Māori intergenerational trauma and healing research presentations now online

November 17, 2016 at 3:42 PM

*From the New Zealand Family Violence Clearinghouse*

Video recordings and Powerpoint presentations from recent seminars on the research programme "He Kokonga Whare: Māori Intergenerational Trauma and Healing" are available online.

The major research programme has been carried by Te Atawhai o Te Ao since 2011. It has sought to generate new knowledge on inter-generational impacts among Māori, who experience high rates of trauma and this can be passed from one generation to another. The research has investigated the ways that people make recovery from sexual abuse, from imprisonment and from cultural disconnection. The researchers have aimed to find pathways to recovery and identify good practice that will be useful for whānau affected by trauma and those who work with whānau.

The seminars were held in October 2016. Video recordings are available on the Te Atawhai o Te Ao Facebook page (scroll down). The Powerpoint presentations are available on the Te Atawhai o Te Ao website.

Specifically, the research programme has targeted different contexts of trauma, recovery, and healing responses through four research projects:

  1. The Whenua, Historical Trauma and Health Outcomes project (Whenua Project);
  2. The Health and Wellbeing of Māori Prisoners on Reintegration to the community project (Prisoners Project);
  3. The Impact of Sexual Violence on Māori project (Sexual Violence Project); and
  4. The Māori Narratives of Trauma and Wellness project (Wellness Project).

The research team includes:

  • Dr Cherryl Smith and Helena Rattray (Te Atawhai o Te Ao)
  • Dr Leonie Pihama and Rihi Te Nana (Māori & Indigenous Analysis Institute)
  • Professor Linda Smith (University of Waikato)
  • Dr John Reid (Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu)
  • Dr Takirirangi Smith (Wellington)
  • A national network of community researchers
  • Professor Karina Walters (Indigenous Wellness Research Institute, University of Washington, Seattle)
  • Dr Eduardo Duran (Bozeman, Montana, USA)

The programme was only the second Māori led programme awarded by the Health Research Council (HRC) in 20 years, and the first HRC programme to be awarded to a community-based host. 

More information is available on the Te Atawhai o Te Ao website.

Publications to date

Positioning historical trauma theory in Aotearoa NZ by Leonie Pihama, Paul Reynolds, Cherryl Smith, John Reid, Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Rihi Te Nana.

Reconnections to Whenua by Paul Reynolds.

Reconnections to Te Reo Māori  by Cherryl Smith.

Te Hikoi - The Journey  by Christine Waitai-Rapana.

Intergenerational transmission of gang involvement and incarceration - Review of clinical practice by Andre McLachlan.