Deadly Ways of Knowing: Matauranga Maori in Mental Health & Addiction
Tracks
Boetdoemba (Sea Eagle)
| Monday, October 30, 2023 |
| 12:40 PM - 1:00 PM |
Overview
Natasha Ruttley, Piringa Mental Health Support
Speaker
Mrs. Natasha Ruttley
General Manager
Piringa Mental Health Support
Deadly ways of knowing: Matauranga Maori in Mental Health & Addiction
Abstract
Deadly Ways of Knowing: a matauranga Maori approach to Mental Health and Addiction.
MH& A Statistics are clear, our indigenous whanau the world over are in peril and nothing looks to address this, nor does it seem likely that a radical systemic improvement will occur.
Whanau are still being made to wait, still being admitted to inpatient MH&A wards. We are still being over medicated, sedated, isolated, restrained, abused and imprisoned. We continue to die at the hand of state intervention.
No more.
Enter, Piringa Mental Health from Rotorua, Aotearoa. Rotorua, the new hub of New Zealand's homeless crisis, the new gangland, the new school truancy capital, the 'new' everything that is pretty scary figure.
S0 how is it that a not-for-profit organisation with 22 clients and 12 staff thought they could change EVERYTHING so whanau could have a thriving chance?
Simple, Piringa doesn't want to be like everyone else. Piringa has decided to turn the system' and make a better way forward.
It's been a year but how? Easy, you hire an unorthodox leader who loves her people, believes in the 'ways of old' and is not content to sit and let the Crown tell her how Mental Health and Addiction care is done.
This is no small feat and there are battle scars. Doesn't matter, our DNA carries the wisdoms of our ancients, we are warriors, academics, designers, mobilisers, practitioners, healers and most importantly, we are whanau.
DEADLY WAYS of KNOWING: Matauranga Maori in the MH &A space.
Returning to our core values meant we re-engaged with:
AROHA (love and empathy when working with our people)
MANAAKI (the application of sincerity and care when chasing outcomes for whanau)
KOTAHITANGA (a unilateral approach predicated on the collaboration of the whanau, staff and comprehensive services)
Ka whawhai tonu matau, a battle without end.
MH& A Statistics are clear, our indigenous whanau the world over are in peril and nothing looks to address this, nor does it seem likely that a radical systemic improvement will occur.
Whanau are still being made to wait, still being admitted to inpatient MH&A wards. We are still being over medicated, sedated, isolated, restrained, abused and imprisoned. We continue to die at the hand of state intervention.
No more.
Enter, Piringa Mental Health from Rotorua, Aotearoa. Rotorua, the new hub of New Zealand's homeless crisis, the new gangland, the new school truancy capital, the 'new' everything that is pretty scary figure.
S0 how is it that a not-for-profit organisation with 22 clients and 12 staff thought they could change EVERYTHING so whanau could have a thriving chance?
Simple, Piringa doesn't want to be like everyone else. Piringa has decided to turn the system' and make a better way forward.
It's been a year but how? Easy, you hire an unorthodox leader who loves her people, believes in the 'ways of old' and is not content to sit and let the Crown tell her how Mental Health and Addiction care is done.
This is no small feat and there are battle scars. Doesn't matter, our DNA carries the wisdoms of our ancients, we are warriors, academics, designers, mobilisers, practitioners, healers and most importantly, we are whanau.
DEADLY WAYS of KNOWING: Matauranga Maori in the MH &A space.
Returning to our core values meant we re-engaged with:
AROHA (love and empathy when working with our people)
MANAAKI (the application of sincerity and care when chasing outcomes for whanau)
KOTAHITANGA (a unilateral approach predicated on the collaboration of the whanau, staff and comprehensive services)
Ka whawhai tonu matau, a battle without end.
Biography
Married to a deadly man from the Gamillaroi and Wiradjuri nations, Natasha worked in NSW as a teacher and presenter. She challenged Ray Martin in 2008 to start working in her beloved Macquarie Fields and Airds alongside the many Aboriginal teens because they matter. Returning with her whanau to Aotearoa in 2017, she began teaching. Soon after she was asked to work in the local mental health inpatient ward. She now works as the General Manager of Piringa, a not for profit kaupapa Maori mental health and addiction service. Time is short, whanau need improvement; now. We got this!
