Decolonising psychotherapy

Exploring the commonalities between te ao Māori understandings of oranga (wellness) and the philosophical underpinnings of relational psychotherapies.

Underserved communities

As with other threads of our research interests, this project aims to address prejudice, power and oppression, and, thereby promote whānau voices, enhance education, and strengthen practice especially by encouraging greater cultural safety to communities that have been underserved by psychological therapies.

Current status

In order to achieve a Te Tiriti honouring curriculum, we aim to draw from this research for integration into our psychotherapy programmes at AUT.

We will build on this work to develop further research opportunities to interview past Māori staff and students about barriers and enablers for work and study in psychotherapy at AUT.

We will draw on this combined work to recruit, support and retain Māori staff and students.

Outcomes

Research outputs

• An initial scoping literature review funded by the NZ Association of Psychotherapists (NZAP) asking the following questions:
  • What does the literature tell us about te Ao Māori understanding of oranga (wellness)
  • What are the philosophical underpinnings of relational psychotherapies
  • Where are the commonalities between these worldviews