Systems Innovator Teteira Ormsby has completed the Hā o te Ora insight report, capturing key learnings from a prototype prevention programme developed in response to smoking-related harm and its impact on Māori health equity.
Teteira says the programme was shaped after community voices challenged us to move beyond repeating the same approaches.
“Whānau told us that smoking and vaping are part of much bigger issues, such as stress, disconnection, identity and belonging,” he says. “This report makes those realities visible and shows that cultural knowledge and connection aren’t ‘extras’, but legitimate pathways to wellbeing.
“It was important to document these insights so they can inform how future prevention approaches are designed, funded and scaled across the Healthy Families network and beyond.”
The findings highlight the importance of strategies shaped by community voice and partnership, and of shifting the conditions around people rather than focusing solely on individual behaviour.
A key example in the report is the collaboration with Manaaki Ora Trust and Ranolf Medical Centre – Tangata Ora.
“We brought cultural practice and evidence together to show what’s possible when mātauranga Māori and clinical knowledge are valued equally within a chronic disease prevention framework,” Teteira says.
Rather than producing a traditional evaluation, he framed the report as a system-learning tool, capturing what strengthened engagement, what built emotional safety, and how reconnecting people to breath and identity supported readiness for change.
He says this work helps shift how prevention is understood, from fixing behaviours to restoring the conditions that allow whānau to thrive.
The report highlights several key findings from the prototype:
- Smoking and vaping are linked to deeper pressures such as stress, whakamā, grief and disconnection.
- Whānau engagement increased when the environment was relational, culturally safe and grounded in tikanga.
- Focusing on hā (breath) supported emotional regulation and strengthened readiness for behaviour change.
- Strengthened cultural identity and belonging were key enablers of prevention.
- Blending taonga-based practice with clinical assessment added credibility and balance to the approach.
- Participants showed increased confidence, awareness of triggers and improved ability to manage stress.
- Early clinical indicators suggested positive shifts in respiratory and cardiovascular measures.
- The prototype demonstrated that prevention is strengthened when Māori knowledge is positioned at the centre, not the margins.
View the Hā o te ora Report 2025
