Dr. Charlotte Savage - Psychologist

09/30/2025

🌿 Grateful to have been able to give back to the ʻāina (land that sustains us) this weekend! I got to help plant native plants for dune restoration at Kailua Beach Park.

Huge thanks to Manu ʻIwa o Ka Malanai and the University of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant College Program for putting this together — so many people showed up to help! 💚

What I learned:
• 🌲 Ironwood trees were planted in 1906. While many people are attached to them, they aren’t native, and their needles and pinecones are actually toxic to native plants.
• 🪵 Recently, shoreline stumps had to be removed because kids would climb behind them in the sand, making them unsafe.
• 🏖️ Dunes need native plants to hold the sand together — but not too tightly, so the sand can still shift with tides and storms.
• 👀 Back in the day, you used to be able to see the ocean from Buzz’s, and the hope is that restoration will bring that view back.

So happy I got to be part of this effort and can’t wait to see how it grows. 🌱✨

📍 Kailua Beach Park

Learn more here:

• UH Sea Grant: https://seagrant.soest.hawaii.edu/
• Manu ʻIwa o Ka Malanai: https://www.manuiwa.org/
• Honolulu Parks & Rec – Kailua Beach Park: https://www.honolulu.gov/dpr/kailua-parks/
• UH Sea Grant on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uhseagrant

Of all the ocean users,the largest group of people to use the ocean in Kailua are the men, women and children who paddle canoes.

09/30/2025

💚 Community + ʻĀina = Magic
🌊 Dune Restoration in Action!

🌿 Grateful to have been able to give back to the ʻāina (land that sustains us) this weekend! I got to help plant native plants for dune restoration at Kailua Beach Park.

Huge thanks to Manu ʻIwa o Ka Malanai and the University of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant College Program for putting this together — so many people showed up to help! 💚

What I learned:
• 🌲 Ironwood trees were planted in 1906. While many people are attached to them, they aren’t native, and their needles and pinecones are actually toxic to native plants.
• 🪵 Recently, shoreline stumps had to be removed because kids would climb behind them in the sand, making them unsafe.
• 🏖️ Dunes need native plants to hold the sand together — but not too tightly, so the sand can still shift with tides and storms.
• 👀 Back in the day, you used to be able to see the ocean from Buzz’s, and the hope is that restoration will bring that view back.

So happy I got to be part of this effort and can’t wait to see how it grows. 🌱✨

📍 Kailua Beach Park

08/21/2025

🛑 Attention Psychologists & Health Professionals 🛑

Medicare policy doesn’t just affect Medicare. It shapes the entire health care system — inside AND outside of Medicare.

The new CMS 2026 Physician Fee Schedule will determine:

Whether patients in rural areas can keep accessing telehealth.

Whether families managing dementia, stroke, and chronic illness can get the assessments they need.

Whether we invest in prevention and innovation — or create more barriers to care.

👉 The good news: CMS got some things right (telehealth, flexible supervision, a new neuropsychology pathway).
👉 The bad news: They’re also proposing cuts and removals that could strip away essential codes and destabilize payment for the services our patients rely on.

This is where we come in.
Psychology has influenced CMS decisions before, and it’s because we showed up. If CMS doesn’t hear from us now, the final rule could roll back access to care across the country.

📢 Please take 5 minutes today to submit your comment. Use APA’s template or personalize it with your own voice and experience

05/02/2025

🧠 Mental health care is under threat—and the fallout will be expensive, avoidable, and devastating.

I just wrote to Congress urging them to oppose cuts to Medicaid and psychology workforce funding. These cuts won’t save money—they’ll cost us far more: in taxpayer dollars, public safety, and American lives.

Prevention is cheaper than:
🔹 A su***de attempt ER visit – over $7,000
🔹 An overdose with ICU care – over $20,000
🔹 Incarceration – $40,000–$60,000 per year

Veterans deserve better. After risking their lives for this country, they are 1.5x more likely to die by su***de than civilians (VA, 2023). Stripping the programs they rely on is not just short-sighted—it’s shameful. This is not the place to cut.

Protect the systems that protect all of us.
This is how a nation succeeds—by ensuring we all do well.

📬 Please take 2 minutes to speak up:
📢 If this matters to you, share this post. Help spread the word.

Psychology professionals need to weigh in on proposed cuts to key psychology services and workforce development programs. Congress has approved a 10-year budget outline including $1.5 trillion in spending cuts that will require hundreds of billions...

03/07/2025

🚨 Urgent: Medicare Telehealth Access at Risk! 🚨

We need your voices NOW to stop a harmful Medicare rule that would cut off telehealth access for mental health care.

Congress is about to let a barrier to care go into effect—forcing unnecessary in-person visits that many patients cannot do. This will disproportionately harm rural, elderly, and underserved patients who rely on telehealth to access care.

📢 Take 5 minutes right now to send a pre-written email to Congress. Just click, personalize (if you want), and hit send! 📨

💡 If the link works, there's still time to act! But the deadline is approaching fast. Please don’t wait—our patients’ access to care depends on it.

Drop a ✅ in the comments when you’ve sent it! Let’s make sure they hear us. ✊

Let me know if you want to use my letter as a template. DM me and I'll send it to you in Messenger.

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11/23/2024

Hello fellow medical and mental health providers on here...here's an easy way to notify your Congressman to request they do not cut Medicare reimbursement in January. (we are already 26% below what was paid in 2001 - when accounting for inflation). It is already so difficult to get or keep providers on Medicare and I fear this will be the tipping point for even more to leave Medicare.

10/11/2024

10/09/2024

Hello Psychologists - CE opportunity for you - My former colleague Dr. Mackenzie Steiner is doing a CE training this Friday (virtual and in-person) called: Alchemy & Reclaiming Sovereignty in Trans-Formation: Expanding Understanding & Capacity in Gender Affirming Care - Click link to read more or register

It is this coming Friday - 10/11/24 - Virtual -
9am - 12 pm HST
12pm - 3pm PST
1pm - 4pm MT
2pm - 5pm CST
3pm - 6 pm EST

09/10/2024

We can all prevent su***de. I used to work in emergency rooms, and that is the place you want to take someone (or yourself) if they are expressing plans, desire or intent to die. Here are some tips to look for that could indicate someone might be at risk for su***de. I know talking about it may be uncomfortable, but someone dying or hurting themselves hurts more. Help them get help. There are mental health professionals trained in this… you could even take them to a therapy appointment, BUT if it’s imminent or in doubt, they need to go to the ER. ASAP. They may be mad at you, but people can get over being angry. They cannot get over being unalive. ***deawarenessday

Disclaimer: This post is for educational purposes only and no therapeutic relationship is established by social media content . Please consult your personal healthcare professionals & mental health providers regarding specific advice or support for your unique needs. If you’re in a crisis, reach out to your support system, go to your nearest ER, dial 988, 911, or your local emergency hotline.

06/20/2024

The fact that I know I’m going to get hate for this post…further confirms the point of this post.

08/11/2023

The wildfires are not yet contained, and many are missing and displaced from their homes. The recovery is going to be long and intense given the level of devastation and lives lost. Please help by donating to a trusted organization to help them power the recovery and ongoing search and rescue. Please refrain from travel to Maui if it it at all avoidable, hotels are needed to house the emergency personnel and people misplaced from their homes...and it is an active state of emergency.