A doctoral student has received $75,000 to study how Maori seers, or matakite, can help people in or before they enter the mental health system.
Matakite are people who claim foresight or "otherworld" experiences. Some draw on Maori spiritual knowledge.
Ministry of Health statistics show that three infive Maori will develop a mental illness at some point in their life.
Over three years, Hamilton-based Ron Ngata will explore how matakite help people in crisis. He says matakite sessions aren't meant to replace Western "bio-medical" treatments. Instead, there should be a place for both, in improving people's wellbeing.
"These people [matakite] can be used as an extra resource for understanding what's happening [in a person's life]. If people see or hear something unusual, it's going to become an issue of mental health for them," he said.
"But matakite may be able to make sense of the experience without turning it into an illness, and then the crisis subsides."
The Ngati Porou psychology student said many matakite were discreet about their activities, not advertising what they did, for good reasons. For some, doing the work was "draining", but it was also about not wasting time "justifying their beliefs" to others.
Mr Ngata, who is doing his doctorate through Massey University, said the Tohunga Suppression Act 1907 did much to drive cultural practices underground. At the time, it was feared public health was being seriously compromised.
This meant that institutions such as wananga, where knowledge was passed on, and tohunga who sanctioned practitioners, have dwindled in number. Mr Ngata said that instead, Maori had to rely on informal networks - asking around to find a matakite.
He said he expects to face some criticism about the level of funding his doctorate has received from the Health Research Council and that some might write it off as "airy-fairy".
"I'm prepared to challenge that way of thinking. It brings up that question of what knowledge counts? And who decides what knowledge is important?"
The ministry's director of mental health, David Chaplow, would not comment specifically on Mr Ngata's project but said the link between identity or culture and well-being was recognised.
