Siautu Alefaio-Tugia
PGDipEd (Psych) 2001
Senior Professional Clinician
Massey University
Siautu Alefaio-Tugia Taking on the World
- Siautu Alefaio-Tugia
- Siautu’s story
- Why Massey?
- Find out more about psychology
- Take The Next Steps Here
Unlocking Minds
It’s SO unfair, how you have to CHOOSE your superpower. It would be much better if you could have two, or maybe three. In 2009, teleportation, for instance, would have come in handy for Siautu.
She was on the immediate response team for the Samoan tsunami, one of the biggest natural disasters in the Pacific’s recent history. An horrific event, with long-term consequences for Samoan well-being. One where Siautu’s knowledge of Pacific culture and attitudes gave her the ability to have a huge impact on the future for those affected by the disaster.
Siautu was born in New Zealand of Samoan descent. Starting off studying education she quickly discovered her passion for the human mind, and moved to focusing on educational psychology. Ten years later she has heaps of amazing experience under her belt and is using the combination of her skills and cultural heritage to create a new way of thinking about psychology for Pasifika people.
Read more about Siautu (pg 12) and other Pasifika people doing great things in the 2011 Pasifika Defining magazine.
Unlocking Minds
It's SO unfair, how you have to CHOOSE your superpower. It would be much better if you could have two, or maybe three. In 2009, teleportation, for instance, would have come in handy for Siautu.
She was on the immediate response team for the Samoan tsunami, one of the biggest natural disasters in the Pacific's recent history. An horrific event, with long-term consequences for Samoan well-being. One where Siautu's knowledge of Pacific culture and attitudes gave her the ability to have a huge impact on the future for those affected by the disaster.
Siautu was born in New Zealand of Samoan descent. Starting off studying education she quickly discovered her passion for the human mind, and moved to focusing on educational psychology. Ten years later she has heaps of amazing experience under her belt and is using the combination of her skills and cultural heritage to create a new way of thinking about psychology for Pasifika people.
Read more about Siautu (pg 12) and other Pasifika people doing great things in the 2011 Pasifika Defining magazine.
Siautu Alefaio-Tugia
PGDipEd (Psych) 2001
Senior Professional Clinician
Massey University
Siautu's story
Figuring out how people’s minds work has real, practical applications. Siautu Alefaio-Tugia has used her Pasifika background and unique experiences to make a real difference in people’s lives.
Why Massey?
At the Massey School of Psychology there’s a focus on flexibility and innovation.
Siautu says that as a Pacific person, this flexibility was a huge help.
Psychology deals with humans, and as such it’s complicated and vast! So at Massey we encourage those studying psychology to get lots of skills in related areas too. Things like understanding Maori culture, acquiring/improving skills in critical thinking and statistics, human development and effective use of the library resource (yes, that’s more than being able to get a book out of the library).
Find out more about psychology
Get started!
If you want to follow in Siautu’s footsteps or just want to learn more about what she does all day, check out our Area of Interest page for Psychology.
There you’ll learn more relating to what Psychology is really all about, what kinds of careers you can get in that field, and how Massey University can help you get started down that path – just like Siautu.