Julia Ioane

Apaula Julia Ioane is a Samoan New Zealand clinical psychologist and academic, and is a full professor in the School of Psychology at Massey University, specialising in childhood trauma, family violence and youth offending.

Early life and education Ioane was born in New Zealand to Samoan parents, and speaks Samoan and English. She was raised in South Auckland. She holds the chiefly title Folasāitu from the village of Fasito’o uta, and also has ancestral links to the village of Leauva’a. Ioane's interest in psychology had developed when working at the Ministry of Education. She realised that a family who were new migrants from Samoa were not going to understand the interventions they were being asked to make, and was told by the psychologist involved that there were not enough Samoan psychologists. Ioane then returned to Auckland University for a postgraduate diploma in psychology (2007), an honours degree (2010), and a Doctor of Clinical Psychology degree with a thesis titled A comparison of Pacific Island violent youth offenders with Maori and Palagi violent youth offenders (2012). Ioane also has a PhD degree titled "I was doing time too. Experiences of Pasifika parents in the Youth Justice system (2025). https://mro.massey.ac.nz/items/53cc2c68-d0b7-4107-92b7-173456a7ad1c

Academic career Ioane worked for a community provider of a programme for sexual offenders, and then the Regional Youth Forensic Service, before joining the faculty of Auckland University of Technology as a lecturer. She also began to research how psychology practice could be changed to be more responsive to the needs of Pacific people. Her work with young offenders led her to examine why some Pacific youths enter the youth justice system while others do not, despite similar family circumstances. She has also consulted to the judiciary in Samoa, and is on a number of governance boards and advisory boards in New Zealand.

Selected works