Bringing Pacific frameworks into the room
Practice suggestions drawn from the frameworks on this site. They are not clinical guidelines.
Principles for practice
Begin with talanoa
Make time for connection before the presenting problem. Share something of yourself, ask where the person and their family are from, and let them set the pace. Moving straight to assessment can feel disrespectful and can end the relationship early.
Formulate with the Fonofale model
Use the house as a shared map. Ask about culture, family, spirituality, body, mind and anything else, then the context around them, and agree together where to focus.
Work with the vā
Treat relationships as part of the problem and part of the way forward. Ask which relationships feel strained, what repair would look like, and who the person wants involved.
Keep the limits in view
Pacific peoples come from many nations, languages and generations. Use frameworks to open conversations, not to predict what a person believes. Seek cultural supervision and connect with Pacific colleagues and organisations.
Questions for a first session
- Where is your family from, and who is important to you?
- Who would you like to know that you are here?
- How do your family or church usually talk about worry, sadness or anger?
- What would a good outcome look like for you and for your family?
- Is there anyone you would like to bring to a session?
- Which language would you like us to use, and is anything easier to say in your first language?
- What has helped you or your family before?
Adapting CBT and ACT
Values work (ACT)
Explore shared values such as service and respect rather than assuming individual autonomy is the goal. What matters to me may sit inside what matters to us.
Cognitive work (CBT)
Check whether a thought is a distortion or an accurate reading of real obligations. Duty and guilt can be culturally meaningful, not errors to correct.
Boundaries
Frame boundaries as a way to keep serving sustainably and keep the vā healthy, in the person’s own words.
Family, faith and language
Talk openly about who may be involved and what is shared. Ask whether faith is a support, a pressure or both. Offer an interpreter or a bilingual clinician where language matters, and avoid using family members as interpreters where you can.
Bridging vā and evidence-based therapy
In Pasifika worldviews, mental health is not only individual. It is relational, spiritual and physical. We honour vā, the relational space that connects people, place, ancestors and family. Our resources bring cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), body-based grounding and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) together with values of aiga (family), tautua (service) and fa’aaloalo (respect), terms from Samoan.
The frameworks behind the resources
| Framework | Where it comes from | What it offers |
|---|---|---|
| Fonofale model | Samoan, developed in Aotearoa New Zealand by Fuimaono Karl Pulotu-Endemann (1984) | Health as a house: family, culture, four pillars and the wider context. |
| Vā (teu le vā, tauhi vā) | Samoan and Tongan; see Albert Wendt (1996) and Melani Anae (2010) | Care for the space between people, and the obligations it carries. |
| Talanoa | Tongan and widely practised across the Pacific; see Timote Vaioleti (2006) | Open, unhurried conversation that builds trust before the point. |
| Kakala | Tongan; Konai Helu Thaman | Garland-making as a way to gather, weave and give. |
| Te Whare Tapa Whā | Māori; Sir Mason Durie (1984). Included because it is widely used in Aotearoa. It is not a Pacific model. | Wellbeing as the four walls of a house. |
Sources
- Anae, M. (2010). Research for better Pacific schooling in New Zealand: Teu le vā, a Samoan perspective. MAI Review, 1.
- Durie, M. (1984). Te Whare Tapa Whā model of health. Developed in Aotearoa New Zealand.
- Pulotu-Endemann, F. K. (1984). The Fonofale model of health. Developed in Aotearoa New Zealand.
- Vaioleti, T. M. (2006). Talanoa research methodology: A developing position on Pacific research. Waikato Journal of Education, 12, 21–34.
- Wendt, A. (1996). Tatauing the post-colonial body. Span, 42–43, 15–29.