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"Just being in the room with somebody who chooses to start talking about their pain is incredibly powerful. Just sitting there and nodding. Even if you’re thinking I’ve no idea I don’t know what to say, this is quite scary stuff. Just sitting with the person and saying I’m here with you, I’m here for you. I’m so glad that you’re talking about this. Just let them talk." - Dr. Hinemoa Elder.

Dr. Hinemoa Elder descends from Ngāti Kuri, Te Aupōuri, Te Rarawa and Ngāpuhi. She is a child and adolescent psychiatrist, working with whānau going through challenges we all hope to never face. She's also a professor of indigenous research, an NZ Order of Merit recipient for services to Māori and psychiatry, works for Māori and Aotearoa on a number of panels and is a champion of te reo Māori.

The ultimate aim of this podcast is to share whakaaro from people who have found a way to live a life they love so that others of us can try and do the same, so we start there.

Dr. Hinemoa is a psychiatrist, so of course, we talk about mental health, hauora and healing strategies, Māori trust in the health system and our vaccination rates. We talk about parenting in a healthy way. We reflect on the huge power of knowing your history and the stories of your tūpuna, the power of routine and lots more.

We didn’t get through all of the kōrero we wanted to, but we’ll be back for a second edition later!

We talk about suicide at a signals and prevention level, so if that’s triggering to you e te whānau, kia tūpato, please be careful.

But also, if like me, you worry you’re not equipped to help friends or whānau going through mental distress at that level, then I hope it's useful.

As well as the above, some of the topics we touch on in this kōrero are:

• Māori trust in the health system
• Talking about our pain, and listening to our people going through mental health distress
• The stereotypes we’ve created around tāne (men) in Aotearoa
• Signs we can be mindful of in whānau to tell us things might not be going well
• Holistic health care and its current state in the health system
• The impacts on our mental health of including Māori history at school
• The mix of independence, and interdependence for tamariki and the importance of community

Hit subscribe in your podcast app if you want to hear more.

Enjoyed the episode? Help us record more: If you want to help us share these conversations for positive change, please help by donating here: www.patreon.com/paperbackguerrillas

Resources and mentions

Aroha - the book

Question: what was your favourite quote or lesson from this episode? Comment below and let us know!

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/paperbackguerrillas)

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“You’re either growing or you’re shrinking. We’re like plants, none of us stays the same. We’re living things. We’re either going this way to higher things or back this way, to death.” — Tipene Harmer

Tipene Harmer is a rapper, a kaiako (teacher) of mātauranga Māori, and an all-around awesome dude.

Patreon whānau exclusive: my favourite tāonta from this kōrero was around decision making. I wrote about how I've been working on mine here.

We spend the first chunk of the interview talking/geeking-out about Aotearoa hip-hop and the connection to te ao Māori and American culture, then we move onto our standard (delicious) fare of kai, how he got to the position of living a life he loves, what could have stopped him, his new album Heritage Trail, and a whole lot more.

As well as the above, here are a few of the taonga (treasures) Tipene shares:

• The best advice he got from Scribe.
• The purpose and motivation behind his latest album.
• The motivation behind his first mixtape and forays into rap.
• Getting out of our own way.
• The power of decision making and the influences on those decisions.
• The hard way, and the hard way and how
• The strength we get from connection.
• The power of music and kotahitanga (bringing together).
• What he’s learned from the rangatahi he works with as a teacher.
• His song-writing process and how he used his song Turangawaewae to teach tīkanga marae to his students.
• How rap encouraged him to read.

Hit subscribe in your podcast app if you want to hear more.

Enjoyed the episode? Help us record more: If you want to help us share these conversations for positive change, please help by donating here: www.patreon.com/paperbackguerrillas

Resources and mentions

Dam Native

Takitimu book

Question: what was your favourite quote or lesson from this episode? Comment below and let us know!

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/paperbackguerrillas)

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/paperback-guerrillas.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Paperback Guerrillas Whānau exclusive: my favourite taonga (treasured idea) from this kōrero was sparked by PNC's comments on how much of a privilege it was growing up with his mother. It made me reflect on my own privilege. You can read about it on our Patreon page here.

PNC is an award winning rapper also known as Sam Hansen. Wikipedia page.

After nearly 20 years performing at a high level and acknowledged as one of Aotearoa's best rappers, Sam is studying psychology and in this kōrero we dive into the connection with music and wellness, culture and mental health, and Sam's experiences growing up as an afakasi (half-cast Samoan) man. Of course we discuss rap/hiphop and being an artist in Aotearoa.

We had a lot of fun putting this kōrero together, and I hope you find it as valuable as I did.

Mauri ora,

Pera

Hit subscribe in your podcast app if you want to hear more.

Enjoyed the episode? Help us record more: If you want to help us share these conversations for positive change, please help by donating here: www.patreon.com/paperbackguerrillas

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/paperback-guerrillas.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.