Cultural Input in New Zealand
Tangata Whenua and cultural input
The Werry Centre first facilitated a hui for Maori in January 2008. This was highly successful in bringing together Maori clinicians from across the country to discuss the effectiveness of Incredible Years for Maori. More than 30 Maori clinicians attended this day with a high representation of clinicians from GSE. There were several challenges put forward by Maori GSE clinicians, who had feelings of being coerced into delivering a programme they felt wary of as not being a good cultural fit. These comments came mainly from services who had been delivering their own Maori based parenting programmes such as Te Harakeke and others who had not yet experienced the training. Teena Butler was instrumental in giving her own experience of the programme from a Maori perspective, as did several of the more experienced Incredible Years group leaders. A report based on the korero of the day has been released with recommendations for future resources and developments such as translations, culturally appropriate symbolism in the delivery of the programme and cultural peer supervision days.
A follow up Maori Supervision Day was provided in January 2009 with good representation from Maori across New Zealand. This coincided with an evaluation and report written by Ingrid Altena and Traceyanne Herewini presenting the findings of their marae based Incredible Years group for Maori only participants. The hui was well attended with clinicians outlining their positive experiences in delivering the programme to Maori whanau in a variety of settings. Ingrid and Traceyanne are currently delivering another marae based group and have, in consultation with Dr Te Kani Kingi, developed tools for pre and post measures to increase cultural safety and fit for Maori. A research proposal is currently underway to formally evaluate these findings.
The Werry Centre fully funded two group leaders from Adelaide to present at a presentation day for non Maori at Manawanui marae in January 2010. Tracey Gowans, an aboriginal group leader and her co leader Ali Freidrich presented their work delivering Incredible Years to aboriginal teenage mothers. The Incredible Years programmes they delivered were highly successful and they received a mental health services award in recognition of their work in Adelaide. Ingrid and Traceyanne also presented on their work delivering Incredible Years to Maori whanau on the marae and Mercy Drummond spoke on Incredible Years delivery to Pacific groups in the Wellington area.
A further Maori hui occurred in January 2010 with 45 attendees from across New Zealand. Tracey Gowans and Ali Friedrich presented their Incredible Years work with Nunga Young Mums highlighting the similarities as well as the disparities within their own aboriginal population. Paul Woller from GSE also presented his research findings on Maori group leaders delivering and whanau receiving Incredible Years parent groups. The key message derived from Paul’s presentation was to ensure ‘cultural responsiveness’ whilst maintaining the integrity of the programme. It appears evident when both these objectives are met Incredible Years can be a highly effective tool in promoting positive parenting practises for Maori whanau.
The hui was highly successful with many of the group leaders disclosing their ‘under the radar’ practises which ensured their cultural responsiveness towards Maori whanau. A number of resources were discussed and developed during the hui to aid group leaders in their cultural responsiveness when delivering IY to Maori whanau. (Resources, recommendations and hui report are currently being prepared to disseminate and include on the Werry Centre website).
Future plans by the Werry Centre include a 2011 cultural hui with a strong focus on practise based Supervision for Maori.
The Werry Centre are focussing on a number of Maori group leaders to work towards Accreditation and assist with facilitating Supervision amongst Maori group leaders. The long term goal is for a number of Maori group leaders to progress to become Peer Coaches and mentors in Incredible Years to provide coaching and Supervision to ensure cultural integrity in programme delivery.
Pasifika and further Cultural Input
A Pasifika IYrs group leaders fono was held by the Werry Centre in March 2009 in Auckland. Mercy Drummond, a Samoan group leader provided a presentation of her Samoan only group outcomes to the clinicians gathered at the day. Initial reservations relating to the applicability of a Western programme to Pacific Island cultures diminished and an Auckland group have met following the fono to consider ways of providing collaborative group delivery to the many Pacific peoples in Auckland. A follow up Supervision day for Pasifika Incredible Years group leaders is planned for March 2010 with Mercy keen to present her work and develop resources to ensure cultural responsiveness in delivery.
At the presentation day hosted by the Werry Centre in January 2010 Mercy Drummond presented on delivering to Pacific groups in a Samoan church environment.
The Werry Centre is also providing coaching to two Asian group leaders delivering Chinese and Korean specific groups in the the community and assisting with the development of Indian specific group delivery in the Auckland area.
Cultural input will continue to be a key focus of the Werry Centre project including follow up on previous hui and fono recommendations and continuing development of resources for both Maori and Pacific Island groups. We envisage in the long term the development of Accredited group leaders across several cultural groups working towards Peer Coach and mentor status, developing resources such as translated programme materials, funding research to assess implications for Maori families and providing cultural supervision.
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