Conference Agenda

Background: The experience of perfectionism involves the setting of excessively high standards for oneself or others and is associated with both positive and negative effects on mental health. Perfectionism is often impacted by intersectional factors of race, culture, and power, which disproportionately affect People of Colour (PoC). This study explores Therapists of Colour’s experience of perfectionism within their own personal therapy. By extension, this research also investigates the impact of personal therapy and perfectionism on therapeutic practice. Overall, this study aims to contribute to the research base surrounding perfectionism and inform culturally-aware psychotherapeutic practice.

Methodology: Interpretative phenomenological analysis was utilised to explore the experience of perfectionism within personal therapy among Therapists of Colour. Five semi-structured interviews were conducted with PoC therapists from across the UK.

Findings: Formative findings highlight the impact of high standards on therapeutic relationships and the therapeutic process. Findings also examine the impact of race, power and social stigma on the lived experience of perfectionism within therapeutic process. Additional findings also point to the significance of personal therapy in understanding perfectionism and the importance of adopting a culturally-aware perspective when working with PoC clientele.

In Aotearoa New Zealand, there are currently high numbers of Pacific people experiencing mental distress, with very low rates currently able to access mental health services. Research to date that focuses on Pacific Island peoples, report that the current mental health services are not addressing specific cultural needs effectively and are seen to be coercive, by operating within a dominant western biomedical worldview and interpretation of health. A culturally entrenched communal way of fishing, ūloa, was used to model a unique approach for mental health care service providers to engage People people in their mental health journeys. Talanoa is a Pacific methodology that captures Pacific worldviews in terms of how they engage, interact, relate to one another, and so forth. This presentation will highlight the need to use Pacific research methodology, talanoa, when researching Pacific health issues. It will also address how a Pacific model of care, ūloa model, is more effective when dealing with Pacific people experiencing mental health issues. Three research projects used talanoa and ūloa and all findings demonstrate the critical importance of drawing on cultural capital and resources like talanoa and ūloa (fishing), to support culturally appropriate improvements in mental health outcomes.

This presentation is based on a larger research project, which investigates the effectiveness of a culturally appropriate model, namely ūloa, when working with Pacific people experiencing mental distress. Ūloa is a communal method of fishing in Tonga, which includes all members of the community. This type of fishing is practiced throughout the Pacific and it is called yavirau in Fiji, lauloa in Samoa and hukilau in Hawaii. This paper reports on findings related to the increased awareness of ūloa model within the mental health services and to raise awareness of how to work with Pacific people and adjust the health service to suit the needs of this population to test its effectiveness. The research project used the Pacific research methodology of talanoa and the study population is the Pacific population in Aotearoa New Zealand and also from the Pacific region including Tonga, Niue and Fiji. These preliminary findings continue to support that the conventional biomedical approach employed in the mental health services overlooks elements of Pacific constructions of mental distress.