Trail blazing psychiatrist wins Maarire Goodall Award

madinamerica.com

A psychiatrist who developed a treatment system for Māori in mental health distress is this year’s winner of the prestigious Dr Maarire Goodall award for contributions to Māori health.

Dr Diana Kopua from Ngāti Porou started her career as a community psychiatric nurse in Porirua before heading off to Otago to do a medical degree at age 31.

Professor David Tipene-Leach, the chair of Te ORA, the Māori Medical Practitioners Association, says she is a great example of the doctor-scientist and social justice champion that Maarire Goodall embodied.

Her Mahi a Atua system uses creation story pūrākau as an engagement and retention tool while a multi-disciplinary Māori team helps whānau back to health.

She implemented it in Gisborne while head of psychiatry at Tairāwhiti DHB and is currently working as a consultant psychiatrist to roll it out with the Hauraki Public Health Organisation and the wider Waikato-Hauraki Whānau pai collective.

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