{"id":2999,"date":"2026-03-19T21:44:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T21:44:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/03\/19\/pacific-island-communities-face-significant-roadblocks-to-seeking-mental-health-treatment-ksl-newsradio\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T21:44:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T21:44:36","slug":"pacific-island-communities-face-significant-roadblocks-to-seeking-mental-health-treatment-ksl-newsradio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/03\/19\/pacific-island-communities-face-significant-roadblocks-to-seeking-mental-health-treatment-ksl-newsradio\/","title":{"rendered":"Pacific Island communities face significant roadblocks to seeking mental health treatment – KSL NewsRadio"},"content":{"rendered":"

COLLEGES + UNIVERSITIES<\/a>
Mar 19, 2026, 3:38 PM
Kawika Allen and his research team. (Photo courtesy: BYU.edu)
(Photo courtesy: BYU.edu)
BY<\/span> ISABELLA SOSA<\/span><\/a>
KSLNewsRadio
PROVO \u2014 Pacific Islanders seek mental health services less than any other group, according to a Brigham Young University study. <\/span>
From 2018 to 2025, Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology at BYU, Kawika Allen, led a team of students to the South Pacific to understand how they could help Pacific Island communities address mental health challenges. <\/span>
The research is personal for Allen, who grew up in Hawaii and whose mother is part Tongan and native Hawaiian.<\/span>
\u201cThere\u2019s this personal passion around it,\u201d Allen said. \u201cAnd also the desire to reach out and serve my community, where no services, hardly at the time, were offered or available.\u201d<\/span>
His research team, the Poly <\/span>Psi Team (Polynesian Psychology and Education Research), visited New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii, Samoa and the Marshall Islands.<\/span>
Although each island is different, Allen said some of the most prominent factors in mental health struggles were an increase in suicidal ideation, self-harm behaviors, a lack of trained therapists on the islands and cultural stigma. <\/span>
\u201cThey may not necessarily want to seek out help if it might bring shame or a negative view on the family or themselves,\u201d Allen said. <\/span>
The Poly Psi team developed some approaches to help Pacific Islanders feel more comfortable using mental health services. The biggest thing was incorporating cultural practices into treatment.<\/span>
Allen said one way would be allowing them to \u201ctalk story,\u201d or get to know each other, before diving into heavier issues in therapy. <\/span>
\u201cTrust and respect in that community is very significant and important for us to establish, so it takes time to do that,\u201d Allen said.<\/span>
Other ways would be to talk about ancestors in therapy, starting a session with a prayer or speaking the indigenous language.<\/span>
Allen plans to continue studying Pacific Islanders and mental health, and hopes to go to Tonga next year. <\/span>
The full research publication is available here<\/a>. <\/span>
Have a story idea or tip? Send it to the KSL NewsRadio team here<\/a>.
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COLLEGES + UNIVERSITIESMar 19, 2026, 3:38 PMKawika Allen and his research team. (Photo courtesy: BYU.edu) (Photo courtesy: BYU.edu)BY ISABELLA SOSAKSLNewsRadioPROVO \u2014 Pacific Islanders seek mental health services less than any other group, according to a Brigham Young University study. From 2018 to 2025, Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology at BYU, Kawika Allen, led a team of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3000,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2999","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}