This article discusses outcomes from pilot project evaluating a kaupapa Māori approach to mental health in primary care – the Mahi a Atua narratives-based programme established in the primary mental healthcare services of the Tairāwhiti/Gisborne area. As the article explains, not only is the demand from Māori on New Zealand mental health services out of proportion to the size of the Māori population, but the psychiatric service response is limited by lack of capacity as well as lack of capability. The Western paradigm psychiatric service is embedded in a biomedical cause of disease and its treatment regime involving psychotherapeutics, medication and seclusion cannot accommodate the relationships, meaning, values, beliefs and cultural practices that are important to Māori. The Mahi a Atua approach to mental health (tracing the ancestral footstpes of the Gods) is being offered under the Ministry of Health’s Mental Health and Addictions Project, “Fit for the Future – a Systems Approach”. The article makes the point that this new approach to psychiatric assessment, diagnosis and therapy is appropriate, but not restricted, to the Māori community.
