Weaving kapa haka with healing to improve rangatahi mental health

Kapa Haumanu directors & kaitukuhaumanu/counsellors Te Haupai and Estella Davis are weaving kapa haka and healing in Te Tauihu. Photo / Melissa Banks Photography

Te Matatini is just around the corner with kapa (teams) from across Aotearoa in intense preparation mode for the prestigious Māori performing arts competition.

Kapa haka is a taonga (treasure), a display of history and rich culture for which we are known and celebrated internationally, but its benefits in the life of rangatahi Māori don’t stop at entertainment.

A 2015 study on Māori mental health found that participants experienced “feeling safe, being grounded in their bodies, and having an enhanced cultural identity” during kapa haka.

Almost half of the Māori population are rangatahi (youth), a group that is over-represented in mental health statistics - with double the cases of suicide when compared to non-Maori.

In response to this, wife and husband team Estella and Te Haupai Davis created Kapa Haumanu, a programme that combines kapa haka with wellbeing for young people across Te Tauihu, the top of the South Island.

Reigning Matatini champs Te Kapa Haka o Ngā Tumanako from Tāmaki Makaurau.

Co-designed with the young adults that they tutor, the couple - who both hold a Bachelor of Counselling degree from Te Whare Wānanga o Te Tauihu o Te Waka a Maui (NMIT) - have now worked with over 500 students from schools across the region.

“We saw that it was a very useful tool for our rangatahi to connect, express emotions, and wānanga in a te ao Māori environment,” says the mother of seven who has dreamed of helping young people since she was a girl.

Not only do rangatahi learn waiata and haka, but they also connect to their spirituality through mōteatea (traditional chant) and karakia (prayer), an inherent part of te ao Māori.

They learn whanaungatanga (kinship), develop their comprehension in te reo Māori, and for some, it may be the only time in their everyday lives that they feel confident to practise their Māoritanga.

All of this is nurtured with the guidance of the Kapa Haumanu whānau of qualified counsellors and seasoned kai haka.

Graduation Day - Estella and Te Haupai Davis graduated together with a Bachelor of Counselling degree from Te Whare Wānanga o Te Tauihu o Te Waka a Maui (NMIT).

They are passionate about facilitating the healing and development of young Māori, but Te Haupai says he felt discouraged that there aren’t many established spaces for mātauranga Māori within therapy practice.

“Four walls in a white room with a desk. It’s almost like you’re in the principal’s office,” he says.

“We’re trying to break all those barriers down and create a space for rangatahi to thrive, to have autonomy, and navigate healing as a collective instead of on their own.”

Pūaha Te Tai Kapa Haka from Nayland College, where Kapa Haumanu began. Photo / Melissa Banks Photography

Raised in the south Auckland suburb of Ōtara, Te Haupai (Waikato-Tainui/Ngāti Maniapoto/Ngāti Kahungunu/Te Whānau-A-Apanui/Niue/Samoa) wanted to become a child psychologist fresh out of secondary school but got caught up in a succession of factory jobs once he entered the workforce.

The seed for Kapa Haumanu was planted when Estella asked him, “if money wasn’t an issue, what would you do?”

He replied, “I would help people.”

Estella (Ngaati Maahanga/Waikato-Tainui/ Ngaati Raukawa/Ngaati Maiotaki/Ngaati Toarangatira) says the programme is what she wished for as a teen.

“I needed a good bloody human being to actually listen to me when I was struggling,” says Estella, who has ADHD and autism.

Competing at Te Huinga Whetū Kapa Haka Regionals. Photo / Melissa Banks Photography

She is a native Māori speaker who started reading and speaking in English at 8 years old. Though English and mathematics were difficult for her, she found strength in practical learning through the subjects of dance, drama, music, cooking and kapa haka.

“I needed to be immersed in my culture, I needed to be around my people, I needed connection. Te ao Māori, mātauranga, stories, history,” she says.

Nayland College was the first school to participate in Kapa Haumanu, their rōpū Pūaha Te Tai becoming the first to ever represent the school at Te Tauihu Regional Kura Tuarua Kapa Haka.

Despite the programme’s success, some schools have resisted prioritising it, relegating it to after-school time.

“Why is Te Ao Māori, why is mātauranga Māori, why is kapa haka, why is anything Māori not prioritised? It won’t only awhi [cherish, embrace] rangatahi but it will re-educate schools,” says Te Haupai.

“We’re not a sports team. Don’t compare my culture, my whole being, to sports on the weekend. This is a way of living.”

Pūaha Te Tai are reclaiming their identity as rangatahi Māori in a safe and inclusive environment. Photo / Melissa Banks Photography

Estella and Te Haupai Davis were encouraged to make Kapa Haumanu a business by Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu. They are consistently supported by Whaea Trudy Thomson from Kia Ora Hauora, and they have Estella’s doting mum, Jenny Byers-Reneti, holding down the fort and four of the couple’s tamariki at home in Whakatū.

They are grateful for their support network, but they know they need to operate off more than aroha to make the biggest impact they can.

“Eventually we would love for this kaupapa to be government-funded. It’s something that every kura needs, especially kura that don’t have access to kapa haka tutors. There are so many schools around that motu that don’t have any kapa haka and it just blows my mind.

“We’re in Aotearoa and I really want it to be normal to do kapa haka in your youth. Not just for Māori, but for everyone.”