Pou Hāpai – Whānau Ora Practitioner
“My “why” is to Inspire and Create lasting change. Every day I wake up, I look forward to going to work. I consider myself extremely fortunate to be in a position in life where I can live and breathe My “Why” on a daily basis.” – Tamati Neho, Māori Health & Equity Services Manager and Pou Tikanga Cultural Practice Manager
About this career
Pou Hāpai are resourceful support people who work with whānau in the health and wellbeing sector. Pou Hāpai walk alongside whānau to support and help them to connect to services they need, navigate and advocate.
Pou Hāpai offer cultural support, connect whānau to services and help whānau to anticipate next steps.
This is a very rewarding role for people who want to make a big difference in the lives of whānau who need support.
Pou Hāpai also play a key role in promoting healthy outcomes for Māori patients by supporting and enabling health workforces to provide excellent culturally competent services. They give guidance and support to health service staff on engaging effectively with Māori and meeting their cultural expectations.
Qualities you need
- Respect and caring for others from diverse backgrounds
- Empathy, ability to build meaningful relationships with Whānau
- A strong connection to Te Ao Māori – cultural knowledge relevant to the whānau you serve, including tikanga, Mātauranga Māori and kaupapa Māori principles
- Patience, determination and confidence
- Excellent interpersonal skills, ability to work collaboratively and be an advocate
- Ability to build and maintain networks and relationships
- Strong values and ethics and the ability to keep confidentiality
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills, ability in using te reo Māori
- Ability to work independently, part of a team, and across organisations
- Sound understanding of the dimensions of Māori health and health practices and can apply kaupapa Māori models of health in practice
- Excellent time management and the ability to prioritise and multitask
- Ability to cope with a high and varied workload including uncertain and emergency situations
- Initiative, flexibility, well developed problem solving and de-escalation skills
Career Pathway
At this stage Career pathways to becoming Pouhapai vary – as with Kaiawhina they are part of the allied and unregulated workforce.
Kaiāwhina is a broad term to describe non-regulated roles in the health and disability sector.
Experience working with whānau is very important, as are communication skills and cultural knoweldge – and a high level of maturity is also needed to engage with whānau with diverse needs.
Also is the ability to navigate complexity within the health sector, to develop and build relationships to advocate for whānau.
Any career experiences relating to the above can help to prepare you for this rewarding role.
Find out more:
Māori Health https://www.tdhb.org.nz/services/maori_health.shtml
Our Whānau Career Story
Tamati Neho, Māori Health & Equity Services Manager and Pou Tikanga Cultural Practice Manager
Where do I work and what do I do?
I work for Health NZ – Te Whatu Ora Taranaki.
My role is the Māori Health & Equity Services Manager and Pou Tikanga Cultural Practice Manager. My role is responsible for providing day to day leadership of Pou Hāpai Services throughout the provider arm to ensure successful key interface between whānau Māori and Te Whatu Ora.
The Pou Haumanu – Pou Hāpai Lead is also responsible for coordinating the daily provisions of effective Pouhāpai services to support whānau to navigate all services provided by Te Whatu Ora , facilitating seamless referral pathways to appropriate internal and external services, and providing expert guidance across the organisation to lift our performance and cultural competency standard when engaging with Māori.
What was my career pathway to get here? (and what led me to this?)
I began working in the Transport and Logistics industry at a young age and have always found myself in leadership and management roles throughout my logistics career. I’ve managed logistics warehouses all over the country, and while my jobs took me all over the country and paid well, they were never fulfilling or made me want to get up and go to work. So, I made the decision to make a change. I transitioned from Logistics and Sales Manager to Education and found a role that I believed would be more rewarding and fulfilling.
As I embarked on this new journey I was appointed as the Program Lead Facilitator for a Māori and Pasifika Rugby Academy based in New Plymouth, where I worked with our Māori and Pasifika youth. The program was run in partnership with the Taranaki Rugby Union and the WITT. The program’s intention was to target Māori and Pasifika youth aged 16 to 19 with low or no NCEA credits and provide them with an alternative pathway within education to address these issues. Rugby was the vehicle used to entice these young people to join the program and in my first year, we had a 90% success rate in achieving accreditation for these young people.
Through previous connections, an opportunity arose within local Māori Health Provider Tui Ora for me to interview for a role that I believed would have a greater impact on working with whānau than my role with the academy, so without thinking twice about it I jumped at the opportunity and was successful in my bid to join Tui Ora. I became the Whānau Ora Change and Development Lead within three months after joining Tui Ora.
I have a lot to thank Tui Ora for because it was Tui Ora that helped me find my calling in serving our people. Tui Ora is a Whānau Ora provider, and it was through the lens of Whānau Ora that I discovered my passion, where my natural value system of Wairuatanga, Manaakitanga, Kotahitanga, and Tino Rangatiratanga, to name a few, complimented my mahi of serving our people.
The CDL role (Change & Development Lead) sat across the Taranaki Whānau Ora Collective made up of Ngāti Ruanui, Ngā Ruahine Health Authority, and Tu Tama Wahine and was responsible for assessing the impact of change on the Whānau Ora workforce and delivering practical solutions to support kaimahi and organisational development. In addition, the key functions of the CDL was to identify and implement change management strategies, developing plans and delivering training and support.
Again, history would repeat itself, and I found myself in a position to apply for a role with the then Taranaki District Health Board where I thought I could have an even greater influence on working with whānau and promoting and achieving optimal health outcomes and Pae Ora for our whānau Māori. As difficult as it was to leave such a wonderful organisation as Tui Ora, the decision was made easier when I saw the Te Pā Harakeke Māori Health and Equity Directorate strategy, leadership, and, most importantly, the direction and vision that was in place for our whānau Māori.
I love my mahi and it’s been the best decision I’ve ever made.
What is my “why” for doing this job and making a difference for Māori
My “why” is to Inspire and Create lasting change. Every day I wake up, I look forward to going to work. I consider myself extremely fortunate to be in a position in life where I can live and breathe My “Why” on a daily basis.
