Marginalisation, Migration, and Movement: Responding to the Underrepresentation of Māori in the Clinical Psychology Workforce in Aotearoa New Zealand

Within Aotearoa, the shift towards an Indigenously grounded psychologycontinues with great excitement and caution. An over-reliance onepistemologies, research, and practice based on Western, educated,industrialised, rich and democratic (WEIRD) societies remains a barrier toachieving this.To understand the growth of the clinical psychology workforce and the Māoriworkforce, Manatū Hauora, Ministry of Health, and Te Whatu Ora, HealthNew Zealand workforce data was analysed. The data details every year from2018 to 2023: the overall number of psychologists trained and registered withinthe clinical scope of practice with the New Zealand Psychologists Board(NZPB); the number of Māori psychologists registered within the clinical scopeof practice with the NZPB, and the number of newly registered clinicalpsychologists trained overseas. Results identified that the absolute number ofMāori clinical psychologists increased from 93 in 2018, to 125 in 2023. Despitethis rise, corresponding increases in the overall number of clinical psychologistsin Aotearoa have meant that the proportion of Māori within the clinicalpsychology workforce has remained unchanged at 6 percent, year-on-year, from2018 and 2023.The primary caution at present sits with the impacts of marginalisation andmigration on the workforce, with the findings indicating they are having anacute impact. Of the clinical psychologists registering for the first time inAotearoa between 2018 to 2023, only 56 percent completed their traininglocally. The imperative then is movement towards change. This will requireMāori and non-Māori alike in clinical psychology to recognise ingrainedassumptions of White supremacy. This paper serves as a call to the profession,to engage in generating and actualising solutions, to elevate Māori participationin clinical psychology