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Te whakatere i ngā awa e rua (Navigating the Two Rivers): A Heuristic Investigation of Māori Identity as a Student Psychotherapist

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Dissertation(563.78 KB)

Date

2022

Authors

Supervisor

Tudor, Keith

Item type

Dissertation

Degree name

Master of Psychotherapy

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Volume Title

Publisher

Auckland University of Technology

Abstract

This dissertation addresses the question “what is the experience of a Mmāori student psychotherapist’s identity?” The study suggests that Māori students in psychotherapy education/training and academia face the challenge of carrying multiple identities in becoming a psychotherapist. This dissertation uses heuristic research based on phenomenology and humanism, including a literature review, to highlight the unique challenges Māori face in becoming psychotherapists. Learning a western discipline at predominantly western institutions – and, specifically an academic institution, Māori face adhering to certain health models, concepts and approaches that may contradict their cultural customs and values. This heuristic research represents the journey of a final master’s year student as he grapples with what makes a Māori psychotherapist. The author explores the information and experience taken in from western psychotherapy, applying these through a Māori lens and sorting what concepts fit well in light of institutional and cultural expectations. The author also draws from whānau support who provide(d) cultural stories and beliefs that have been passed down through generations to develop and convey the research findings. The literature review supports the challenges Māori student psychotherapists face in establishing their own identity as therapists. The end result is a challenge for Māori students to learn how to become a hybrid therapist, finding their feet in multiple value systems that may contradict one another. The study is a narrative of one Māori student who learns to hold two worlds to become a new form of psychotherapist that applies hybrid approaches as a hybrid therapist.

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Permanent link

https://hdl.handle.net/10292/15268

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Masters Dissertations