BYU graduate students are playing a key role in research aimed at closing the mental health gap for Pacific Islanders – a group long overlooked in traditional services, due to seemingly unaddressed topics.
From 2018 to 2025, Kawika Allen, BYU Counseling Psychology professor, has led several groups of students in her research laboratory called the Poli Psi Team (Polynesian Psychology and Educational Research) aimed at better understanding mental health and help-seeking behavior among Pacific Islanders. As part of the project, Allen selected various teams of students during this period to travel to various islands in the South Pacific to engage directly with local communities. In the months leading up to the trip, the team asked the cultural experts to make sure they approached the research with humility and respect.
Allen has a special interest in this topic because of his native Hawaiian and Tongan heritage.
“Given that I’m part of the culture, I have an ethnic connection to them, and I have students who also come from this island. That, along with their knowledge of BYU, creates a little credibility. I make sure that they know we are there to serve, help, and learn from them,” said Allen.
Pacific Island culture is close-knit and celebrated for its strong sense of community support. However, the study found that when meeting mental health needs, participants sometimes experienced some strain with family members and were sometimes dismissed or had their struggles considered a weakness.
His research findings were published after his trip in 2024 in the Journal of Counseling Psychology, a top journal in the field. The study identified several reasons some Pacific Islanders are hesitant to seek mental health support, including strong family values, a history of minimizing mental health issues, the belief that mental health struggles can be seen as personal fault rather than influenced by external factors, and a desire for culturally appropriate care and concerns about confidentiality.
“We try to reduce stigma by normalizing and validating the problem, as well as treating mental health like a physical health checkup. “We try to promote healthy living – not only physically, but for our minds as well.”
Students are actively involved in preparing this visit, filtering interview questions by Dr. Beth Cutrer-Parraga, BYU Special Education professor and fellow member of The Poly Psi Team, and learn more about cultural protocols before entering this community. Establishing strong relationships with Pacific Island communities allows for deeper work and collaboration with island committees to apply their findings in culturally appropriate ways.
Devon Beatson, a Counseling Psychology PhD student, used the data collected during the island visit for his dissertation. Although he did not participate in the trip, the research has allowed him to continue exploring culturally influenced approaches to mental health.
“Growing up in New Zealand and coming from a small population that is mainly Polynesian gave me a strong connection. Mental health is difficult and somewhat stigmatized among this population. Not only is it important to do research, but also to investigate how therapy is delivered to non-Western groups and find ways to integrate my upbringing to create a more positive experience for Polynesians,” said Beatson.
Many members of the research team have personal or cultural ties to the communities they study, which shape their approach to the work. From the beginning, they sought to learn from this celebrated culture to provide insight into areas that lacked attention.
The students who went on the trip were not just observers of the process – they conducted interviews, led community discussions, and presented results directly to local leaders and faith groups. Meilani Roan, a PhD student in Counseling Psychology, has been working on this project for several years and participated in two trips. Roan first traveled to Fiji and later became a trip leader, helping to coordinate community outreach and presentations in American Samoa.
“It’s neat that the project has several phases, from interviewing therapists and students to meeting with local leaders and doing outreach in the community,” Roan said. “We were even able to present at a stake meeting for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where they announced someone from Australia who would be the first person to conduct LDS Family Services in Fiji, which was an important milestone to be a part of.”
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