A Brief History
Soul Talk Samoa (“STS”) Trust was born as one of the outputs from the doctoral study of one of its Co-Founders and counsellors, Rev. Dr Alesana Pala’amo. Alesana’s PhD research (Pala’amo, 2017) investigated the counselling practices of faifeau (ministers) and faletua (minister’s wife), and findings from this study highlighted the need for such a service.
In 2017, upon returning to Samoa to continue teaching at Malua Theological College, STS was first conceptualised, planned, and then registered as a Charitable Trust (CT513) with the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Labour, of the Government of Samoa. Lemau Pala’amo is the Co-Founder and President of STS and together with husband Alesana, are counsellors for STS.
Presently, STS operates online from the residence of its Co-Founders. STS counsellors attend to their clients through home-visits, telephone, social media and virtual communications, or through arranged meetings at suitable locations. The primary aim for the immediate future of STS is to secure funding through various partnerships, in order to provide a central location in the township of Apia, to host and operate STS.
OUR WORK
Pastoral counselling
The primary issues we focus on involve:
The acronym GPS:
1. Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls;
2. Parental challenges;
3. Suicide Intervention.
From its inception, Soul Talk Samoa Trust has included a fourth emphasis and additional acronym to its work:
4. DRCCR – Disaster Resilience Climate Change Response
The work that STS is involved in is not limited to GPS and DRCCR, and may include addressing the following issues when presented by our clients:
Stress management
Anger management
Depression
Unresolved grief
Marriage and couple counselling
Theological misunderstandings of God
Fetufaā’iga
O lenei auaunaga ua ta’ua i le fa’a-Peretania o le ‘pastoral counselling’, o se galuega alofa lea a le faifeau ma lona faletua e tauala i fetufaā’iga ma fa’atalanoaga. O le fa’amoemoe, e sailia ai ni fofō mo fa’afitauli, mataupu ma’ale’ale ma le matagā, o lo’o a’afia ai tagata fa’apea aiga. O le aufaigaluega a le Soul Talk Samoa Trust e aofia ai faifeau ma faletua, fa’apea ma nisi ua a’oa’oina lelei i le tomai mo fetufaā’iga ma fa’atalanoaga.
O le Soul Talk Samoa Trust e mafai ona fesoasoani atu i mataupu nei:
1. Fa’afitauli i le vā o itūaiga eseese o tagata (Gender equality);
2. Fa’afitāuli i le vā o mātua ma fanau (Parenting challenges);
3. Galuega e fa’aitiitia ai lagona o le pule i le ola (Suicide interventions).
Mai le amataga o ana galuega fesoasoani, o lea ua faaopoopo i lana auaunaga le mataupu lenei:
4. Nofo sauniuni mo Faalavelave Faalenatura Tutupu Faafuasei (Disaster Resilience), faatasi ai ma le Tali atu i Suiga o le Tau (Climate Change Response)
E lē gata i lea, ae mafai foi ona feosoasoani atu i mataupu nei:
Lagona o le popolevale
Lagona o le māitaitagofie
Lagona ua lē toe fia auai i so’o se mea
Umi ona lagona o le fa’anoanoa
Fetufaā’iga mo ulugalii
Mataupu Silisili ina ia iloa atili le Atua
Social services
▪ Student & Youth support
▪ Migration concerns
▪ Drug and Alcohol issues
▪ Abuse (physical, emotional, sexual)
▪ Budgeting service
Galuega fesoasoani
O nisi o galuega fesoasoani a le Soul Talk Samoa e aofia ai auaunaga agai mataupu e fa’atatau i:
▪ Tamaiti aoga ma Tupulaga talavou
▪ Femalagaā’iga
▪ Fualaau fa’asāina ma le ‘ava malosi
▪ Sauaga i totonu o aiga (fa’aletino, fa’alemafaufau, fa’amālosia feusua’iga)
▪ Fa’asoasoaina o le tamaoaiga