Dr Lance O'Sullivan. Photo: Supplied
A symposium run by Māori tertiary institute Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi is giving Māori men the chance to discuss their health and well-being.
Around 200 men gathered at Te Mānuka Tūtahi marae in Whakatāne on Tuesday to listen to several leading figures in Māori health speak about men's well being.
Speakers included former All Black Dallas Seymour, clinical psychologist Dr Luke Rowe and CEO of Te Wānanga o Raukawa Professor Meihana Durie.
Director of Research and Innovation at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi Te Kani Kingi said the idea began with a discussion among some of the Māori men working in the health sector.
In spite of the statistics showing Māori men have the poorest health outcomes, they felt there weren't any programmes aimed at Māori men, he said.
"So, we thought it was a bit concerning that, in spite of what the data reveals about the poor state of Māori men's health, that almost nowhere is it prioritised," he said.
They set up Tāne Ora as a place to get Māori men together to share information about the issues they face and potential solutions to those issues, Kingi said.
For the symposium the group deliberately targeted Māori in the local community. Kingi said this wasn't a hui for academics and scholars.
"We're getting a little bit tired of hearing about how bad we are, through statistics, within the media. One of the speakers Riki Niania, the CEO of Te Rau Ora a Māori mental health entity, I think he captured the mood of the symposium, he said 'it's now time for hiki wairua' let's lift ourselves up."
Kingi said his biggest takeaway was the potential of tāne Māori and that culture can be the catalyst for Māori men's health and well-being.
"Most of [the speakers] got very personal about their own challenges in life and how they resolved those issues and moved forward, what strategies they used and that was really inspiring."
Professor Te Kani Kingi. Photo: Supplied
Dr Lance O'Sullivan was one of the speakers. He said there was plenty of amazing kōrero, much of it relating to the Whare Tapa Whā model, a Māori health framework developed by Sir Mason Durie in 1982. It represents health as a whare (meeting house) with four walls, taha wairua (spiritual health), taha hinengaro (mental health), taha tinana (physical health) and taha whānau (family health).
"What are the things that we, as Māori men, need to embrace and celebrate more, all the things we're doing currently that we can keep doing [and] what are the things we're doing that aren't working," O'Sullivan said.
"Look, we'll be clear and say that Māori men's health needs work. We as Māori mean, we need to do better and look this is not a criticism, it's a challenge for our men to say, for different reasons sometimes we're putting others before ourselves, sometimes we're not being selfish enough, sometimes we probably are being too selfish."
O'Sullivan said the audience was full of Māori men from their early teens right up to kaumātua (elders) all listening intently.
"Why aren't we having more wānanga where Māori men come together and talk about what are the issues that we face as Māori men, as fathers, as brothers, as sons, as mates and bros and as husbands and partners to our wider whānau. Because there are issues we need to talk about, we need to encourage Māori men to talk about issues of pertaining to well-being.
"First of all, we need to have spaces with Māori men can have conversations... we do it for lots of other things, we talk about our diving prowess, we talk about our football prowess, we talk about Kapa Haka prowess, how can we say let's have a space for Māori men to talk about their health and well-being."
O'Sullivan uses the mantra 'vulnerability is the new sexy' as a way to encourage men to be open about their struggles, whether that be mood, anxiety or past trauma.
It's not something to be ashamed of or shy away from, because the power sharing it for the people in the room is huge, he said.
"Look, it's a hard space. I won't deny that. It takes people to foreign places and uncomfortable spaces where they share things and me included where they go, 'gosh, am I oversharing? Am I putting myself too far out there and making myself too vulnerable?' But, you know, sometimes you do that and people say thank you."
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
