to work with people of different backgrounds and political beliefs to solve some of our nation’s complicated issues.

For more information, call the center at 307-754-8000 or email info@heartmountain.org.