There is a trendy catch phrase doing the rounds in mental health right now. It goes something like “there’s no health without mental health”. Of course, in the Pacific, our ancients have known this for centuries.

It’s never made any sense to us to treat the mind as separate from the body, or from the spirit for that matter. We didn’t need to be told by the World Health Organisation that health is best understood not just as the absence of disease, but as a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing. We have always understood health holistically. We have always viewed life holistically, understanding ourselves as interconnected with each other, with the land, the sea and our environmental surrounds. The balance of these relationships was always considered sacred.

However, the evidence unfolding about Pasifika peoples in New Zealand shows us that life is not a beach. The first national mental health study indicates that one in four Pasifika peoples living in New Zealand experience mental illness compared with one in five in the general population. Almost half of Pasifika peoples (46.5%) experienced a mental disorder at some stage during their lifetime .

Actually, we punch above our weight in more ways than one when it comes to mental illness. We have high rates of involuntary and forensic referrals: one in every five Pacific peoples in the mental health system is referred by the police or courts (66% higher than for total NZ). We’re staying longer in acute inpatient units. We’re more likely to be admitted for serious psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia. And despite a higher overall burden of illness, we’re less likely to access to services.

Perhaps most worrying, is that studies show that our young people and the New Zealand-born Pasifika population are hit hardest by mental illness. We’ve got some serious challenges confronting us as a community. As families, as individuals, as communities, we need to be mobilising and moving fast to respond. What is at stake is too precious to be left entirely to the Government.

I work for an organisation called ‘Le Va’. Our spirit line is “To create space for Pacific well being” and our maxim is “where strong relationships exist anything is possible”. In many Pacific languages va means space, but not the space that separates, rather the space that relates. By looking after the ‘space between’ ourselves and others is to maintain life-giving harmony and balance.

Part of our challenge as Pacific peoples here in New Zealand, is to maintain the best of what we bring with us. We also have to grab with both hands the opportunities that New Zealand has to offer. Yet the mental health statistics that confront us, suggest that all is not well in the land of milk and honey. They show that many of our people, especially our youth, are hurting and struggling both emotionally and mentally in their everyday lives.

New research shows that among Pacific High School students, those who felt accepted by their own Pacific ethnic groups, as well as by others, were seventy percent less likely to report a suicide attempt in the previous 12 months and half as likely to report suicidal thoughts.

As Reverend Feleterika Nokise once said, “To be human is to be in relation, to be involved in a web of connections with others”. As Pasifika people, this is something we have always understood well. We come from strong communities that were founded on the idea of collective responsibility.

These were communities that were sustained and maintained by balancing the va between each other and by living in affinity within our natural environment. Our challenge is to reproduce our strength and wisdom here in New Zealand.

Le Va is committed to creating space for Pacific wellbeing. We want to respond in ways that have resonance for us as a community. That means drawing from our strengths, tapping into our ancient Pacific wisdom, but also responding practically and effectively to our contemporary situations. At Le Va, we harness the latest technologies and techniques that will realise a vision of wellbeing (that’s why you can find us on Bebo or text us at 310) – creating cyber-space takes the va to new dimensions.

Le Va started out focussing only on mental health. It has become more and more apparent that it doesn’t make sense to treat mental health issues in isolation. We have to take a holistic approach to consider the whole person, the family and the wider environment. We have to work across the entire health spectrum.

It seems that contemporary societies are becoming increasingly disconnected. Our Pacific young people are experiencing isolation and despair in disproportionate numbers. There are many challenges ahead. We believe that the concept of va is one part of our unique Pacific solution to the challenges we face as a collective. Prioritising balanced and reciprocal relationships with each other and approaching mental health in a holistic way is something that Pasifika people have done for centuries. Now we need to work together co-operatively and translate what we know into healthy minds, bodies and spirits in a contemporary context. Above all, as Reverend Nokise once said, we must have the courage to be healing communities.

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