Health is Wealth: A Pacific Fonofale and Moana Vā Values Approach to Mental Well-being
Presented by Vui Suli Tuitaupe
About This Seminar
Pacific peoples in Aotearoa continue to experience significant mental health inequities, shaped by colonisation, systemic barriers, cultural disconnection, and the underutilisation of services. These challenges are often intensified for Pacific Rainbow+ individuals and their families, who navigate additional layers of stigma, identity tension, and exclusion.
This presentation introduces Fuimaono Dr Karl Pulotu-Endemann’s Fonofale model as a culturally grounded framework for understanding and supporting Pacific mental well-being in clinical practice.
This presentation aims to support clinicians to move beyond deficit-based narratives and towards therapeutic practice that honours Pacific identities, lived realities, and collective well-being.
Presenter’s Bio
Vui Suli Tuitaupe
Vui Suli Tuitaupe is a registered nurse, health promoter, and community leader with over 25 years’ experience in health promotion, physical activity, and well-being. Suli is the Founder and Chairperson of Moana Vā – Navigators of Pacific Pride, a Pacific-led organisation supporting Rainbow+ individuals, families, and communities across Aotearoa and the wider Pacific.
Suli currently works in community nursing practice and is a Doctor of Health candidate at the University of Canterbury, where his research explores Samoan New Zealander worldviews of health and well-being in Waitaha, Aotearoa New Zealand. His work is grounded in Pacific values and holistic frameworks with a strong focus on culturally safe, family-centred, and strengths-based approaches to care.