The Experiences of Non-indigenous Ethnic Minority Psychotherapists Residing and Practicing in Aotearoa New Zealand
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SAGE Publications
Abstract
The bicultural nation that is Aotearoa New Zealand is now a multi-ethnic society, home to many non-indigenous ethnic minority communities. This study explored the perceptions and experiences of four self-identifying non-indigenous ethnic minority psychotherapists living in this country. Specifically, it answers the question: “What are the predominant themes that can be identified in the accounts of non-Māori ethnic minority psychotherapists, residing and practicing within the bicultural context of Aotearoa New Zealand?” Semi-structured interviews with participants explored their lived everyday experiences in both personal and professional spheres. Data were analysed using thematic analysis and yielded three themes: (1) “Acculturation to mainstream” captures the personal challenges participants encountered as immigrants in relocating and adapting to mainstream Aotearoa New Zealand culture; (2) “Encountering Indigenous culture” describes participants’ experiences of coming into contact with indigenous Māori culture, and ensuing perceptions and understandings; (3) “Relating to biculturalism” describes how the participants understand and make meaning of biculturalism in Aotearoa New Zealand. Understanding these participants’ experiences can help non-indigenous ethnic minority psychotherapists become better informed and politically aware, and may empower them to negotiate a more meaningful position in a bicultural nation.Description
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Culture and Psychology, ISSN: 1354-067X (Print); 1461-7056 (Online), SAGE Publications. doi: 10.1177/1354067X231204309
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© The Author(s) 2023. Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC 4.0). This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).