ABSTRACT Narrative therapy conversations seek to develop and enrich the strengths, skills and values people hold that can be storied through wonderfulness interviews. The practice of wonderfulness interviews requires therapists to draw on decolonising discourses and resist discourses that may individualise and essentialise skills, values and attributes. Taking up a decolonising discursive position in Aotearoa New Zealand involves the ongoing restoration and uplifting of mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge). This article lays out a decolonising therapeutic approach, weaving Māori worldviews and narrative therapy in order to respond to two key questions. The first is how can we speak about the wonderfulness of rangatahi Māori (Māori young people) in ways that strengthen their cultural identity? The second, how can rangatahi take up the idea of a poho kererū (pride—see glossary for explanation) whilst also holding onto hūmārie/whakaiti (humbleness)? The article introduces Te Whare Pouhāpai (A House of Support), an approach to engage rangatahi alongside their whānau (family) in wonderfulness conversations. The approach has been developed alongside rangatahi and whānau Māori in both wharekura (Māori medium schools) and kura auraki (mainstream schools) but is still relevant for pākeke (adults). Central to this approach is the metaphorical use of te whare tūpuna (ancestral house), representing the influential figures in the life of rangatahi. The pou (posts/carvings) of the whare (house) become entry points for conversations that explore collective mana (strength, prestige and ability), uara (values), intergenerational knowledge, pūmanawa (skills passed down) and pūkenga (skills). The approach honours multiple forms of mana, recognising that identity and ability are shaped relationally, not individually. Whakataukī (proverbs), the metaphor of the whare tūpuna, and mātauranga Māori are presented to guide ways of understanding identity and wonderfulness. Together, these whakaaro (ideas/thoughts) construct an approach that can assist therapists to resist dominant discourses that individualise strengths, skills and wonderfulness.
Deverell et al. (Fri,) studied this question.