Restoring indigenous wellness
Healthy Families Far North, in partnership with Te Ahikaaroa Trust, is linking Far North organisations into the return of Ma¯ori and indigenous wellness systems for the people of Te Tai Tokerau.
Te Ahikaaroa Trust founder Rueben Taipari has joined up with Healthy Families Far North to introduce ma¯tauranga Ma¯ori, particularly the maramataka lunar calendar, to organisational environments, with the goal of supporting the optimisation of workplace wellbeing.
Healthy Families Far North is a largescale initiative that seeks to create healthpromoting environments in the Far North in the places where people live, learn, work and play.
Mr Taipari said the maramataka was a traditional system of understanding the natural cycles of the environment and energy patterns that allowed tu¯puna Ma¯ori to live comfortably and sustainably with the elements, to develop and to prosper.
“The potential to assist modern society is still very relevant, perhaps more so in these unnatural times when society is no longer in touch with the natural environment,” he said.
The process of reclaiming maramataka for the Healthy Families Far North team, and many of the other nine around the country, began last year. Over the past 12 months, most sites have been engaged in a return to Ma¯ori systems over a range of approaches and initiatives, part of a national effort to curb the prevalence of chronic diseases and improve health for Ma¯ori.
For Far North workplaces, the first foray into adopting maramataka as an organisational approach took the form of workshops at Te Roopu Kimiora — the Kaita¯ia-based Child and Adolescent Service facility, in December.
Mr Taipari also led sessions with Kaita¯ia Hospital, Sport Northland, the Department of Conservation, Te Hiku Hauora and Te Rarawa Anga Mua kaimahi, to introduce the maramataka, before moving on to interactive exercises, such as synchronising organisational objectives with its practical application to economise on staff outputs.
Preliminary feedback had been overwhelmingly positive, he said. Participants said on an esoteric level the workshops had highlighted the impossibility of performing at a constantly high pace, because the natural environment forced them to consider the ups and downs of daily life.
On a practical level, kaimahi related to the maramataka system for its ability to help co-ordinate a number of tasks, from event-planning to scheduling meetings.
Healthy Families Far North kaiwhakahaere Shirleyanne Brown said engaging with organisations that were involved in health, social services and environmental mahi with Ma¯ori-led approaches was deliberate.
“These organisations are typically reactionary in nature, and have a consequentially high toll and burnout rate for staff. Engaging in maramataka as an organisational resource allows workplaces to plan and manage appropriately, while investing in preventative health and wellness using ancestral funds of knowledge,” she said.
Mr Taipari added that he would continue to work one-on-one with workplaces. He would also be facilitating an evening workshop for people working in public health, nutrition and physical activity at this year’s Activity and Nutrition Aotearoa (ANA) Forum in Whangarei on May 23.