Jay Rerekura: How else might you look at health and wellbeing then, Jay?

David Tua once said when he was climbing to the top of the boxing world “There are ways and there are ways.” Photo / Dean Purcell

OPINION

I spent a number of years working in the health sector, particularly the alcohol and drug space in the Whanganui community.

Something I’ve been pondering about that almost 18-year journey is the fact that I am quite glad not to be sitting in that space any more and I still often think about the amount of harm that alcohol, in particular, inflicts on our little corner of the world.

Did I enjoy the work? Mostly I did.

I was lucky to be able to work in creative and innovative ways with people who were creative, innovative and just clever. The work varied and it was kaupapa-driven. We found ways to keep it interesting.

We found ways to align our work to things that were relevant and to things that we enjoyed and, as I look back, much of that work was quite before its time.

But still, I’m glad to be out of that space because, ultimately, that work was born from a deficit lens which demanded a deficit approach most of the time. You see, in the health sector, we would often talk about health and wellbeing.

We would talk about strength-based approaches and we would talk about the well-being of our community. But we would still talk about those things from the lens of sickness. Through the lens of harm. Through the lens of what is wrong with us rather than what is right with us.

We would measure our impact on what we could change instead of what we could enhance. For that reason, I am happy to not be looking at our community from that perspective now.

Well, how else might you look at health and wellbeing then, Jay? Well, thank you for the question self, I thought you’d never ask. I remember a few years back when some bros and I started thinking about men’s health and tried a few approaches.

One of the really cool stories that we liked to tell was that of a koro (elderly man) who went to see his doctor.

He had a bunch of ailments that you might expect of a man his age and when he sat down with his GP the conversation went a little something like this.

“How can we help you today? What seems to be the problem?” The doctor does a few checks here and there and asks a bunch of questions like “What’s wrong with your leg? Can we fix your ... " You get the picture.

Koro looks frustrated and seems to be actively avoiding the questions when the doctor says, “What’s the matter?” Koro, now even more hoha (frustrated) with the check-up, tells doc he’s fed up with being asked what is the matter with him. Constantly bombarded with what needs to be fixed or cured. But what no one ever thinks to ask him is what matters to him.

He goes on to explain that he holds the mantle of being the speaker on his marae. Important does not begin to describe the gravity of this obligation for him, his whānau and his iwi. But it is important he be able to stand on his marae to uphold the mana of his people, withstand challenges that come his way and uplift those who come on to his marae.

Right now, he cannot stand long enough to execute his duties for his people. So, the question “What is the matter with you?” does not quite get to the heart of the matter which is “What matters to you?” The doctor realises that the lens or the framing of the question is so much more important because there is a motive for Koro if he simply asks “What matters to you?”

I think this story aptly illustrates something David Tua once said when he was climbing to the top of the boxing world. “There are ways and there are ways.”

Leading into Men’s Health Month this year, maybe we can change up some of those conversations to get to the heart of what matters to each other.