Alayne Mikahere-Hall
Ngāti Whātua, Te Rarawa, Tainui
Kia āta poipoi, kia āta tūhono: Nurture and connect findings from the Tūhono Māori Research Study
Dr Mikahere-Hall is currently a senior lecturer and post-doctoral research fellow with Taupua Waiora Research Centre Auckland University of Technology (AUT). She is the lead investigator on the Tūhono Māori research project, funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand. Tūhono Māori is an investigation into emotional attachment security from an Indigenous Māori perspective. The Tūhono Māori research study utilises Kaupapa Māori methodologies and methods to develop trauma interventions for Indigenous children and their whānau.
Alayne was also an associate investigator on the E Tū Wāhine, E Tū Whānau: Wāhine Māori keeping safe in unsafe relationships research study and co-authored the report supported by the Marsden Fund and administered by the Royal Society Te Apārangi. This study sought to understand how Māori women keep themselves safe in unsafe relationships. She has an interest in developing evidence-based Māori and Indigenous interventions to find alternative ways for addressing psychological and emotional trauma and Mental Health difficulties for Indigenous people. She is the co-chair of the Health Quality & Safety Commission Child Youth Mortality Review Committee and Nga Pou Arawhenua Mortality Review Committee. Alayne is actively involved in the South Auckland Māori community and is the current chair of Whaiora marae Otara. She is a registered psychotherapist, a member of the New Zealand Association of Psychotherapist (NZAP) and a founding member of Waka Oranga – National Collective of Māori Psychotherapy Practitioners (NCMPP).
Tūhono Māori is an indigenous research project that investigated Māori concepts and understandings of healthy child attachments. To do this we used Kaupapa Māori an Indigenous research methodology supported by appropriate qualitative methods to include pūrākau as a data collection method. The study set out to develop a contemporary Indigenous theory to inform interventions for traumatised mokopuna Māori while promoting secure whānau relationships. For the most part Attachment Theory (AT) and the application of it has assumed an uncritical position within child welfare services and across disciplines here in Aotearoa New Zealand. Emerging challenges from Māori health practitioners are questioning the cultural congruency of Attachment theory with whānau Māori (Māori families). This presentation brings together the design features of the study and key findings. It will include a discussion on the four research imperatives that are fundamental to this distinctly Kaupapa Māori research study to include decolonising, healing, transformative and mobilising agendas. Understanding the nature of a child’s early attachments and how these are nurtured is essential for strengthening the capacities of a child, the adults they become and the whānau they connect to.