Supporting survivors in pacific communites

background information

Good Practice Guidelines for ‘Mainstream’ Sexual Violence Crisis Services - Working with Pacific (Va’afusuaga McRobie, 2016). 
(The examples drawn from this report that follow, are primarily in relation to the Samoan community. In this instance, while the examples are Samoan, many are transferable and relate to other Pacific cultures. The examples used are supported by the group of participants made up of multiple Pacific identities).  

• Va’afusuaga McRobie, S., & ‘OfaMakasiale, C. (2013). On values and spirituality in trauma counselling. In M. N. Agee, T. McIntosh, P. Culbertson, & C. ‘OfaMakasiale (Eds.) Pacific identities and well-being (pp. 130–141). New York, NY: Routledge.  

• Watts, V. (2009). Tauiwi responses to Sexual Violence. Mainstream crisis support and recovery and support services and Pacific services. Report to Ministry of Social Development.  

• Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs (2010).  Report on Pacific pathways to the prevention of Sexual Violence. By T. Percival, R. Robati-Mani, E.Powell, P.Kingi, M.C. Peteru, L. Hope, E. Finau, E.Selu&J.Rankine. Pacific Health School of Population Health, University of Auckland.  

• Adolescent Health Research Group (2008).   Youth’07: The Health and Wellbeing of Secondary School Students in New Zealand.  Auckland:  The University of Auckland.  

• Koloto, AH (2003). The needs of Pacific peoples when they are victims of crime.  Wellington: Ministry of Justice.  

• Woodley, A, Davis, R, Metzger, N.  (2013). Breaking the silence but keeping secrets: what young people want to address sexual violence. Auckland: Auckland Sexual Abuse Help Foundation Trust and TuWahine Trust.  

Essential Learning - What we need to know

• The diversity and multicultural vibrance of Pacific ethnic groups enriches New Zealand’s population. The 2013 census revealed that 7.4% of New Zealand’s population is Pacific people.  People identified themselves with one or more Pacific ethnic groups: Tongan, Samoan, Cook Islands Maori, Niuean, Tokelauan and Fijian. Pacific people are not evenly spread across the country, with most living in the north.  At the time of the census, around 200,000 Pacific people were living in the Auckland region (66%), around 36,000 in the Wellington region (12%), and around 12,700 in Canterbury (7%).   
  • Pacific women and children living in New Zealand are at risk of sexual violence.   
  • A NZ study found that Pacific women had the second highest rates of child sexual abuse and intimate partner violence. 
  • A survey of young people found that almost 3 out of 10 Pasifika females reported having experienced unwanted sexual contact, as did 1 in 6 Pasifika males.  76% of the females described the experience as “terrible” or “very bad”.  43% of females and 37% of males had told someone.  They were most likely to have told friends, followed by other family members, parents, teachers and school counsellors.    
• In the same survey, it was found that the Pasifika young people (55%) were more likely than NZ Europeans (46%), to identify barriers to accessing healthcare services.  
• A study of Pasifika victims of crime, including sexual crimes, found that most preferred to access informal support systems such as family, friends and church ministers and friends, but that they also wanted more information on formal support services, access to formal Pasifika services, and people in services who could speak their language.   
• Pacific cultures value a “collectivist philosophy of life that emphasises cooperation and closeness between people and groups”. Fonofale(Pulotu-Endemann, 2001)uses the metaphor of a Samoan fale(house) to capture a Pacific model of what is important: 

• The Foundation - represents family, whether it be nuclear, extended, kinship ties through marriage or titles that forms the central basis of social organisation for Pasifika. The gafa (genealogy) is foundational in a family which connects them to their titles, lands, island, sea, spirituality and other cultures. 
• The Posts:  
• Spiritual: Relates to the sense of wellbeing, whether it be Christianity or traditional spirituality relating to nature, spirits, language, beliefs, ancestors and history, or a combination of both. 
• Physical: Relates to biological or physical wellbeing. It is the relationship of the body which comprises anatomy and physiology as well as physical or organic and inorganic substances such as food, water, air and medications that can have either positive or negative impacts on the physical wellbeing. 
• Mental: Relates to the wellbeing or the health of the mind which involves thinking and emotions, as well as behaviour.  
• Other: Relates to sexuality, gender, age, and socio-economic status. 
• The Roof: Cultural values and beliefs provide a roof covering that gives shelter from the elements of life. Culture is evolving and there are differences between New Zealand-born and Pacific-born families, in that traditional Pasifika cultural values and beliefs maybe influenced by Pālagi (European) worldviews.  
• The circular movements in the Samoan house metaphor capture the way in which the foundations, floor, posts and roof interact with each other and endorse holistic approaches and ongoing continuity (Pulotu-Endemann, 2001).  
• All of the above characteristics of health occur within the environment, context and time period pertinent to that individual.  

• The collectivist nature of the culture means that relationship is of primary importance.  The Samoan worldview and the Samoan relational self cannot be separated from the va or relational collective space between individual and parents, siblings, grandparents and community members.  
  • Vafealoaloa’I recognises that people are sacred beings and that “there are obligations and duties to ensure that the primacy of the other is meaningfully valued” (p.106). Teu le va is the obligation to maintain this as sacred space, to tend and care for it and keep it clear so that real meeting, connection and healing can take place.  Sexual violence fundamentally breaches this obligation.    
  • Also important is Feagaiga, a binding and sacred covenant (Tuimaleali'ifano, as cited in Huffer&So'o, 2000, p. 172) which refers to the status of the sister and to the covenant between sister and brother. This relationship has as its focus the treasured and protected status of sisters, and by extension, of women generally (AumuaMata'itusiSimanu, 2002; Huntsman & Hooper, 1996). The respect inherent in the relationship includes a prohibition on sexual talk, jokes or sexual content in media such as films where brothers and sisters are present (AumuaMata'itusiSimanu, 2002). In Samoa this forms the basis of gender relationships. 
  • Working with a Pacific survivor/family/community means honouring the va, the sacred space between you. It draws on talanoa (talking story).  This involves being respectful of the va and vafeloloa’i (relational sacred space) providing a platform of reverence ensuring a survivor’s experiences can be told with dignity, pride and strength. Talanoa will begin with the survivor, but move to include others from his or world when the survivor is ready. 
•  Forgiveness is important to many Pacific people.   One principle is that of Ifoga, a Samoan principle of forgiveness in which an offender and survivor’s family and/or church are involved in a restorative justice process. The challenge for many non-Pacific people is to be aware of bringing to the work a cultural ideology of working with the individual which is different to working collectively or systemically with Pacific families, people and groups. Part of the indigenous healing process is the possibility of exploring restorative justice from a Pacific perspective. This Ifoga process may not be used right from the start particularly where there is acute trauma involved and facing the offender would be too traumatic. For some Pacific survivors it can be a timing issue, waiting for the right time in which they would be strong enough (with their appropriate support people) to confront the offender.   
• Sexual abuse is a complex health issue that traumatically impacts the foundational fabrics of family and spiritual values for Pacific people.  It can be shrouded in secrecy, shame and silence in order to maintain traditional values of peace, respect, solidarity and resilience within families and the wider community. This means that it is often not reported, and services are not accessed. 
• Multi-systemic approaches areneeded to understand the wider traumatic impact sexual violence has not only on the survivor’s traditional indigenous values such as spiritual, respect, and solidarity but also on their families, Church and community of support people.   
• The profile of Pacific identity is complex and research has highlighted issues of cultural conflicts and considerable difference between the needs of younger Pacific people in comparison to their elders.  
  • One cultural conflict is that between New Zealand-born and Island-born Pasifika people.  In addition, there is a growing population of multi-ethnic young people. Pacific values and principles may not consistently apply, as cultural, social, and environmental factors may vary for each family. Therefore, a Pacific survivor may range on a spectrum from being culturally well connected to family and church to not being connected at all.  
  • There can be considerable difference between the beliefs and needs of older people and those of younger people.  An aspect of this which has been identified by young people is that they prefer to seek support from a sister, close cousin or friend as they don’t expect their parents to understand their experiences of sexual violence - that they will not exactly blame them, but will associate the sexual violence with a failure to have followed traditional ways.  This also led them to want formal support from other young people, such as a peer mentor, someone who had been through it and understood. If they were to access a formal support service, they wanted to be able to take a friend with them. 
  • A key concern was that agencies would not understand the impact on their family, and the young person would be left alone to deal with the family’s response.  To not make matters worse, a counsellor would need to understand that while family, church and community are great supports for young people, it is not easy to raise or deal with sexual abuse in any of those settings.  They would also need to understand the “intergenerational cultural sensitivities and the difference between ‘the old and new worlds’ that the young people are moving in.” (p 35).   
  • Young people are also very concerned about confidentiality – they are concerned about the stigma for themselves of others knowing, the stigma for their mothers that they had not kept them safe, and the potential for male family members to punish the offender.  While they wanted a Pacific counsellor, they wanted the person to be of a different ethnicity to preserve confidentiality.  They also wanted the right to determine whether or not the matter would be reported to an authority. 
  • Young Pacific people wanted support services to be available to them in schools, universities or youth centre’s, that is, places they are allowed to be.  They were also interested in on-line support services, though internet use was monitored by family for some.   
• Responses to sexual abuse need to be understood in the context for Pacific people in New Zealand. Pacific people’s health issues include socio-economic and cultural factors such as income, poverty, employment, occupation, education, housing, and ethnicity (Ministry of Health, 2014).  
  • On average there are relatively more Pacific people experiencing hardship than other groups, and living in overcrowded homes, as they are less likely to own their homes. In addition, the unemployment rate for Pacific people is nearly twice the national unemployment rate (Ministry of Health 2014).  

Essential Practice - What we need to do

On the frontline: 

• Assess not assume as each case is different. Conduct a cultural assessment right from the start. Ask your Pacific survivor about the correct pronunciation of their name (if you are unsure) and their Pacific ethnic identity.  
  • Practitioners should gain an awareness of any stereotypes they might hold about the Pacific community and their identity.  
  • It is important to understand that, when dealing with Pacific communities, there is diversity of Pacific ethnic identities which can highlight issues of cultural conflicts, particularly if they are New Zealand or Island born.  
• A Pacific survivor led process is essential. This includes informing a Pacific survivor of their medical and legal rights and obligations. It is crucial that they are informed of their choices right from the start, that they understand the information given before consent is sought. This is important as the survivor decides who is ‘part of their process’ as there can be safety issues involved and there are always ongoing consequences of these decisions.  
  • The survivor will identify their community of care/key support people (particularly when there is a young person involved).  In this process it is important to support the survivor (and family) in understanding their choice of whether to report the sexual violence to the Police or not.  
  • If a medical examination is required, it is important that the survivor has a support person who is there to take care of them after the procedure .   
• Language barriers: Pacific families who have migrated may not have strong English language skills and struggle to understand, therefore cultural interpreters and/or cultural advisors can be needed. 
• Gendered approaches: As the work inherently involves sexual matters, gender matching is important - males work with males and females with females. Seek guidance from the client if gender is unclear or the client identifies as other. 
• Pacific survivors may be guarded, protective and fearful when accessing mainstream services due to negative experiences associated with stereotyping and a lack of cultural understanding and competency. Acknowledge experiences of discrimination and stigma and check in with the survivor about what this means for them and offer care and support. 
• Key Samoan values have been identified as fa’amafafa’ina (empathy), pa utonu (compassion) and faipe e fa’aliafa’atasi ma le malosi (respect) (Ma’ia’I 2010, p. 639).  These align well with the value base of most counselling and support work with survivors of sexual violence. 
• Honour the sacred space of the relationship between you – va. This is essential to allow real meeting, connection and healing to take place in the wake of the trampling of the relational boundary which has taken place in sexual abuse.  Provide a platform of reverence to ensure that the survivor can tell of their experiences with dignity, pride and strength. It is also important to allow time for the survivor to talk about their connections, their support people and community of care (church or other) around them.  
• Talanoa is key in firstly acknowledging the survivor has had the courage to tell and to break her/his silence. Counselling with the survivor takes time as counselling needs to be at their pace. When relational connections have been formed and the Pacific survivor is willing to step into the va’a/vaka/paopao (meaning indigenous outrigger), the journey begins. The therapist role has been described as one of navigation, requiring confidence and skills to “fish for what is important in a round-about or indirect way” p. 24, TePou o TeWhakaaro Nui, 2010). This process involves seeking information and allowing the Pacific survivor to tell their story which may take time. Direct questioning related to self-exposure or self-assertion can be perceived as rude and intrusive by Pacificpeople (Waldegrave, 1990). 
  • It is when the survivor is ready with their appropriate support person/s that talanoa begins with their family members. Talanoa enables the family to talk and make a safety plan together to deal with the issue, and with the shame and disgrace of what has happened, to develop a way forward together.  
  • Those involved in the talanoa process could be representatives from families, church or community members.   
  • Be aware that many young Pacific people will not want their parents to know what has happened, instead seeking support from family members nearer their own age.  

Guidelines for Crisis Service delivery: 

• Cultural awareness: Appropriate cultural workshops must be provided by Pacific people who have the required competency and skills. These may be community and church leaders aware of the impact of sexual violence, professional Pacific counsellors, psychotherapists and psychologists, or those experienced in working with Pacific people.  
• Content needs to include cultural sensitivity to Pacific values relating to the significance of including family early in the process, spirituality, the role of Church, and Christian values about forgiveness and gender.  
• There needs to be improved access to appropriate support people and services with both cultural and sexual violence professionals.  
  • Employ young Pacific counsellors or support workers to work with young survivors, and more mature Pacific staff who can work with families.   
  • Some experienced Pacific practitioners have chosen not to apply for ACC registration due to language based requirements for the application and reports – so there may be experienced people in your area that you need to find other routes to. 
• Engaging a Pacific supervisor who is bilingual helps to provide an environment for clinical discussion, analysis, and theological dialogue. Taking case studies of work with Pacific survivors to cross-cultural study group settings enables knowledge of other cultural therapeutic tools to further sculpt one’s own learnings and discoveries. 

Guidelines for sector and community development: 

• Education for Pacific families is crucial. Family can blame, dismiss a survivor or hide sexual violence from the church. Therefore, parents need to know how to emotionally support their child/adolescent, to believe them, to check in on their safety, and any suicidal ideation or behaviour.  
  • Pacific families also need to know aboutChild Youth and Family services for children/adolescents, High School policies on sexual abuse disclosures at the health centre/counselling room, Police, Medical forensics, Evidential video units, ACC Counsellors and specialist cultural Pacific advisors.  
• Shame could be lifted and access improved through the development and advertising of an online directory of crisis support services for Pacific people. 
  • Digital links and click for online access is needed for Pacific survivors and families to access relevant Pacific support services and non-Pacific mainstream services who work with sexual violence. Social media, radio, television,   networking and development of pamphlets could assist with increasing access to crisis support services.  
• Support for the ongoing development of the ‘Pasifika Counsellors, Psychotherapists, and Family Therapist network’ which was initiated as a result of the Good Practice Guidelines research project. This informal group consists of Pacific professionals who could be called in on sexual violence cases and provide clinical/supervision/consultation. 
•  Nurture the Pacific workforce: Encourage Pacific practitioners to write about their sexual violence practice, engage in research that demonstrates the cultural, spiritual creativity and effectiveness of their approaches, and disseminate information about their work. This would enrich the work of others and benefit the Pacific community. 
•  Engage Pacific Church communities - Churches can provide a vehicle for sexual violence community education, psycho-education on how to deal with disclosures and abuse and also the possibility of incorporating sexual violence prevention in their theological curriculums. This idea is not supported by all as some perceive the church as a potential barrier to prevention of sexual violence due to the way that some leaders in positions of power have sexually abused. However, others see the opportunities of a contextualised Christian theology to help address attitudes and silence from the church on issues relating to sexual violence (Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs, 2010). Ways the Church could assist include: 
  • Encouraging Church Reverends, Pastors, Priests, and youth leaders into training/formal training to learn about responding well to initial disclosures of sexual violence and developing a community of care/support plan for the survivor.  
  • Provision of workshops for parents to help them understand sexual violence.  Practitioners could be invited to sit on panels to present information about:  legal and medical processes, Child Youth and Family services for children/adolescents, high school policies on sexual abuse disclosures at the health centre/counselling room, the role of Police, the criminal justice system and restorative justice, ACC funded counselling for survivors, treatment for those who cause harm, and specialist Pacific cultural advisors.  
  • The centrality of the church in pacific communities means that it could be helpful for survivor agencies to be visible within religious organisations.  However, there is also an issue of privacy/confidentiality, in that a survivor may not want to be seen to be associated with such an agency within their church until the church lifts shame from survivors. 
• More opportunities for talanoa and dialogue across perceived cultural differences would be valuable for all—Pacific, Maori, palagi and others including those who themselves are multi-ethnic This could assist in reducing the misunderstandings and limited knowledge among practitioners across different ethnicities and cultures about the diversity of modalities and approaches being used in mainstream crisis support services, and about others’ world views. 

Watts, V. (2009). Tauiwi responses to Sexual Violence. Mainstream crisis support and recovery and support services and Pacific services. Report to Ministry of Social Development.