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Muliagasisila Dr. Faafetai Faaleava

Psychologist in the State of California State Prison System, USA

Muliagasisila Dr. Faafetai Faaleava was born in Moto'otua, Samoa and has family ties to the villages of Vaiusu, Lano, Samata-i-Tai, and Fagaloa (Salimu). He is based in California, U.S.A., and works as a psychologist in the California state prison system. His duties at the prison include individual therapy, suicide risk assessments, inmate housing recommendations, and pre-release screenings.

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Dr. Faaleava has an Associate’s degree in Psychology, Bachelor’s degree in Sociology, Masters in Clinical Psychology and a doctorate in Clinical Psychology.

Dr Faaleava also has experience conducting various court ordered psychological evaluations including general evaluations, sex offender evaluations, neuropsych evaluations, and competency to stand trial evaluations. 

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Dr. Faaleava is passionate about serving various Pacific Islander Communities and has organised and facilitated several events focused on promoting and normalising mental health. Over the past several years, Dr. Faaleava has worked within the Samoan churches in California where he organised mental health workshops for Pasefika ministers and their wives. In addition, he spearheaded suicide prevention presentations to local Samoan churches in response to the rising rate of suicides among Samoan youth.

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Dr Faaleava also created the first Pacific Islander mental health clinicians’ group in the US whose mission is to provide mental health assistance to Pasefika communities across America. 

He has been featured on several podcasts, radio stations, and newspaper articles in the US, Samoa, New Zealand, and Australia. He also recently co-authored a book chapter titled "Psychology in Samoa and Throughout the Diaspora" as part of the International and Cultural Psychology book series for Springer publishing. This book chapter highlighted the importance of utilising a cultural lens when providing mental health services to the Samoan population. 

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