Indigenous Models of Care: A Pathway to Wellbeing for People and Planet
| Tuesday, October 21, 2025 |
| 8:40 AM - 9:10 AM |
| Kookaburra Room (M3) |
Overview
Donna Kerridge (Ngāti Tahinga, Ngāti Mahuta), Founder and Director of Ora New Zealand
Presenter
Donna Kerridge
Founder & Director
Ora New Zealand
Indigenous Models of Care: A Pathway to Wellbeing for People and Planet
Presentation Overview
Indigenous Peoples are the most invested people on the planet in restoring the health and wellbeing of people and place. Indigenous models of care for the health and wellbeing of the natural world are the blueprints for restoring the health and wellbeing of her people. The answers, skilfully encoded by our ancestors in our respective cultural traditions and values. When we look to heal a tree, we look at the things we can see; damaged bark, broken branches, diseased fruit etc and we can temporarily fix these things with physical interventions. Or conversely the tree simply tips over having died from the inside out. The physical manifestations we see in a tree are often a consequence of what is happening on the inside and we must look to the tree’s roots in order to find the true answer. People are no different.
Indigenous peoples across the world recognise the world consists of two elements – the seen and the unseen, the physical and the spiritual (Kauae runga, Kauae Raro in a Māori world view) and the two are tightly interwoven and inseparable as is in the case of the tree where its fruit, bark or branches are inseparable from its underground roots. We cannot treat or neglect one part without impacting the other. Indigenous models of care are unapologetically founded on this premise. Te Ao Rauropi o Rongoā Māori is an indigenous model of care that speaks to the heart of wellbeing through indigenous eyes. Everything is connected, nothing and no-one exists in isolation and nothing heals in isolation. Disease is a social issue long before it manifests in physical form. Indigenous models of care are the missing piece in the puzzle to lift the health and wellbeing of people and planet and reduce our dependence on the ‘business of the health industry’.
Three Key Learnings:
1. We are all indigenous to somewhere (some have simply forgotten their roots but they still exist)
2. Nothing exists in isolation and nothing heals in isolation
3. Indigenous are well and health equity is achieved when indigenous are free to ‘be’ indigenous.
Indigenous peoples across the world recognise the world consists of two elements – the seen and the unseen, the physical and the spiritual (Kauae runga, Kauae Raro in a Māori world view) and the two are tightly interwoven and inseparable as is in the case of the tree where its fruit, bark or branches are inseparable from its underground roots. We cannot treat or neglect one part without impacting the other. Indigenous models of care are unapologetically founded on this premise. Te Ao Rauropi o Rongoā Māori is an indigenous model of care that speaks to the heart of wellbeing through indigenous eyes. Everything is connected, nothing and no-one exists in isolation and nothing heals in isolation. Disease is a social issue long before it manifests in physical form. Indigenous models of care are the missing piece in the puzzle to lift the health and wellbeing of people and planet and reduce our dependence on the ‘business of the health industry’.
Three Key Learnings:
1. We are all indigenous to somewhere (some have simply forgotten their roots but they still exist)
2. Nothing exists in isolation and nothing heals in isolation
3. Indigenous are well and health equity is achieved when indigenous are free to ‘be’ indigenous.
Biography
Donna Kerridge (Ngāti Tahinga, Ngāti Mahuta) is the founder and director of Ora New Zealand.
She is a rongoā Māori practitioner, researcher, trainer and advocate of 20+years with a background in Health Science and IT.
She currently serves on a number expert advisory groups representing the practice of rongoā;
- ACC Rongoā Māori National Advisory Panel Member
- Rongoā advisor on the University of Auckland School of Nursing Te Arai Kaumatua Advisory,
- Kaihautū Rongoā for Nga Toki Whakarururanga,
- Advisory Council for the Global Compassion Coalition, an organisation committed to building a world where people and planet are valued and cared for.
- Elder Council for the Wellbeing Project, a global coalition advancing social and environmental change.
