Counseling in Fiji.

This article discusses the evolving role of mental health counseling in Fiji in the context of current social and cultural changes. Although counseling traditionally has been reserved for cultural elders and the clergy, the term counselor is being redefined, due to Western influences, to include persons who are formally educated and trained to provide mental health services. Contemporary issues such as changing gender roles, violence, and suicide are discussed as forces that are influencing the need for trained mental health counselors. This article discusses the current status of educating and credentialing counselors in Fiji and emphasizes counselor education that stresses methods suited to the cultural characteristics of persons in the region.

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Counseling in Fiji takes place in a unique context of blended and varied cultures. The term Fijians, or Fiji Islanders, refers to the collection of ethnic groups that inhabit the Islands: however, such terms tend to homogenize the uniqueness of the separate cultures that exist together. Indigenous Fijians and Indian Fijians account for approximately 95% of the population, with Chinese, Europeans, and other Pacific Islanders making up the remainder. Two significant historical events influence the characteristics of contemporary Fiji: British colonization from 1874 to 1970, and the British importation of agricultural laborers to Fiji from India during the early days of colonization. The lingering influences of colonization still permeate every facet of Fijian society, and Indian Fijians now make up 44% of Fiji's population (World Facts, n.d.).

The lingering effects of colonization and the current press of globalization are two forces that place Fiji in a posture of change. Many people believe that social problems will dramatically increase in the next 5 years due to the effects of Fiji's current rate of economic development and urban drift. People are voluntarily moving to cities in search of jobs and economic stability, although many agricultural workers are forced to move to urban areas because of expired sugarcane land leases. Towns and cities are becoming burdened with displaced and disenfranchised persons who have minimal sources of livelihood. These persons, who were once accepted members of well-ordered rural social communities, often demonstrate their frustration with the chaotic and impersonal atmosphere of urban living through domestic violence, crimes against property, child abuse, marital strain, and suicide.

ROLE OF COUNSELING

For the majority of Fijians, the term counseling refers to a process that differs from Western concepts of counseling. U.S. authors Ivey and Ivey (1999) described counseling as the task of listening carefully to stories told by clients in an attempt to learn how clients come to think, feel, and act as they do. During the process, clients and mental health counselors collaborate to produce meaningful change. Western approaches tend to encourage clients to be more or less active in the counseling process, depending on the counseling approach and the mental health counselor using it. Murphy and Dillon (1998) stated, "It is chiefly the client who will be regularly expected to reveal personal information in exquisite detail" (p. 8).

Counseling in Fiji, however, is typically a process in which persons with authority advise or direct their clients, often without hearing their stories. Counseling traditionally has been perceived as a corrective process administered by elder family members, village leaders, clergy, and teachers who counsel those who stray from cultural or religious norms. Clients, because of their cultural upbringing, are prone to follow the advice and directions without question. Therefore, in the Fijian context, counseling is described as directive advising.

Fiji Islanders tend to view life through a lens of collectivism and, therefore, think first of their place in a group before thinking of themselves individually. Cultural and religious leaders define appropriate roles and behaviors, and in nearly all situations, persons defer to those leaders for guidance on how to live. If persons stray from expected behaviors, those in authority counsel them. Fijians violate cultural norms if they take their personal concerns beyond the boundaries of their families and social groups; therefore, professional counselors may be viewed as superfluous and threatening to cultural traditions. Additionally, many persons believe that mental health professionals, such as trained counselors, limit their work to persons with severe mental illness; therefore, to seek the assistance of a counselor for personal issues carries the stigma of being crazy, a stigma they would prefer to avoid.

Although women and men in Fiji might equally benefit from counseling, women are usually hesitant to seek help because of their submissive role in the culture. Women in most Fijian ethnic groups are considered, and consider themselves, subordinate to men. According to Adinkrah (1995), "Many women in Fiji harbor the notion that a husband is the unquestioned head of his household and the wife's duty is to obey and serve him without reservation" (p. 91). Most women are socialized to believe that attending to their own emotional welfare is a display of selfishness that would detract from their role of being wholly attentive to others (i.e., primarily the men and children in their lives). For this reason, many women do not recognize counseling as an option when they experience personal issues.

COUNSELING ISSUES

Author Kuruleca, educated in the United States and working in Fiji, describes four main areas of concern that she encounters in her counseling practice:

1. Perception of being stuck. "I can't leave him, I am his wife. What will the neighbors and our relatives think?" Women who have shared these thoughts believe they have two strikes against them: being women and being trapped by their cultural beliefs. For many of these women, leaving a violent relationship would be unthinkable because of the cultural expectation to maintain a submissive role, even if it means an existence of loneliness, helplessness, and terror.

2. Entrenched systems of religious beliefs, practices, and rituals. For many clients, who believe there is "only one way to do things," religious belief systems act as barriers. These religious beliefs often limit clients' acceptance of alternate options. One client explained her attempted suicide by saying, "I didn't want to go to worship or carry out the ritual, and I knew that my parents would be extremely upset; so I decided that taking a few extra pills would be an easier way to deal with their insistent religious devotion." Clients with religious affiliations may seek counsel from their clergy, and the advice they receive often results in their feeling more trapped. A client explained, "I know I am not supposed to live this way, like an animal, while he [husband] goes on having his fun, but the minister said that I must vosota" (i.e., forgive).

3. Culture of violence and obsessiveness with impulsive behavior. Young indigenous Fijian men, more than other groups, demonstrate the cultural tendency to resort to violence in stressful situations, such as domestic disputes. Adinkrah (1995) found that indigenous Fijian men are overrepresented as offenders in predatory or violent crimes, although Indian Fijians are overrepresented in white-collar crimes. Perhaps this is because indigenous Fijian men perceive that there are no other options available, or they believe that their behaviors are consistent with cultural norms. When in counseling, these men resist being confronted about aggressive behaviors that to them are culturally acceptable. Although indigenous Fijian men are more likely to express their anger immediately and impulsively, Indian Fijian men are more likely to harbor their emotions and then express them dramatically and aggressively once they realize they cannot contain their situations.

4. Abuse and neglect of children. Because of cultural tendencies to control with force and because of widespread poverty, children often are abused and neglected. Extended family members in indigenous Fijian families often assume a more active role in parenting children than do biological parents. However, biological parents monitor their children's behavior and resort to physical punishment, which leaves their children feeling rejected and alienated from them. The lack of consistent parental supervision "has been cited as a factor that contributes to the greater involvement of [indigenous] Fijian youths in street crimes, especially in urban areas," according to Adinkrah (1995, p. 14). Schools inadvertently reinforce the concept of control by force because they do not persistently support and maintain their stated policies that discourage corporal punishment, in spite of the Fiji government's ratification of the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child in August 1993.

An additional issue that is relevant for all counselors in Fiji is the risk of suicide and parasuicide. Booth (1998) reported that the Pacific region has some of the highest youth suicide rates in the world. Suicide rates for young Indian Fijian men, and young men in the Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Guam, Palau, and Samoa, are among the highest anywhere. The same is true for young women in Samoa and young Indian Fijian women. In these countries, suicide is the highest cause of death for 15- to 24-year-olds. The most commonly used methods are hanging and ingestion of weed killer.

A widely accepted reason for the high levels of suicide is social change resulting from developmental pressures. These pressures lead to intergenerational conflicts, which are assumed to weigh heavier on young people (Rubinstein, 1992). In addition, Booth (1999) proposed that the relatively high level of suicide by young Indian Fijian women is the result of the greater changes they have experienced in recent years compared to young Indian Fijian men and older Indian Fijian women. Risk of suicide also varies with ethnicity. Persons self-identifying as Christian and Muslim are at lower than average risk, while those identifying as Hindu are at higher risk. Mental health counselors need to be sensitive to the differences in presenting issues, attitudes about self-harm, and outcomes that are considered acceptable when working with clients of different ethnicities.

The growing public awareness of suicide in general and of suicide by young people in particular has led to public debate, the establishment of the National Committee on the Prevention of Suicide in 2001, and pleas by teachers and several nongovernmental organizations for more trained counselors. It is one of the factors most likely to have led to increased enrollments in counseling programs at the University of the South Pacific (USP) since their inception in 1997.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING OF MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELORS

The need for mental health counselors who are educated and trained to be effective in Fiji is apparent. Professionals who practice in Fiji usually are trained in other countries and must make theoretical and methodological adjustments when counseling in Fiji. Informal counselors in Fiji benefit from occasional workshops that are conducted by clergy or other interested groups. However, the popular belief persists that preparation in a related field, maturity, or social status automatically qualifies one to counsel. Increasing interest in formal university counseling programs reflects changes in that belief.

The formal education and training of counselors in Fiji began with the introduction of counseling courses at USP in 1997. Currently, USP is the only provider of counselor education and training in the South Pacific Islands. The nearest other sources are universities in Australia and New Zealand. The courses at USP are undergraduate courses: however, a postgraduate program related to counseling began in 2004. A Certificate in Counseling and Guidance is the basic program offered. This program requires six courses, including a two-course sequence devoted to counseling skills and theories and a 40-hour practicum at a community site. In addition to four compulsory courses, students may choose two courses from either a school or community counseling track. A Bachelor of Arts in Applied Psychology requires students to select one of three areas of emphasis (i.e., strands). One of these is a counseling strand. As in the Certificate program, the basic two-course counseling sequence is compulsory, and, with the exception of a family counseling course, the other courses are psychology oriented. The Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Psychology began in 2004. Although the program has been included in the university literature for some time, it has remained dormant because of staffing deficits. The Diploma requires four courses in counseling-related areas.

The counseling courses at USP rely on counseling approaches and theories that originate from Western countries. Counseling texts and instructional personnel are usually from these countries, and the Western concepts of counseling presented are sometimes inconsistent with cultural traditions in Fiji. The dilemma for counselor educators at USP is to prepare counselors to enter local cultures and be effective without relying solely on foreign counseling approaches. Local students must be encouraged to think critically as they evaluate the content of courses for relevance to their cultural settings. The result likely will be hybrid approaches to counseling that will be suited to local environments.

Counselor education and training does not coincide with a system of licensure or certification in Fiji, because no system currently exists. There are no restrictions on who can call themselves a counselor, and those who counsel are not accountable to any system of monitoring. This situation may soon change due to the recent passage of a Family Law Act that requires counseling for those who seek divorce. Authors of the legislation suggested that independent organizations be individually recognized to establish criteria for counselors, and a registry of counselors who would provide the counseling required in the Act would develop from these organizations. The Fiji Association of Social Workers and the Oceania Psychology Register are presently developing lists of counselors who meet their criteria for credentialing. These credentialing schemes may serve as models to guide the government of Fiji in developing a system of licensing for counselors.

CONCLUSION

Counseling in Fiji is in a state of transition. Both external and internal forces are influencing local cultures, and the symptoms of change have surfaced in the thoughts and behaviors of Fijians in all ethnic groups. People now recognize the need for counseling as a resource for assisting them in the process of reevaluating their views about themselves and their society The perceptions of counseling are also in transition, and Fijians will have to construct counseling theories and methods that are consistent with their various cultures. Specifically, Western-oriented mental health counselors who interact with clients in Fiji, and other South Pacific countries, may have to be more directive in the early stages of counseling and understand that Fijian clients will perceive that focusing on the self is inappropriate. Clients may not freely disclose their feelings and experiences, and, therefore, Western approaches that encourage a collaborative role for clients may be more useful as sources for comparison than as sources for practice. Mental health counselors who work with Fijian clients of all ethnicities will require cross-cultural knowledge and skills that will enable them to be effective within the cultural kaleidoscope of Fiji.

REFERENCES

Adinkrah, M. (1995). Crime, deviancy, and delinquency in Fiji. Suva, Fiji: Fiji Council of Social Services.

Booth, H. (1998). Casualties of development? Child and youth suicide in the Pacific. Development Bulletin, 44, 48-50.

Booth, H. (1999). Gender, power and social change: Youth suicide among Fiji Indians and Western Samoans. The Journal of the Polynesian Society, 108, 39-68.

Ivey, A. E., & Ivey, M. B. (1999). Intentional interviewing and counseling: Facilitating client development in a multicultural society (4th ed). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Murphy, B. C., & Dillon, C. (1998). Interviewing in action: Process and practice. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Rubinstein, D. (1992). Suicidal behaviour in Micronesia. In K. L. Peng & W. S. Tseng (Eds.), Suicidal behaviour in the Asia-Pacific region (pp. 199-229). Singapore: Singapore University Press.

World Facts. (n. d.). Facts about Fiji. Retrieved December 31, 2004, from http://worldfacts.us/Fiji.htm

C. R. Auxier, Peter M. Forster, and Selina C. Kuruleca are with the Department of Education and Psychology, University of the South Pacific; Suva, Fiji. E-mail: [e-mail]