This is where you will find out about what is happening in New Zealand Veterans health, especially research that makes a difference! One thing that we have learned is that Veterans (all those who have served, not just those who have deployed) are often living with aches and pains. We have an acupuncture study funded by Lottery Health.
We will also be putting previous research (that we know about!) on here.
It’s under construction so keep an eye out.
He Toa Taumata Rau
Applying a mātauranga Māori lens on a veteran’s transition from the military to civilian life will be the focus of a new research project being undertaken by Toi Ohomai Te Pūkenga Kaihautū Rangahau Māori, Dr Tepora Emery.
Read about it here:
It is a ‘storytelling’ project, developed by a team at Toi Ohomai Te Pukenga led by Tepora Emery, in which Veterans (anyone who has served) tell their ‘transition stories.’
Get in touch if you want to know more.
The transition story is not about suicide, but the framework came from:
Te Waiata a Hinetitama- hearing the heartsong
Click to view
The abstract:
Contrary to contemporary views of the act of whakamate (suicide), traditional Mäori tribal pedagogies have revealed that the death of an individual by suicide was not considered a shameful or cowardly act; rather it was viewed in its full context. The person was considered to have been impacted by a state of whakamomori (overwhelming sadness and depression) and kahupö (spiritual blindness). Viewed in this context, in the time of our ancestors, premature death through suicide was considered a human tragedy and loss of potential and was thus treated with understanding, compassion and aroha (love). Drawing on traditional Mäori pedagogies contained within tribal waiata möteatea (laments), this paper presents an example of how the wisdom traditions of Mäori tribal elders can inform contemporary suicide postvention interventions. The traditions are also shown to support whänau (family) recovery from unresolved grief situations including the (modern) stigma associated with the death of a loved one to whakamate.
