Te Tiriti o Waitangi the founding document that established Aotearoa as a nation provides the best framework for bridging cultural knowledge with western knowledge in mental health and wellbeing systems. The framing of Te Tiriti is one of partnership with two equally valid pathways for achieving mental health and wellbeing for Māori and for Crown (Treaty partner in Aotearoa). At Te Hiringa Mahara (Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission) we have developed and use the He Ara Oranga Wellbeing Outcomes Framework to monitor mental health and wellbeing outcomes for tāngata whaiora (people with lived or living experience of mental distress and addiction). He Ara Oranga is dual framed creating space for both ‘te ao Māori’ (Māori worldview) informed outcomes and measures and a ‘shared’ perspective which informs outcomes and measures for everyone else. As part of our mandated role to assess and report on mental health and wellbeing for people in Aotearoa, we have applied our dual-framed wellbeing outcomes framework to our core monitoring using both worldviews. Our population monitoring is used to inform advocacy, policy and system responses to promote mental health and wellbeing that works from both a Māori perspective and a tangata Tiriti perspective. This presentation will outline the development process of the He Ara Oranga framework. It will also include an example of how we apply this framework to our core monitoring and present recent findings from our 2024 quantitative assessment of mental health and wellbeing among young people and rangatahi Māori.

Three Key Learnings:
1. Using Te Tiriti o Waitangi to position both Māori and tangata Tiriti as equal and valid supports development of mental health frameworks and systems that are responsive to the needs of Māori and to tangata Tiriti.

2. Conceptualising, developing and selecting measures for mental health monitoring for systems and populations in Aotearoa from a te ao Māori perspective enables advice and advocacy for policies and legislation that ensure meaningful outcomes are achieved from a Māori perspective.

3. Indigenising mental health and wellbeing systems is critical for Māori development and enabling equitable mental health and wellbeing outcomes for Māori.