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using cocaine (4.7 percent) than the U.S. mainland (two percent); • Marijuana is used by a slightly higher percentage of people in Hawaii (14.4 percent) than on the U.S. mainland (13 percent); and • The current non-medical use of sedatives is also slightly higher in Hawaii (1.2 percent) compared to the U.S. mainland (0.7 percent). 151/ Federally-Funded Programs The Hale Ola Project is a service and research effort supported by federal funds from the National I n s t i t u t e of Mental Health and the Administration for Native Americans (under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). 152/ The Project is administered in Hawaii by Alu Like, I n c . , and was i n i t i a t e d because it was found that "Western approaches to therapy and mental health care are not e n t i r e l y s u i t a b l e or appropriate for non-Western, including native Hawaiian, individuals with mental or emotional problems." 153/ Hale Ola o Ho'opakolea is a recent effort to test and demonstrate the effectiveness of an a l t e r n a t e and c u l t u r a l l y - s e n s i t i v e approach to meeting the mental health care needs of native Hawaiians. The three-year project (entering i t s third and final year at the beginning of 1983) is located on the Wai'anae Coast. According to the Project Director, the Hale Ola Project is a unique e f f o r t in several respects. It represents the f i r s t time that a service center has been established to u t i l i z e a c u l t u r a l l y - s e n s i t i v e approach to service delivery targeted for native Hawaiians with mental, emotional, and r e l a t e d problems. It is a center that employe qualified service staff drawn from the Wai'anae Coast communities to provide counseling, r e f e r r a l , follow-up, t r a i n i n g , and information gathering in a manner appropriate to native Hawaiians. Informal approaches to care-giving assistance are emphasized and f l e x i b i l i t y is maintained with regard to s e t t i n g the time and frequency with which care is provided. Hale Ola also represents a unique e f f o r t to identify, r e c r u i t , and coordinate the v a r i e t y of informal care-givers and natural healers who are present in every community and offer a wide range of services generally uncatalogued and unacknowledged by professional service agencies. Hale Ola is working to link formal and informal sources of a s s i s t a n c e in order to create a network of care for individuals with various kinds of problems and service needs. Finally, Hale Ola is unique in i t s organizational character; it was i n i t i a t e d by Wai'anae Coast community groups and it continues to be d i r e c t ly guided by and responsible to a community-based administrative committee consisting of residents and service agency staff. The Hale Ola Project has also beer, responsible for sponsoring c u l t u r al research e f f o r t s that seek to e l i c it s p e c i f i c kinds of information d i r e c t ly applicable to c u l t u r a l l y - s e n s i t i ve service delivery. In p a r t i c u l a r , Hale Ola has formulated a community research program that consists of three main research e f f o r t s: • A community survey of native Hawaiian perception and communication s t y l e s with regard to personal problems; • A survey of informal care-givers and natural healers on the Wai'anae Coast; and
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