Samoan church leaders in Wellington have been trained to offer mental health support to the members of their congregation.
Photo: RNZ / Logan Church
The Te Rau Hinengaro: The New Zealand Mental Health Survey (2006), found 47 percent of Pacific people had experienced a mental disorder at some stage during their lifetime, compared with 39.5 percent of the overall New Zealand population.
Pacific people were also less likely to make a mental health visit to a health service.
Wairarapa District Health Board, Hutt Valley DHB and Capital & Coast DHB Pacific peoples' health interim director Tofa Suafole Gush initiated the Ta'iala Mo le Ola Manuia Mental Health Project in 2019 due to the growing awareness of mental health issues within the Pacific community.
The project began as a partnership between the Hutt Valley District Health Board Pacific Health Directorate and the Samoan Ministers Fellowship Hutt Valley (Mafutaga).
"In 2018, there was a cause of concern in the Pacific community when our suicide numbers increased, and we saw it through our admission rates, but it's not an issue that has come overnight," Gush said.
"We work alongside our Pacific churches when it comes to health promotion and education, based-led initiatives and a common issue that comes out from our church leaders is that in their theological training, there's only one paper that focuses on counselling.
The exciting part of this project is now that we've trained the top tier of church leaders, they can now go forward and teach other leaders within their congregation such as youth leaders," she said.
Pasifika-led non-governmental organisation Le Va provides mental health, addiction, disability, public and general health, suicide prevention, education and in sport.
Le Va worked alongside the church ministers, their wives and other senior figures to understand the signs of mental illness. The staff used a combination of cultural, pastoral, spiritual and clinical knowledge to equip church leaders with the skills to be the first responders to their congregations and confidently direct people to the appropriate support service.
The success of the project in the Hutt Valley will see it rolled out to more than 30 churches associated with the Fellowship of Samoan Ministers Wellington Region in 2021.
Fellowship chairman and reverend elder Malaki Muaiava said the churches had created communities like villages for Pacific people living in New Zealand.
Photo: Supplied
"Respecting family was often of the utmost importance, but traditional values sometimes made it hard for young people to talk to their parents about sensitive issues.
"But here in the churches we have a chance to talk to parents about this.
"They should be the core of this, so we need to help them understand mental health and what's going on."
Gush said the feedback from the church leaders that participated in the training has been positive.
"The ministers have found the information on mental illness useful and has given them confidence to support their parishioners.
"This is only one piece of the puzzle to helping our Pacific communities across Wellington and New Zealand when it comes to our mental health," she said.
Gush explained that the actual model of the project was developed by the Samoan church leaders and hopes other churches that are non-Samoan show interest in developing their own models for their community.
"I would love to see the Tongan churches create a model for the Tongan community here in Wellington. It'll have to be on their terms and incorporate their culture to help their people."
The work ties in to the broad 3DHB Pacific Health and Wellbeing Strategic Plan for the Greater Wellington Region 2020-2025, which was launched by Minster for Pacific Peoples and Associate Minister of Health (Pacific Peoples) Hon. Aupito William Sio in Porirua on December 3.