Breaking the cycle : wāhine Māori and whānau narratives of abstinence-based recovery from substance use disorders : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Health Science in Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
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2024
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Massey University
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Addiction is a pressing and increasingly visible concern in Aotearoa. For Māori as Indigenous people, addiction can be understood within the context of colonialism, historical oppression and intergenerational trauma. The lack of representation of Māori women and whānau-centred models of care in the addiction recovery space extends its shadow into academia, as historically women have been studied from male perspectives within individualistic paradigms. My research aim was to gain insights into the experiences of Mana Wāhine in abstinence-based recovery from substance use disorders, as well as exploring and celebrating whānau perspectives across these journeys. To gain a deeper understanding of diverse recovery journeys, pūrākau methodologies including qualitative interviews were used to explore the lived experiences of four wāhine and seven whānau members. Māori cultural concepts such as caring (manaakitanga), leadership (rangatiratanga), unity (kotahitanga), history and place provide a basis for interpreting these stories. In presenting these interpretations, I have drawn on an analogy of a river and associated whakatauāki as a structuring devise throughout to illustrate the synthesis of of theories and recovery pūrākau rivers of lived-experience. The key findings that emerged from my analysis included: addiction as understood through whakapapa; habiti and spaces of care are significant in sustaining recovery within whānau; narrative re storying and re-parenting supports healing whakapapa trauma; and genuine re-connection to culture can be established through recovery. This thesis demonstrates whānau innovation in breaking their own lived cycles of addiction. A cycle that has been portrayed in this study is that adverse childhood experiences lay the foundation of future addiction and that parenting without substances forces a person to confront their own childhood, which then compounds recovery efforts, as the emotions that are being confronted are the genesis of their dependency on substances. Understanding how whānau live their lives will not prevent people from drifting into addictive ways of being. It can however support researchers, service providers and policy makers to re-conceptualise and interpret how sustained recovery can be achieved within whānau systems and environments beyond the institution.
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Māori Masters Thesis