Mahi a Atua: a pathway forward for Māori mental health?

Māori demand on New Zealand mental health services is out of proportion to the size of the Māori population, and the psychiatric service response is limited by lack of capacity. But there is also an inherent lack of capability, that is, the ability of a Western paradigm psychiatric service to meet the needs of an indigenous community. The Mahi a Atua narratives-based programme established in the primary mental healthcare services of the Tairāwhiti/Gisborne area has created a new approach to psychiatric assessment, diagnosis and therapy that is appropriate, but not confined, to the Māori community.