Couples Work in Cultural Context: Te Ao Māori and Poststucturalist Practices Informing Counselor Training in Aotearoa New Zealand

• Published date: 01 June 2016
• Author: Yolanda Meima,Helene Connor,Helen Gremillion
• Date: 01 June 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12210

Couples Work in Cultural Context: Te Ao M

aori and

Poststucturalist Practices Informing Counselor

Training in Aotearoa New Zealand

†

HELENE CONNOR*

HELEN GREMILLION*

YOLANDA MEIMA*

This article outlines key themes that appear in the teaching of poststructuralist ideas and

practices for couples counseling within the Postgraduate Diploma in Counseling Program

at Unitec Institute of Technology in Auckland, New Zealand, and it explores the congruence

of this pedagogical approach with M

aori (indigenous) understandings of relationality,

collaboration, and partnership. The diploma program’s curriculum includes narrative

therapy and relational language-making. Themes explored in this article include: under-

standing (heterosexual) couple relationships as contextualized entities, deconstructing

dominant discourses of coupledom, and the positioning of counselors/teachers as

nonexpert. Taking each theme in turn, the authors, one of them M

aori and two P

akeh

a

(European), articulate points of alignment with M

aori cultural concepts and practices.

Keywords: Poststructuralism; Narrative Therapy; Te Ao M

aori; Couples Counseling

Fam Proc 55:238–252, 2016

INTRODUCTION

In this article, three instructors in the Postgraduate Diploma in Counseling Program at

Unitec Institute of Technology in Auckland, New Zealand, explore key themes that

appear in the program’s teaching around couples counseling, highlighting the ways in

which this teaching is congruent with M

aori (indigenous) concepts and practices. This con-

gruence supports the development of appropriate and effective counseling work with

M

aori clients, and also upholds imperatives in New Zealand for social service and related

professionals to honor the fact that New Zealand is a bicultural nation. Biculturalism in

New Zealand is discussed in the next section of this article.

The diploma program discussed in this article enrolls students part-time for 18 months,

and allows them to become provisional members of NZAC (New Zealand Association of

Counsellors). It offers training in poststructuralist and collaborative approaches to coun-

seling, predominantly narrative therapy based on the work of Michael White and David

Epston (White, 2007; White & Epston, 1990). Note that although narrative therapy is not

the sole counseling modality that is taught in the program, in this article we use the term

“narrative” as a shorthand to describe the overall approach taught.

*Unitec Institute of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand.

Correspondence concerning this article to be addressed to Helen Gremillion, Department of Social Prac-

tice, Bldg 510, Room 5019, Waitakere Campus, Unitec, Private Bag 92025, Auckland, New Zealand.

E-mail: hgremillion@unitec.ac.nz.

†

“Te Ao M

aori” can be translated as “M

aori worldview.” “Aotearoa” is the M

aori term for New Zealand.

M

aori are the indigenous people of New Zealand.

238

Family Process, Vol. 55, No. 2, 2016 ©2016 Family Process Institute

doi: 10.1111/famp.12210