A youth-focused organisation is helping students harness their ‘rangatiratanga’ through a series of special leadership programmes.
Kaiwhakahaere Eparaima Paratene is a mindset coach, delivering strength and conditioning wānanga for young people across Tāmaki Makaurau.
“A lot of my programmes are designed around mindset training, [te] taha hinengaro. [Because] ki ahau nei - ko tērā te mea tuatahi (to me, that is the first thing) - everything I believe [starts] in the pinati (mind).”
“It’s all around rangatiratanga, [to] bring out I guess the leadership qualities that I believe all of our kids have.”
Just six months since its establishment, Mana Tū Training has helped students - from primary to secondary school - to reconnect with the taiao as well as their Māori identity.
Workshops include a mixture of physical and mental training training, as well as team-building activities.
“Physical training is the portal that opens up the taha wairua, taha hinengaro (spiritual and mental side).”
These programmes are largely focused on mātauranga Māori, incorporating elements of kapa haka and mau rākau.
“I deliver a bit of knowledge around atua Māori (Māori deities) and how to whakatinana (embody) our atua through a physical concept manner.”
Paratene says empowerment is paramount within these wānanga.
“How can you control [and] harness your mind to ultimately achieve whatever you’re trying to achieve in the field of sport, in the field of business. But ultimately how to empower yourself.”
Despite Mana Tū‘s infancy, Paratene is no stranger to this field, drawing on his own military experience to guide these programmes.
He served eight years as a rifleman in the NZ Army and says the skills acquired over that period are still relevant today.
“Things like resilience, [mindset] training and then brotherhood as well - camaraderie - and I kinda relate it back to how our people used to live as toa, as warriors.”
Paratene is also a former school teacher and says many students lack positive role models in their lives.
“Their environments are shaping their reality. I try to come into it, hei tauira mō ō mātau nei tamariki, mokopuna, rangatahi (as an example for our children and youth).”
He also says reconnection is key to the success of rangatahi Māori.
“One of the judges [in court] read out that the No 1 factor that young people are offending, especially Māori, is the lack of connecting to whakapapa.”
“Connecting to your maunga, your marae, your iwi is definitely up there in terms of, how we can help these rangatahi go through their mental health struggles.”
Paratene says the youth of Tāmaki Makaurau have loved engaging with these wānanga.
“It’s not so much about the content that I deliver, it’s about how I make them feel in terms of empowering them to step out into their Māoritanga, to step out into their new identity.”
This is only the beginning for Mana Tū Training, which also hopes to expand its services to adults in the future.