Whiria Te Muka

The goal of Whiria Te Muka is to reduce

 and prevent whānau harm in Te Hiku,

 while striving towards Mana Tangata.

He Matauranga Hāpine


Meth harm and family violence in Te Hiku

To hāpine is to strip back the harakeke leaf to reveal the fibre inside, or the muka. We consider our muka to be the insights and essential learnings that have emerged from weaving together our reo ā nama (our unique data set) and our reo ā kupu (the whānau, community, police and iwi voices we harvest).


He Mātauranga Hāpine documents offer us a rich variety of muka in a discussion of a critical kaupapa of significance to the Whiria Te Muka initiative. These documents are created at the culmination of exploratory research and enquiry. They have the capacity to inform and influence change through a variety of pathways across our leadership, practice and design spaces.


Download the Report

Whiria Te Muka - weaving the strands - is a unique solution focused on preventing and reducing the family harm experienced by Te Hiku whānau, hapū, iwi, and communities.

Partnership Initiative

Whiria Te Muka is a partnership initiative between the New Zealand Police and chairs of participating rūnanga of the Social Accord. Te Hiku ō Te Ika Iwi Development Trust is privileged to be the host on behalf of the Iwi chairs. We work to reduce and prevent whānau harm and uplift Mana Tangata for the people of Te Hiku ō Te Ika Iwi.

Mana Enhancing

We adopt a mana-enhancing, whānau-centric approach in practice where we take the time to āta whakarongo (listen carefully) and strive to unpack the whakapapa to the harm that whānau are experiencing.

We contribute to change

We also have the ability to influence and contribute to change over broad systems, from intervention to prevention to thriving communities. Whiria Te Muka is a unique Iwi-Crown relationship within the Te Hiku Iwi Social Accord.


“Āpera now feels a part of something. He feels safe. Whiria Te Muka has his back.  My course coordinator has his back.  The marae  has  his back. They’re there. He didn’t have that before.”


Te Hiku service provider on collaboration with Whiria Te Muka in helping a kairiri
(A person who has inflicted harm) on his pathway towards ōranga.


“Ring up and ask for help if you need any help. I had a bit of an up and down one this morning so I needed to talk to somebody or some help. Every time I think I’m going to be stupid, I just ring up and ask for some help. ‘Cause I don’t want to go there.”


Kairiri
(A person who has inflicted harm)
on reaching out for help to Whiria Te Muka and enacting his Protection Order


“If I don’t get Janine, there’s Steve and if I can’t get Steve, there’s Rob. So, I’ve got all these links. I just know that I need to reach out when I’m in that situation. Instead of going and picking up the phone and dialling the drug people, I dial the ‘help me’ people.” 


Kaingaro (A person who has used or is currently using methamphetamine)
on recognising triggers to drug dependency and reaching out to Whiria Te Muka for help.

Meth harm as a trigger of family violence

in Te Hiku


We are looking to understand the link between meth harm and reported family violence in Te Hiku. We are talking to people who have used meth, whānau, police and service providers who are giving insight into what the current landscape of meth harm looks like and what we can do to test solutions to reduce its negative impact on our whānau.

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