Tūpuna tools in action | Dr Hinemoa Elder

Dr Hinemoa Elder joined us as a Kai Awheahwe at the Toi Tangata Hui ā-Tau 2026. Dr Elder explores practical wisdom our tūpuna left for navigating the complexities of modern life. Through pūrakau, maramataka, whakataukī and everyday mātauranga, she highlights simple, powerful tools that strengthen resilience, deepen connection to whenua and whakapapa, and support the hauora of individuals and whānau.

Tūpuna tools in action is a presentation about bringing our awareness to the vast resources our tūpuna, our wheinga, have left within us and all around us to understand, act on and maintain our oranga.Grounded in the magic of our local whenua, taiao, people and places, our pūrākau and their many lessons are a rich and inexhaustible source of creative solutions for the ups and downs of modern day life, for all generations.From putting into practice our Okoro, our maramataka, to use of whakataukī, composing whakatauākī and pepeha. This is about daily mātauranga, practical and ready to share.

Dr Hinemoa Elder is a Fellow of the Royal Australia and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists and a specialist consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist with over two decades of clinical experience. She serves as a member of the NZ Human Rights Review Tribunal and as Kaiārahi Oranga Hinengaro at Te Hiku Hauora.  Her influence extends into governance through her role as deputy chair of Te Rūnanga Nui o Te Aupōuri, and deputy co-chair of Te Hiku Iwi Development Trust.

In 2019, Hinemoa was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to psychiatry and Māori. A celebrated author, her books include the Oprah's Book Club-recognised Aroha, Wawata, Dear Moko, and her latest, Ara: A Māori Guidebook of the Mind. Through her writing and her clinical work, she carries ancestral wisdom into the spaces where it is needed most, a true embodiment of the Hui ā-Tau theme.