Auckland Sexual Abuse HELP Kaupapa for relationship with Maori clients

The bases for this kaupapa are committment to Te Tiriti and the Vision and Goals of the organisation.

Our Committment to Te Tiriti
Interpretation of what the articles mean for our service delivery:

Article 1: That appropriate policies, procedures and accountabilities need to be in place.
Article 2: To support Maori for Maori services.
Article 3: To provide a mainstream service which is as culturally safe as possible.

Vision of Auckland Sexual Abuse HELP
To work towards a society based on co-operation and respect rather than competition and power.

Goals of Auckland Sexual Abuse HELP
-To support women and children in recovering from the effects of sexual abuse and assault.
-To work towards the prevention of sexual abuse and assault.

Cultural Safety
-We are willing to aspire to providing a culturally safe service.
-We recognise that the aspiration to provide a culturally safe service is a journey and a struggle.
-We are willing to create an environment which is conscious of issues of culture, where dialogue can occur, and where steps forward can be maintained.
-We are willing to recognise our limitations in understanding and those of the community in which we live and work.
-We are willing to sit with discomfort and not knowing - to hold the point of tension.

Working with Maori Clients
-We come from a position that clients are the experts on their own lives - we respect their wisdom, their goals, invite them to story their own lives. We invite this through conscious creation of the space for it.
-To assist us in increasing our awareness of our assumptions, we engage in training and consultation. To this end, we also work towards consciousness of the assumptions about distress and healing contained in our models of working.
-We acknowledge and name our limitations as a service and as individuals.
-We assume that we will make mistakes and our goal with these will be to learn and to consciously correct.
-As with all therapy, we work together to find a shared place in which to stand to do the work.

In addition with face to face work:
-We ask about culture or ethnicity at point of referral.
-We offer Maori for Maori service to those who describe themselves as Maori or part Maori.
-We try to provide as good a match as possible between client and counsellor/therapist.

In crisis work:
-We aim to be sensitive to cues about ethnicity and culture.
-We ask about culture and ethnicity where possible.
-We monitor our own assumptions and the assumptions of others involved in the process. For example the assumption that avoiding the continuation of a possible pregnancy will be a goal; or that collecting evidence through internal examination is more important than the sacredness of women's reproductive area, or that whanau should or should not be involved.
-We offer Maori for Maori service for follow-up referral.