You can build better health through Te Ao Māori

You can build better health through Te Ao Māori

Te Piki Oranga is rolling out a pilot programme, Te Ata Pūao, to help whānau take more control over their health and wellbeing through a better understanding of their cultural identity.

Te Ata Pūao has been developed in recognition of the low to medium anxiety levels people are experiencing following the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact it has had on jobs, security, families and mental health, especially for those in rural communities.

It will support positive changes to improve Māori health and wellbeing through a better understanding of Te Ao Māori.

Participants will develop an awareness of their whakapapa and feel more at home within Te Ao Māori. As they work through the course, participants will be supported to answer questions about their culture and whānau, and develop an understanding of how this can affect personal health and wellbeing.

Te Ata Pūao has been developed to help Māori to explore how their thoughts and feelings affect their actions in a fun, supportive learning environment. It will help participants to take more control of their own health and wellbeing as they develop a health and wellbeing plan, which they can continue to develop once they have finished the course.

The programme will run once a week for 2.5 hours a week over six weeks.

The course will be delivered in three parts, exploring culture and identity,  developing a holistic approach to your health and wellbeing, and working with professional support services to make long-term improvements to health and wellbeing.

Te Ata Pūao will be delivered for tāne, wāhine and whānau, at locations in Whakatū and Wairau. For more information visit www.tpo.org.nz or phone 0800 ORANGA (0800 672 642)

Manu Ora takes flight

Manu Ora takes flight

Today, Wairau’s new Manu Ora healthcare service is open and giving local whānau a new, high-quality and culturally appropriate way to improve their hauora. The service is a partnership between Nuku Health and Te Piki Oranga, and is supported by Marlborough Primary Health and Rangitane o Wairau.

The service’s name ‘Manu Ora’, represents a bird taking flight after achieving hauora (wellbeing). 

Manu Ora is a charitable organisation with a small healthcare team dedicated to providing quality care within a kaupapa Māori model and committed to te Māori me ngā tikanga Māori. The service is subsidised for Te Piki Oranga whānau, Community Services Card holders and other whānau who meet the enrolment criteria.  

‘We are committed to reducing the inequities in both access to primary health care and the health outcomes for our highest need patients in Wairau, particularly our Māori community,’ says Manu Ora's Sara Simmons.

‘We strive to create an environment that is caring, respectful, empathic and collaborative with our patients and their support networks, and supportive, stimulating and rewarding for our kaimahi (staff).’

The Manu Ora team will work closely with each other, alongside patients, to ensure every staff member can provide high-quality and ongoing care.

When a patient first signs up, they will be offered an extended enrolment appointment with a nurse and a GP from the team. Following this, a coordinated management plan will be developed and documented to ensure each patient’s health needs are met.

The Manu Ora team also aims to act as health advocates for their patients, and to go the extra mile to ensure their health needs are met.

You can book an appointment in advance or drop into the walk-in clinic (where patients are prioritised according to how urgent their medical treatment needs are).

Call Manu Ora on 03 577 5810 or drop into 219 Howick Road, Wairau.

Manu Ora’s guiding whakataukī

Mā te huruhuru, ka rere te manu

Me whakahoki mai te mana ki te whanau, hapū, iwi.

Kia korowaitia aku mokopuna kit e korowaitanga hauora.

Adorn the bird with feathers so it can fly and return the mana to us.

Let our future generations be embraced in good health.

National Award for Māori health champion provides funding for new programme

National Award for Māori health champion provides funding for new programme

Paraire Huata Health and Wellbeing Award recipient Rameka Te Rahui is dedicating the $5,000 Award to a new wānanga to help young Māori to follow the right path in life, and is calling for sponsors to match the funding, so he can deliver a high impact programme that will change lives.

Rameka Te Rahui says he was delighted to receive the Te Rau Ora Paraire Huata Award in May this year, especially as the award will provide base funding to run a new wānanga targeting at-risk young Māori men.

The Te Rau Ora He Tohu Hiranga: Excellence and Innovation awards acknowledge and recognise excellence and innovation in the Māori health, mental health, addiction sectors.  Paraire Huata was best known for his focus on the health and social service sector, and for his commitment to Māori mental health and addiction services. Te Rau Ora is a national organisation dedicated to strengthening Māori Health.

“I want to acknowledge the honour of being the recipient of the Paraire Huata Award, it was a wonderful surprise and truly appreciated. A big thank you to the team at Te Rau Ora,” says Rameka.

Rameka has been in Nelson for two years, working in addiction services for Māori health and wellness organisation Te Piki Oranga. Prior to that, his career in Māori community wellbeing has spanned 39 years and included working in probation services, alongside the New Zealand Police, family violence and Children, Youth and Families Service, and most recently as a Team Leader delivering kaupapa services in the Bay of Plenty.

The Paraire Huata Award recognises contributions towards Māori health and wellbeing. The award is in the form of funds to facilitate local wānanga, to share and raise the standards of practice regarding Māori models of practice.

Rameka says the award holds special meaning for him because of his friendship with Paraire Hauta.

”Paraire Huata, of Ngati Kahungungu ki Heretaunga,  was a dear friend, colleague and teacher whom I had the privilege of working with under the kaupapa he co-developed, which was well known across Aotearoa, not only for his work with Māori but with the world’s indigenous people.’’

Rameka is currently facilitating the Kia Taumata Te Oranga Methamphetamine MatrixPprogramme –a successful addiction programme developed in the US and adapted for New Zealand. The programme launched in October 2019 and is already making strides in helping people break the cycle of drug use and addiction.

“We’ve found that people who stay with the learning and complete three or four blocks of the programme are able to make lasting changes in their lives. Many of our clients are self-referred or come through people who have successfully completed the course and are making real progress,” says Rameka.

Rameka is using the award money to facilitate a wānanga for 20 young Māori males (taiohi, rangatahi tamatāne,) aged 14 to 20 years old which will run in October this year and will be Marae-based within Te Tauihu. 

“We are hoping to target many of our local young tane who have fallen through the gaps and are likely to be an adult tane ‘Māori statistic’ within the next 3-8 years,” says Rameka. “Our aim is to try to break this cycle and to expose these young tāne to good role models and a variety of activities and opportunities that provide an alternative to a life of drug use, gang violence and crime.”

To support the programme, Rameka is calling for sponsorship from other agencies to help build a programme that will make a long-term difference to young men and their whānau.

“I am dedicating the Paraire Huata award as part of my role with Te Piki Oranga, and I challenge the appropriate services and community of Nelson, to either match or better this contribution.”

Building better health through Te Ao Māori

Te Piki Oranga is rolling out a pilot programme to help people take more control over their health and wellbeing through a better understanding of their cultural identity.

Te Ata Pūao has been developed in recognition of the low to medium anxiety levels people are experiencing following the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact it has had on jobs, security, families and mental health.

Programme facilitator Charles Clover says the course has been developed to support positive changes that will improve Māori health and wellbeing through a better understanding of Te Ao Māori.

“Through Te Ata Pūao, participants will develop an awareness of their whakapapa and answer questions about their culture and whānau, developing an understanding of how this can affect personal health and wellbeing.

“This is a chance for Māori to explore the complexity of their whakapapa, and look at how their thoughts and feelings affect their actions. We will show people how they can take more control of their own health and wellbeing and feel more at home in Te Ao Māori in a fun, supportive learning environment,” says Charles.

Te Ata Pūao programme will run once a week for 2.5 hours a week over six weeks, and will work through a bi-cultural health model to develop a health and wellbeing plan that participants can continue to develop once they have finished the course.

The course will be delivered in three parts, exploring culture and identity,  developing a holistic approach to your health and wellbeing, and working with professional support services to make long-term improvements to health and wellbeing.

Te Ata Pūao will be delivered for tāne, wāhine and whānau, at locations in Whakatū and Wairau. For more information contact Charles Clover by calling 0800 ORANGA (0800 672 642).

Strength in unity and activity

Whāia te iti kahurangi ki te tūohu koe me he maunga teitei

Te Ropu Tane Kotahi Rau recently won the Stuff ‘Time to Shine Award’, one of six ASB Homegrown Heroes Awards. The ‘Time to Shine Award’ celebrates initiatives that have made a positive impact in the lives of a specific group in the community, in this case a group of tane living in Whakatū.

Underpinned by a te ao Māori approach, Te Ropu Tane Kotahi Rau kicked off in September 2019 and, since then, the men who participated have improved their physical fitness, quit or reduced smoking, made healthier food choices, lost weight and addressed other individual health needs. They’ve also strengthened their kotahitanga (togetherness), taha tinana (personal identity) and mana.

Back in the early days of the programme, the tane all weighed more than 100kg and had secondary health issues as a result, but other challenges facing them included homelessness, criminal records, addiction and poor mental health.

Equipped with a new pair of cross trainers and hoodie, the tane—who whakapapa to Ngā Puhi, Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Koata, Ngāi Tahu and the Cook Islands—partipated in activities every Thursday for 16 weeks.

Each session started with a karakia and acknowledgement of Atua, to engage with their own wairua and support each other’s mana.

Te Piki Oranga and Te Waka Hauora Māori Mental Health provided awhi, and funding was obtained to pay for the exercise gear and kai for the men, with picnic lunches, BBQs or a Nikau House meal following each session.

During the 16 weeks, the tane explored Te Tauihu’s great outdoors, tackling tracks at the Centre of New Zealand, the Abel Tasman, the Grampians, Tahunanui Beach, Rabbit Island and Days Track, over the Tahunanui Hills. The men also used the outdoor gyms at Tahuna Beach, Saxton Park and Riverside Pool, along with mau rākau (traditional Māori weapons) to mix up the cardio sessions.

In November 2019, the tane successfully participated in the Nelson Half Marathon for the first time, then celebrated the end of the first year of Te Ropu Tane Kotahi Rau with a Te Piki Oranga health check, formal graduation and hangi at Victory Community Centre with whānau and friends.

A way to tautoko the waka

The programme’s success led to its extension into 2020, to offer continued support to the tane; a way to ‘tautoko the waka’ on which they were still travelling. Despite the challenges resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, several tane participated in the Half Marathon again last November, beating their 2019 lap times, while others played in the 2020 Nelson Touch tournament or joined a Seido Karate club.

The whāinga (purpose) extended beyond the pursuit of whairoa (wellness) and it has proved successful in other ways.

‘Te Ropu Tane Kotahi Rau is built on the importance of kotahitanga and the belief that, on their own and as a collective, “mana motuhake” whānau can govern themselves to achieve positive outcomes,’ says John Harris. ‘It wasn’t just about hauora (health).’

For example, Te Ropu Tane Kotahi Rau supported one of the tane, Daniel Timms, to lead a successful campaign against the restructure of Nikau House. He hand-delivered a 4,500 signature-strong petition to then Nelson MP Nick Smith at Parliament House in July. As a result, the District Health Board announced in August that Nikau House would not only stay open, but that they planned to expand its resources and increase its accessibility.

Te Ropu Tane Kotahi Rau is a one-of-a-kind programme in Te Tauihu but wouldn’t have succeeded without the support of many other agencies and organisations including Nikau House, Nelson City Council, Devine Fitness, Saxton Field Sports Complex, Whakatū Marae, Fish and Loaves, The White House and many more who have contributed to the wellbeing of the tangata whaiora.

A similar programme for wāhine will start in October this year.

Smashing it at the 2019 Nelson Half Marathon

Reaching the top of the Centre of New Zealand

Winning the Stuff ‘Time to Shine Award’. Left to Right: John Harris (Te Piki Oranga), Ryan Edwards (Sports Tasman), Kahu Kumeroa (Te Ropu Tane Kotahi Rau).

Graduates champion the “Stop Meth Use” programme

Graduates champion the “Stop Meth Use” programme

Kia Taumata Te Oranga methamphetamine programme was launched in Stoke in October. Within the year it has had its first two graduates, Colby Kelly and Joseph Batchelor. The completed eight months of the community-based, abstinence treatment programme and more than 100 hours of face-to-face group attendance time.

In acknowledgement of their part in our ‘Te Piki Oranga, Ngaru tuatahi’ first wave, Colby and Joseph were actively instrumental in helping us pioneer and shape the programme.

Their contribution to the group and overall programme, the sharing of their wealth of experience, and knowledge of methamphetamine helped catapult the programme.

“I could have continued making my recovery on my own but found that being on the programme helped me gain further tools and understanding,” said Joseph. “The programme covered extensive conversations that I may not have thought of by myself, which I felt was relevant to me and my recovery journey. I had been declined other services but heard of the Te Piki Oranga Kia Taumata Te Oranga methamphetamine programme. Today I’m proud of the milestones that I achieved.”

Colby agrees, and he felt that additionally, the programme allowed him to be himself, to share with like-minded people, and having the ability to learn from each other, support each other’s stories and journeys. He felt the programme was highly needed and he could think of many other people who might benefit from it. He would like to continue attending as part of his ongoing commitment to his recovery and responsibilities of maintaining change.

Nga tino mihi ki a korua kua eke ki runga I te taumata otira te mutunga o te wa kia korua me o korua mahi i waenganui I a matou, Kia Taumata Te Oranga, Te Piki Oranga.

As Joseph and Colby progressed in their recovery, they became an inspiration to the other Matrix programme whānau/clients, especially those who were in the early stages of recovery, or those who thought that abstinence was impossible. They are role models that everyone looks up to.