Mā Te Ara Wairua, Ka Kite He Oranga: Presenting Three Baskets of Spiritual Healing Knowledge for Social Work

This paper presents the findings of a doctoral study titled ‘Mā te ara wairua, ka kite he oranga: A Kaupapa Māori study into the development of traditional healing knowledge and spiritual concepts in social work’. The research involved sixteen in- depth interviews with traditional Māori healers and social workers, to get a better understanding of how spirituality and ancestral healing knowledge is developed in the profession. Exploring these perspectives was important because there is a significant gap in knowledge where very little is known about the integration and application of Indigenous healing and spiritual concepts in social work. As such, this PhD asked the question–What is the role of traditional Māori healing knowledge in social work? The study was underpinned by Kaupapa Māori theory, and its methods combined both qualitative approaches alongside the Ara Wairua analysis tool to help explore the experiences of participants. This research is profound because it yielded twelve important findings to inform social works’ epistemology and provide nuanced understandings into cultural healing concepts, the transference of ancestral knowledge for non-Indigenous workers, actualising spiritual responsiveness, and the application of Indigenist social work. This paper aims to specifically highlight the study’s findings and its implications for social work. There are three baskets of knowledge presented in this article, and each basket contains several recommendations for the profession. The study’s methods and analytical processes are explained along with an outline of the research problem which further positioned the research in an academic context.