Kaumātua Pou Tikanga | Office of CEO
My name is Witeria Ashby and I am 68 years old. I have worked in the areas of youth development (justice and education), health promotion and Māori mental health. My current mahi includes Māori health workforce development, and from time to time I provide cultural supervision for researchers in these areas.
I adhere to te Tiriti o Waitangi as a descendant of two signatories, Kāwiti (Ngāti Hine) and Whiorau (Te Whānau Rara, Ngāti Kawa). I grew up in Mōtatau, and was fortunate to sit at the feet of my grandfather, Te Pene i Hainatia te Tiriti o Waitangi and Tā Hemi Henare, listening to their kōrero at home and the marae.
My grandfather’s name reflects our mana, right and obligation to uphold te Tiriti. His expression of this obligation was shown in our large gardens and his cattle drives for Waitangi; we worked as a whānau and as hapū to provide kai for commemorations.
Rangahau · Related projects
This project uses Kaupapa Māori theory to challenge the current dominant Western explanations for suicide, which fail to consider socio-cultural-political pressures and historical processes such as colonisation as core to Indigenous suicide.
View projectInvestigating the influence of socio-cultural-political pressures on Māori suicide: A comparison of known Māori suicides from 1840-1939 with those from 1940-2019
This project uses Kaupapa Māori theory to challenge the current dominant Western explanations for suicide, which fail to consider socio-cultural-political pressures and historical processes such as colonisation as core to Indigenous suicide.
Kairangahau · Researchers
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Sonny Niha
Sonny Niha
Kaumatua Sonny Niha (Te Orewai, Te Uriroroi, Ngāpuhi) is the cultural advisor for the Child and Adolescent mental health team within Psychological Medicine at Waipapa Taumata Rau. He has also been the chair of Waipareira Kuamatua rōpu and has worked within the Auckland City Hospital service providing cultural advice and support to whānau Māori. He has been involved in tikanga and te reo Māori advancement in the Department of Psychological Medicine since 2020. In this role he works alongside Matua Te Waere to align the principles and practices of Te Ata Hāpara with Kaupapa Māori elements. -
Te Waere Ti Peeti
Te Waere Ti Peeti
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Witeria Ashby
Witeria Ashby
My name is Witeria Ashby and I am 68 years old. I have worked in the areas of youth development (justice and education), health promotion and Māori mental health. My current mahi includes Māori health workforce development, and from time to time I provide cultural supervision for researchers in these areas.I adhere to te Tiriti o Waitangi as a descendant of two signatories, Kāwiti (Ngāti Hine) and Whiorau (Te Whānau Rara, Ngāti Kawa). I grew up in Mōtatau, and was fortunate to sit at the feet of my grandfather, Te Pene i Hainatia te Tiriti o Waitangi and Tā Hemi Henare, listening to their…