In 2011, Te Atawhai o Te Ao (TAOTA), a kaupapa Māori research institute based in Whanganui, made history as the first-ever community-based host to be awarded HRC Programme funding with He Kokonga Whare: Māori Intergenerational Trauma and Healing. In 2014 their programme was rolled into independent research organisation (IRO) funding.
TAOTA are leaders at working with whānau, hapū and iwi on setting research objectives, undertaking research within the community, and helping their communities to disseminate and implement findings. TAOTA engage with Ministers, policy-makers in Government agencies, and others on the results and implications of their research.
Through their research programme, TAOTA have changed the national discourse within Aotearoa through the acknowledgement of historical and intergenerational trauma and improvements in Māori trauma-informed care, including:
- Improving integration and collaboration across clinical, community and government organisations to build relationships and set shared goals.
- Training for corrections staff, police, schools and Oranga Tamariki on identifying, acknowledging and understanding intergenerational trauma.
- An intergenerational wellbeing/healing focus for models of care within community and residential programmes (particularly within Māori Health Providers and with Māori clinical psychologists).
They have actioned policies on the reintegration of Māori prisoners into the community, improving services for Māori as victims of sexual violence, the impact of land loss for a range of iwi including Ngāi Tahu, and the ways in which Māori health services and Whānau Ora respond to and work with trauma.