On Tuesday 4th July 2023, a group of 17 practitioners and counsellors were treated to a wānaga by Dr Ihirangi Heke, “Redefining wellbeing: taiao ki te tangata.”
In his kōrero Matua Ihi shared his Atua Matua framework of health and wellbeing. He explained it as a model which draws on Māori indigenous knowledges of wellbeing, and then populating these with environment specific knowledges to inform the wellbeing of environment and people.
Matua Ihi’s engaging and relational delivery, sparkling with charisma and humour, stimulated new thinking about how learning opportunities are environmentally produced and how this supports the inter-relationship between environment, place and people. Provocative, thoughtful and innovative, Matua Ihi’s kōrero left us thinking about how we might take up some of his understandings into our practices that might open up options and agency for clients.
