Mauriora and the environment: a Kaupapa Māori exploration of adventure therapy in Aotearoa, New Zealand
ABSTRACT
We are He Hiringa, an early career research group of new Māori academics in the Division of Sciences at the University of Otago. Drawing on an auto-ethnographic approach, this paper shares the kaupapa (purpose, collective vision) of He Hiringa, that of mauriora (flourishing wellness) and how our shared vision for flourishing wellness across the broad disciplines of Māori physical education and health, social and clinical psychology, and Māori urban design and surveying, may support adventure therapy in Aotearoa, New Zealand. While anecdotally, we know the importance of the environment for health and wellbeing, adventure therapy in this country is largely dominated by Eurocentric views and fails to account for Māori ways of thinking, being and engaging with the taiao (environment) for therapeutic benefit and healing. We argue that grounding adventure therapy in a Te Ao Māori worldview which favours a cultural, communal, ecological, and spiritual perspective will better meet the hauora (health) needs of Māori and should drive the philosophy and practice of adventure therapy here in Aotearoa, New Zealand.
He tīmatanga (Introduction)
Adventure therapy programmes in Aotearoa, New Zealand regularly dismiss, or fail to account for Māori ways of thinking, being and engaging with the taiao(environment) for therapeutic benefit and healing. While there are some initiatives that include a Te Ao Māori perspective, the importance of the environment for health and wellbeing, is largely dominated by Eurocentric views. This is particularly notable given the overrepresentation of Māori admissions to in-patient facilities and markedly higher rates of depression, anxiety, and suicide (Arahanga-Doyle et al. 2019). The aim of this paper is to share our kaupapa(purpose, collective vision) of He Hiringa, that of mauriora (flourishing wellness), and how our shared vision for flourishing wellness may enrich and enhance the field of adventure therapy in this country whilst importantly highlighting the health benefits a culturally relevant approach would have for Māori.
This paper is framed as an auto-ethnographic account of our collective approach to undertake research that supports the aspirations of our communities in the pursuit of mauriora for our people and environment (Jackson et al. 2020). We frame our paper from this lens to share our collective voice and argue that grounding adventure therapy in a Te Ao Māori worldview which favours a cultural, communal, ecological, and spiritual perspective will better meet the hauora (health) needs of Māori and should drive the philosophy and practice of adventure therapy here in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Whitinui (2014) repositions auto-ethnography from an indigenous perspective referring to it as a culturally informed research practice that is about ‘reclaiming our indigenous voice, visibility, and vision as indigenous peoples in the research agenda’ (p. 481). By its very definition, indigenous auto-ethnography asks us to ‘consider epistemological perspectives equally and to draw together self (auto), ethno (nation), and graphy (writing)’ (Whitinui 2014, p. 467). This framing provides a strong foundation and scholarly platform for our position and voices as early career Māori academics to be heard within the kaupapa of adventure therapy.
This paper is presented in three key parts. The first is an introduction to the epistemological foundations of who we are, and what we do, that shapes our shared vision and kaupapa of mauriora within sciences. This section builds a case for how we go about our work within sciences and more explicitly in this shared research context of adventure therapy. The second part of the paper problematises current Eurocentric definitions of adventure therapy and argues for an indigenous perspective that will better meet the hauora needs of Māori whilst broadening our understanding of adventure therapy. Finally, the third section proposes our aspiration of a 4-part collaborative future research project with addiction treatment centre Adventure Development Dunedin (ADL). This final section provides a brief overview on proposed future research that will seek to address what a kaupapa Māori approach to adventure therapy looks like from a Te Ao Māori perspective and across our broad disciplines of Māori physical education and health, social and clinical psychology, and Māori urban design and surveying. We provide this aspiration as an example of an indigenous auto-ethnographic account that considers our ‘own level of connectedness to space, place, time, and culture as a way of (re)claiming, (re)storing, (re)writing, and (re)patriating our own lived realities as indigenous peoples’ in the academy (Whitinui 2014, p. 467). Furthermore, we conclude this paper with a discussion that explores our indigenous auto-ethnographic approach to this collective research.
Ko Wai Mātou? (Who are we?)
In line with Indigenous auto-ethnography as a distinct native method of inquiry we introduce ourselves in terms of our shared and collective identity within the academy, an identity that is shaped by our shared and collective kaupapa(Whitinui 2014; King, 2019).
Tēnei au te koronga
He hiringa nōu e Ruatau
Ki ēnei tauira ki ēnei pia
Te Koronga is an internationally profiled (Powell 2018) award winning Māori research excellence group that supports the hopes and aspirations of Māori communities for mauriora or flourishing wellness (Jackson et al. 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019). Hosted at the University of Otago within the Division of Sciences, Te Koronga lends its name from the opening line of the ancient karakia(incantation) used to induct students into the whare wānanga (ancient schools of learning). The term ‘te koronga’ means ‘to both yearn and strive for higher forms of knowledge’ (Jackson et al. 2019, p. 70). In a Māori context, higher forms of knowledge are rooted in mātauranga (Māori knowledge and ways of knowing), ancestral scholarship, and tribal lore that can be found embedded in whakapapa (genealogical traditions) (Hakopa 2016), pepeha (tribal saying) (Mead and Grove 2003), pūrākau (cultural narratives) (Lee 2009), whakataukī(proverbs) (McRae 1988, 2017), mōteatea (Ngata and Jones 2006), and karakia(Rewi 2010). Te Koronga is comprised of two parts: Graduate Research Excellence established in 2013 which focuses on building pathways for postgraduate students who are interested in Kaupapa Māori research (Māori research approach that supports Māori aspirations); and the Indigenous Science Research Theme established in 2016 which focuses on supporting researchers across the Division of Sciences who are involved in Kaupapa Māori research (Jackson et al. 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019). Housed within the ahuru mōwai(sheltered haven) of the latter Theme, we established He Hiringa at the beginning of 2021, our intentional approach to growing early career Māori academics in sciences at the university within a kaupapa Māori ethos.
He Hiringa
We are He Hiringa, an early career research group of new Māori academics established and chaired by co-director of Te Koronga Dr Chanel Phillips who is also an early career researcher. Like Te Koronga, He Hiringa derives its name from the same karakia used to induct students into the ancient school of learning. Where the meaning of ‘te koronga’ refers to the ardent yearning of esoteric knowledge, ‘he hiringa’ reflects both the body of higher knowledge as well as the class of student who absorbs and is given that knowledge. Thus, as acolytes of higher forms of knowledge and excellence, He Hiringa seek to explore the depth and breadth of mātauranga for flourishing wellness or mauriora within sciences. McAllister et al.’s (2019) and Naepi’s (2019) research on the dire paucity of Māori and Pasifika academics within New Zealand’s universities demonstrates the urgent need to recruit, retain, and promote Māori and Pasifika academics into and across the lifespan of the ‘academic pipeline’. Jackson et al. (2020) supports this explaining that ‘the academy is in a state of crisis for Māori staffing and there is no short-term reprieve from this reality’ (p.73). In the sciences, Māori staffing, and systemic issues are even more prominent (Jackson et al. 2019, 2020).
The kaupapa of He Hiringa speaks to retaining and promoting Māori academics, a kaupapa focussed on growing Māori academic excellence within sciences. He Hiringa was established to address this gap, providing a support network for early career Māori academics within sciences, in order to reduce the isolation that often new academics feel and to offer guidance around confirmation path, Māori teaching, research, and service loads. Naepi (2019) argues that a ‘pattern of excess labour begins early for Māori and Pasifika academics’ which hinders career progression as they are not able to meet other expectations of performance (p. 149). Kidman et al. (2015) describes this as the ‘invisible intellectual labour of Māori researchers’ (p. 84). As a group, we sought the freedom and safe space to explore who we are as Māori early career academics within sciences, and to undertake science and research ‘in ways that reflect the aspirations of our communities in the pursuit of mauri ora’ (Jackson et al. 2020, p. 73).
Broadly, He Hiringa is our approach to indigenising sciences, ensuring that the depth and breadth of mātauranga is recognised across our research and teaching for the betterment of both our students we teach, and our communities we serve. Drawing on an auto-ethnographic viewpoint, this paper presents our shared vision to undertake science and research in a way that reflects the aspirations of our communities in the pursuit of mauriora. In the same way we as a group are seeking out our own pathways to flourishing wellness within academia, we too seek the same for our communities, those our research is for. Our approach will weave together knowledge systems from across disciplines while privileging our collective world view. In doing so we believe this approach will benefit adventure therapy by ensuring better health outcomes for Māori and indeed all New Zealanders.
Adventure therapy
Defining adventure therapy and who is qualified to be an adventure therapist is widely debated in the literature (Bunce 1998; Crisp 1998; Eggleston 1998; Carpenter and Pryor 2004; Gass et al. 2012; Bastemur 2019; Jeffery 2020). Adventure therapy has its roots in the therapeutic use of adventure-based activities for cognitive, emotional, and behavioural treatment in clients. While adventure therapy today considers more openly the healing power of nature, earlier definitions delineated clear boundaries of where adventure therapy took place. Crisp (1998) defined adventure therapy as ‘a therapeutic intervention, which uses contrived activities of an experiential, risk taking and challenging nature in the treatment of an individual or group. This is done indoors or within an urban environment’ (p. 58). The focus on the contrived nature of the task and artificiality of the environment highlights the dominant discourses of adventure, risk-taking and challenge in the field. In his definition, Crisp (1998) explicitly distinguishes adventure therapy from that of wilderness therapy, which in contrast ‘involves modified group psychotherapy applied and integrated into a wilderness activity setting’ (Crisp 1998, p. 59). He argued that adventure therapy is focussed on the activity itself and what therapeutic benefit stemmed from engaging in this. In contrast, wilderness therapy focussed more on where the activity took place. The separation of adventure and wilderness ‘erroneously separates and elevates humans above physical reality, and alienates humans from life, the earth and the cosmos’ (Hill and Johnston 2003, p. 21).
Some definitions have since accepted nature, environment, and wilderness into adventure therapy understandings; however, the dominant discourses of adventure and risk continue to overshadow their inclusion and further misconstrues place (Hill and Johnston 2003; Boyes 2010). Levack (2003) defined adventure therapy as
the use of adventurous activities such as kayaking, abseiling, high ropes and rock climbing which often take place in an outdoor setting or natural environment and are applied in a considered way to facilitate a therapeutic benefit such as the development of personal growth, confidence and life-style satisfaction. (p. 22)
Boyes (2010) explains these pursuits as originating from male European recreational patterns where only ‘lip service is given to environmental beliefs and values’ (p. 94). In addition to this dominant adventure discourse which breeds human chauvinism and a male dominance, is the shift toward a clinical and prescriptive use of adventure therapy by mental health professionals. Gass et al. (2012) explains adventure therapy as ‘the prescriptive use of adventure experiences provided by mental health professionals, often conducted in natural settings that kinaesthetically engage clients on cognitive, affective, and behavioural levels’ (p. 1). Jeffery and Wilson (2017) write that ‘many practitioners of adventure therapy interpret an adventure therapist as a qualified mental health clinician who incorporates adventure therapy into their work’ (p. 32). This is similarly supported by Bunce (1998) who defines therapy ‘as an intentional intervention process designed to address specific individual problems, through the application of mental health principles and practices’ (p. 48). While these definitions are used to create boundaries and professional identities for the broad discipline of adventure therapy and adventure therapists, they fundamentally exclude two key voices: that of the environment and its role in healing and therapy; and indigenous Māori perspectives of health and healing that extend beyond mental health considerations alone.
The role of the environment in healing and therapy
Positive links between nature and human health are well-established in the literature. In a recent 2022 article within the famed American political and cultural magazine ‘The Atlantic’, author Alan Lightman writes that ‘with all of its success, our technology has greatly diminished our direct experience with nature. We live mediated lives. We have created a natureless world’ (Lightman 2022). He goes on to write of the psychological costs resulting from this ongoing lack of connection with nature. Consistently, studies have shown that physically and visually connecting with nature can have restorative effects for physical and mental health (Kaplan 1973; Ulrich 1984; Mitchell et al. 2015; Triguero-Mas et al. 2015). For example, researchers have found that individuals who report higher levels of connectedness with nature tend to have higher life-satisfaction, happiness, and overall psychological wellbeing (Capaldi et al. 2014).
Connections to nature also have important links with identity scholarship. Qazimi (2014) describes that our sense of identity, both as individuals and as part of a collective, should be fundamentally linked with physical spaces that we inhabit. From a utilitarian perspective, it is the land that provides people the resources for life and from a psycho-social perspective it is within physical spaces that we connect with others (although it is important to acknowledge this changing dynamic given the ubiquity that modern technology and social media now play in modern life). Given this importance, it is unsurprising that when researchers have attempted to mend this loss of connection, they have found that when individuals spend more time outdoors, they show increased feelings of connectedness with nature (Schultz and Tabanico 2007). However, much of the scholarship exploring the connections with nature and their associated positive health outcomes tends to centralise Western perspectives and worldviews. We echo the calls from Marques and colleagues (2021) and Sutherland (2020) for more Indigenous and non-Western studies to better understand diverse experiences of nature and place with health and healing.
Māori and indigenous perspectives of therapy and healing
In an Aotearoa, New Zealand context Māori have long experienced health inequalities when compared to non-Māori (e.g. Howden-Chapman and Tobias 2000). Commonly used therapy practices, though, may differ widely in the values that they espouse. For instance, clinical psychology in Aotearoa, New Zealand is heavily influenced by its roots in the United States and Europe (Skogstad et al. 2005). Practices – such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) – may emphasise different values and worldviews from tangata whaiora (clients or service users) undermining the client-therapist relationship and the overall success of therapy. In recent years, researchers have attempted to address these cultural differences by exploring whether therapy practices can be adapted to be more consistent with clients’ worldviews (e.g. Bernal et al. 2009; Hinton et al. 2012; Bennett-Levy et al. 2014). There is some evidence that adjustments and careful selection of activities that are consistent with the value systems of tāngata whaiora can benefit the clients’ outcomes (see Bennett et al. 2016).
Moreover, Indigenous values associated with nature are acknowledged as a source of healing and rehabilitation (Marcus and Barnes 1999; Henry and Pene 2001). Houkamau and Sibley (2010) describe that ‘from a Māori perspective, identity, spirituality and the natural environment tend not to be conceptualised as separate entities’ (p. 10). Rather, they contend that for Māori, these concepts are intrinsically tied within the idea of identity. This perspective of self-identity being interconnected with the natural environment is a way of thinking shared with many other indigenous peoples across the globe (Biddle and Swee 2012; Freeman 2019). Research investigating this link has found that for Māori, the sense of connection with the land is simultaneously rooted in spirituality and socio-political concerns such as protecting the environment (Lockhart et al. 2019). Lockhart and colleagues go on to state that their results suggest that Māori seem to express a more integrated connection with the natural environment than other ethnic groups in Aotearoa, New Zealand. It follows, then, that grounding adventure therapy in a Te Ao Māori worldview which favours a cultural, communal, ecological, and spiritual perspective, could better align with the hauora needs of Māori.
Māori perspectives of health as hauora
Hauora is a holistic understanding of health from a Māori worldview and reflects an intricate and complex interaction between man, atua (deities) and environment which traces back to Māori creation stories of when the breath of life (mauri) gave genesis to man (Durie 1994; Marsden 2003; Jackson et al. 2018; Phillips 2019). Hauora is often associated with Mason Durie’s Te Whare Tapa Whā model of health which considers four key dimensions for overall health: taha tinana (physical health), taha wairua (spiritual health), taha hinengaro (mental health) and taha whānau (social health) (Durie 1994, 2001). Unlike Western definitions of health, wairua or spiritual health is of the utmost importance to Māori and is how connections to the taiao are made. Hatton et al. (2017) contend that ‘the relationship they [Māori] have with the land, shapes the way in which the cultural, spiritual, emotional, physical and social wellbeing of people and communities are expressed’ (p. 1). Moewaka Barnes and McCreanor (2019) go further, to elucidate whenua as the determinant of health in Aotearoa, New Zealand and argue for the need to find practical ways to reconnect people to place, to advance hauora Māori. Adventure therapy from a hauora Māori perspective can give visibility and voice to both our people and the environment, from which our source of health stems (Phillips 2019).
Ā Mātou Kaupapa (Our projects)
Stemming from the need for adventure therapy to better reflect Te Ao Māori and Māori therapeutic tikanga, He Hiringa are presently undertaking a 4-part collaborative research project with addiction treatment centre Adventure Development Dunedin (ADL). ADL merges strength-based therapies, ecological models and the therapeutic use of the outdoors to ‘provide high quality services to assist young people and their families to live healthy valued lives’ (ADL 2022). Under the guidance of ADL Kaiwhakahaere Māori (Māori advisor) Ms Vicky Totoro, our research group will seek to auto-ethnographically explore, through four projects, the links between the taiao, Māori informed therapeutic tikangaand Māori adventure therapy for flourishing mauriora within each of our respective disciplines that can support the work of ADL. The aim of these projects will be to explore how, through an inter-disciplinary approach embedded within a kaupapa Māori ethos, adventure therapy in Aotearoa, New Zealand can better reflect Te Ao Māori for the betterment of our people and our environment.
In the first project we will employ a textual analysis of Māori oral narratives such as pūrākau, mōteatea, and karakia. Additionally, we will conduct qualitative interviews with kaumātua (elders) based in Dunedin and Māori practitioners integrating adventure therapy strategies to answer two primary questions: what is adventure from a Te Ao Māori perspective? And what is therapy from a Te Ao Māori perspective? Together, the answers to these questions will help define how mātauranga passed from our tīpuna (ancestors) can support flourishing mauriora and shape what adventure therapy should look like in Aotearoa, New Zealand.
In the second project we will use Cruwys et al. (2016) social identity mapping methods to understand how adventure therapy can enhance not only social connections between rangatahi (youth), but also their relationships with the taiao. In this project we will ask rangatahi Māori to map aspects of their identity before and after participating in adventure activities with ADL. These maps will help us gain an understanding of how rangatahi Māori conceptualise their identity and the role of nature within their conceptions of identity. By understanding how adventure therapy can strengthen connections to identity we can recognise how adventure development can promote mauriora and positive identity.
In the third project we will carry out semi-structured qualitative interviews with adventure development therapists. In these interviews, we will ask how therapists working at ADL incorporate mātauranga and therapeutic tikanga into their practice with tāngata whaiora. We are interested in how both Māori and non-Māori therapists are engaging in this work in order to better understand how adventure therapy can better reflect the needs of the community. Therapists’ responses will help us better understand the barriers and enablers to using mātauranga within their therapy work – offering important insights into the tools and training that could help therapists grow their capabilities to provide therapy that best reflects the needs of young people and their whānau.
In the fourth project we will use a photovoice activity (see Delgado 2015; Mark and Boulton 2017) to explore how adventure therapy can promote connection to the taiao within our urban environments. In this project, rangatahi and their whānau will be encouraged to identify and photograph opportunities for, and barriers to, connecting with the taiao in Dunedin City. Cataloguing examples of where and how people connect to the taiao could translate into health gains by sharing sites and ways in which people in urban settings can access the therapeutic capacity of the taiao on an everyday basis.
Together, this 4-part project is our aspiration to understanding a Te Ao Māori approach to adventure therapy that can better meet the hauora needs of Māori and indeed all New Zealanders.
Embracing indigenous auto-ethnography: weaving together knowledge systems
Auto-ethnography is described as ‘an approach to research and writing that seeks to describe and systematically analyze (graphy) personal experience (auto) in order to understand cultural experience (ethno)’ (Ellis et al. 2011, p. 1). From a Māori perspective, Whitinui (2014) explains that the essence of indigenous autoethnography is to:
present a cultural way of being captured, in the Māori words Mauri tū, mauri ohooho, and mauri ora (stand tall, be attentive, and keep well). This asks that we always remember who we are, where we come from, and to work for the collective wellbeing of our iwi, hapū and whānau, marae, and community. (pp. 480–481)
This indigenous auto-ethnographic approach aligns strongly to the kaupapa of He Hiringa, that of mauriora, the flourishing health and wellness of our people and environment. Indigenous auto-ethnography seeks to strengthen and clarify how we as early career Māori academics engage in this research for the wellbeing of iwi, hapū, whānau, marae and community (Whitinui 2014). Specifically, how we come to understand mauriora through our multiple lenses that reflect each of our individual whakapapa (cultural identity), aronga(worldview), mātauranga-ā-iwi (tribal specific knowledge) and Western scientific knowledge specific to our individual academic disciplines in sciences. Our auto-ethnographic approach is seen through a combination of two interface models that promote mauriora: He Awa Whiria (Macfarlane and Macfarlane 2019) and Wai Puna (Phillips 2019, 2020a).
He Awa Whiria: Braided Rivers approach
The He Awa Whiria – Braided Rivers model depicted in advocates for an approach to research that integrates two streams of knowledge, (1) the contemporary Western science stream, and (2) Te Ao Māori stream, into programme development, implementation and evaluation (Macfarlane and Macfarlane 2019). Importantly, this approach does not seek to prove the superiority of one stream over the other, but rather, focuses on identifying opportunities borne of both (Macfarlane and Macfarlane 2019; Arahanga-Doyla 2021). The imagery of the model depicts a braided river consisting of a river channel with multiple streams that converge, separate and evolve over time representing the ‘authentic blending of two knowledge systems [that] will create new and insightful outcomes that benefit both Māori and non-Māori’ (Arahanga-Doyla 2021, p. 6). Macfarlane and Macfarlane (2019) explain
that both streams start at the same place and run beside each other in equal strength. They come together on the riverbed and they move away from one another. Each stream spends more time apart than together. In the framework, when they do converge, the space created is one of learning, not assimilating. (p. 53)
Figure 1. He Awa Whiria – Braided Rivers Model (Macfarlane and Macfarlane 2019).
This shared space and meeting of the two streams depicts the coming together of Western science and kaupapa Māori within each of our respective disciplines, what we can learn from both knowledge systems to support mauriora for our people and environment. Durie (2005) argues that research at the interface ‘aims to harness the energy from two systems of understanding in order to create new knowledge that can then be used to advance understanding in two worlds’ (p. 306). Similar to He Awa Whiria, another model that utilises the analogy of water which our group also draws on is Wai Puna.
Wai Puna: an intergenerational and interface model of Māori water safety and health
Wai Puna, depicted in , is a theory of Māori water safety and health that is centred on strengthening people’s connection to the water through whakapapa(understanding your spiritual, ancestral connection to water), mātauranga(learning the traditional knowledge of water) and tikanga (engaging in the water through practices and customs) (Phillips 2020a). At the heart of this model is waiora which Henare (1988) defines as ‘the absolute foundation of life, existence and total wellbeing of a person. … In its totality it is the spiritual, intellectual, physical, emotional and psychic development of each person’ (p. 22). Grounded in Te Ao Māori, this model draws on the synergy of Māori and Western notions of water safety for the primary purpose of health and wellbeing in, on and around the water. Despite its explicit application in a water safety context, Wai Puna is also being utilised for land and outdoor safety, reflecting the close association between land and water from a Māori perspective. Broadly, Wai Puna argues that a strengthened connection to te taiao supports waiora and mauriora of people and environment which has implications for adventure therapy.
Figure 2. Wai Puna Model (Adapted from Phillips 2020a, 2020b).
The imagery of the model depicts a rain drop and two ripples and reflects the analogy of three puna (wellsprings) or the wellsprings of knowledge that are transmitted from one generation to the next (Phillips 2020a). The rain drop symbolises the mātāpuna (source, origin), the inner ripple is the tūpuna(ancestor) and the outer ripple depicts the mokopuna (grandchildren). Each of the puna represent the pillars of whakapapa, mātauranga and tikangarespectively (Phillips 2019, 2020a). Davis elaborates:
When I talk about wai or water I think about whakapapa and puna being a wellspring. But if we add mātā to it, it becomes many or the main source of the wellspring, the mātāpuna. … and the tūpuna as the wells of wisdom because they gather the knowledge from the source … and in years to come they share it with their moko-puna [grandchildren]; that’s us. So, we’re catching the wellsprings of information and knowledge to keep the next generations alive in terms of wai. Ko wai koe? From which source of water did you flow? The puna is a very beautiful concept for the wellsprings and the sharing of the flow of the information and knowledge or well-being. (2017, cited in Phillips 2019, p. 106)
In line with our autoethnographic account, we use Wai Puna in two ways: first, as an analytical tool through the pillars of whakapapa, mātauranga and tikanga and second, as an overarching idea that our collective research is holistic in nature, draws on different knowledge systems through interface research, and centres on the transmission of knowledge from one generation to the next for health and wellbeing (mauriora and waiora) outcomes. We describe our combined approach next.
Our indigenous autoethnographic approach
() Adventure therapy involves the use of outdoor, adventure style experiences to provide therapeutic outcomes (Levack 2003; Gass et al. 2012). Inherent within this approach is the notion that the natural environment can, and does, play an important role in therapy. This importance of the natural environment for therapeutic outcomes is often ignored by contemporary Western psychology, which rarely includes the natural environment within prominent psychological theories such as conceptualisations of the self and self-esteem (Arahanga-Doyla 2021). This Western psychology perspective may be unsuited when approached from a Te Ao Māori stream of knowledge. As Durie (2005) writes, ‘human identity is regarded as an extension of the environment, there is an element of inseparability between people and the natural world. The individual is a part of all creation’ (p. 303). Given these clear parallels regarding the importance of the natural environment for both adventure therapy and Te Ao Māori, an integrated approach, such as that modelled by He Awa Whiria and Wai Puna, aligns closely with He Hiringa; early career Māori academics who aim to integrate Te Ao Māori perspectives within our respective research disciplines.
Figure 3. He Awa Whiria and Wai Puna – A Combined Approach (Adapted from Macfarlane and Macfarlane 2019; Phillips 2020a, 2020b).
The Western knowledge stream of He Awa Whiria represents the Eurocentric understandings of adventure therapy and how adventure therapy programmes from a Western knowledge system are developed, implemented and evaluated. Furthermore, this knowledge stream also reflects the four disciplines of the authors and their mainstream training in physical education, surveying and urban design, social psychology and clinical psychology. Together, this stream considers adventure therapy from these four distinct disciplines which aligns to the proposed projects introduced earlier. Inherent within the He Awa Whiria framework is also the Te Ao Māori stream which makes space for kaupapa Māori research (Macfarlane and Macfarlane 2019). According to King (2019) kaupapaMāori research:
departs from dominant Eurocentric research practices that centralize ridged adherence to physical sciences-inspired methods by recognizing power dynamics within society that shape and influence the kind of research that is often conducted on Māori and other indigenous groups. … Kaupapa Māori theory provides a cultural basis from which to understand and interpret processes of [dis]connection and reconnection and to work toward producing knowledge that remains recognizable to Māori as relevant to our actual ways of being and conducting our lives together. (p. 110)
This distinct kaupapa Māori stream reflects Māori knowledge systems that engages researchers in critical issues of importance to Māori, and in ways intended to impact on Māori advancement (Macfarlane and Macfarlane 2019). In our work together, and specifically the four proposed projects, this stream reflects a kaupapa Māori approach to adventure therapy through a Te Ao Māori lens. Specifically, kaupapa Māori approaches to physical education, surveying and urban design, social psychology and clinical psychology from a Te Ao Māori perspective that can inform Māori adventure therapy knowledge and practice.
Whilst the He Awa Whiria model allows us to draw on multiple knowledge systems, the primary issue that ‘hidden agendas of research remain anchored around Western orientated values, structures and institutions’ cannot be ignored (Macfarlane and Macfarlane 2019, p. 55). The addition of Wai Puna in our way of thinking is to guide, scaffold and support the culturally relevant research journey and ensure that the Te Ao Māori stream does not become diluted or lost (Macfarlane and Macfarlane 2019). By placing Wai Puna at the centre of He Awa Whiria, we explore the pillars of whakapapa, mātauranga and tikanga in relation to adventure therapy. Wai Puna questions what our genealogical connection (whakapapa) to the taiao is, what knowledge (mātauranga) is derived from Māori ways of knowing and being in the taiao, and what existential practices (tikanga) we do in the taiao. Together, these support the mauriora and waiora of people and nature, the core kaupapa of He Hiringa which may further enhance adventure therapy practice in Aotearoa, New Zealand.
To summarise our positioning, Whitinui (2014) recalls a ‘well-known whakataukī that enhances the potential to enrich indigenous auto-ethnography by sharing our life’s experiences … Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai tātou katoa – with your contribution and my contribution, the people will thrive’ (p. 481). That is, with the baskets of knowledge from both the Western and Te Ao Māori streams of He Awa Whiria, within the context of adventure therapy, our people will have mauriora, flourishing wellness, which sits at the heart of both Wai Puna and the broad kaupapa of He Hiringa.
He kupu whakamutunga (Conclusion)
Adventure therapy in Aotearoa, New Zealand is not well defined or reflected in the literature from a Te Ao Māori perspective (Jeffery 2020). This paper provided an Aotearoa, New Zealand context of adventure therapy that considered foremost indigenous Māori knowledge and practice for Māori notions of health, healing, and therapeutic practice that enriches and enhances the field of adventure therapy in our country. In this paper we have described an inter-disciplinary approach to our shared kaupapa of adventure therapy grounded in a kaupapa Māori ethos that combines Te Ao Māori within each of our respective fields. Spanning across hauora Māori and physical education, social psychological perspective, clinical psychology, and Māori urban design and surveying, we are connected through our collective vision and kaupapa of mauriora, the flourishing wellness of our people and environment. In each of our disciplines, we have trained and gained kaupapa Māori expertise which has allowed a rich inter-disciplinary approach to our work that we believe serves our Māori communities well.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).