Mahi A Atua

(Paperback)

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Mahi a Atua is a Maori wellbeing framework based around storytelling. Grounded in a Maori world view, this approach is designed to foster transformation and systemic change and indigenise practices, institutions and personal and professional spaces.

The knowledge, messages and principles within purakau (Maori creation stories) spark conversations aimed at promoting wellbeing, consciousness raising and healing. By drawing on the customs and stories of Maori atua, we learn how ancestors interpreted the world, giving us a pathway to understanding, connection and change in our lives and the lives of others. Through telling our own life stories, alongside traditional purakau, we can reimagine how we live in the world and navigate challenges, based in Maori knowledge.

Author Bio

Mark Kopua (Te Aitanga a Hauiti, Ngati Ira, Ngati Porou) is cofounder and co-director of Te Kurahuna, which provides training and ongoing development for those working with Mahi a Atua. Mark is a historian, master carver and ta moko exponent. He has been on the board of Toi Maori and involved in determining the provenance of artefacts. Along with a small number of other moko artists, he has spearheaded the resurgence of ta moko.

Diana Kopua (Ngati Porou) is co-founder and co-director of Te Kurahuna. She originally trained as a nurse and then a psychiatrist. The Mahi a Atua approach underpinned Te Kuwatawata and Te Hiringa Matua services, for which Diana was the clinical lead during their development and implementation. Now, she uses Mahi a Atua to help people transform and indigenise their own practices and spaces.

Lisa Cherrington (Ngapuhi) trained as a clinical psychologist and began working with Mahi a Atua while at Te Whare Marie. She joined Te Kurahuna in 2022 and uses the power of stories of the atua in her work. Lisa is also a novelist and scriptwriter.