Te Huringa ō Te Ao – Supporting Men’s Behaviour Change

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Te Huringa ō Te Ao supports sustainable behaviour change

Te Huringa ō Te Ao is a new family violence service that supports sustainable behaviour change for men to restore whānau wellbeing.

This service is for tāne and men harming and hurting their partners and children, who realise it is time for change.

Te Huringa ō Te Ao supports sustainable behaviour change

Te Huringa ō Te Ao is for all tāne and men across New Zealand and offers a wide variety of flexible, proactive, and culturally responsive support that encourages men to reconnect with themselves, whānau, and community. This support is tailored to meet the holistic needs of tāne, men and whānau, while continually challenging men to own their behaviour, to be safe and to keep safe. This represents a shift away from short-term, prescribed programmes, and towards a system that puts the responsibility on men to be safe and keep safe.

Te Huringa ō Te Ao aims to create opportunities for local communities to reimagine support for men harming others by centering whānau voice. Together, we aim to think differently in how we support men on their journeys of change to break the cycles of violence, and to create and sustain intergenerational change.

The name Te Huringa ō Te Ao was gifted to this kaupapa by E Tū Whānau at MSD. Te Huringa ō Te Ao, represents the limitless potential of change and transformation. It speaks to the profound moments in the lives of tāne and men which ignite key shifts within them that will influence and support change. This name reflects how all people have the opportunity to come together to reimagine sustainable change for tāne and men, whānau and community. It speaks to the aspirational opportunity that change and transformation can have for individuals, their whānau and whakapapa.

‘Not one size fits all, all men are different. Some talk some don't.’ – Male research participant

The opportunity

Te Huringa ō Te Ao provides opportunities for local communities to reimagine support for men harming others by centering whānau voice.

Providers who are successful for Te Huringa ō Te Ao will receive long-term contracts up to 9.5 years, with FTE based funding. The first two and a half years of the contract will be flexible for providers to do both service development and service delivery. This service development opportunity will be community-led and MSD-supported.

MSD will work directly in partnership with providers through this service development to support the aspirations of the initiative.

The service development opportunity for Te Huringa ō Te Ao will apply a 'test, learn and improve' approach to prioritise continuous development. All services developed under this opportunity will be underpinned by whānau voice and align to Te Huringa ō Te Ao project framework.

‘It’s like I'm sitting in the bath. And I've got all these taps, they're all on at the same time. I don't know which problem to fix first. What tap do I turn off?’ – Male research participant

Te Huringa ō Te Ao development and procurement

Read more about the development and procurement of Te Huringa ō Te Ao, including the formative research, road shows across Aotearoa, the procurement process, and key changes for MSD.

How it works

Te Huringa ō Te Ao provides an opportunity for communities to reimagine support for men by focusing on whānau voice. Through Te Huringa ō Te Ao, providers can undertake service development as well as service delivery.

Te Huringa ō Te Ao framework

The Te Huringa ō Te Ao framework reflects essential information from a literature review, the voices of men using violence and sector engagement. All service development, service delivery and project guidance must align with the framework.

The framework includes seven evidence-based focus areas for services that will help to drive positive outcomes for whānau.

The seven focus areas for services are:

Strengthening cultural identity, language and whakapapa
Supporting tāne and men as fathers
Supporting whānau wellbeing
Healthy relationships
Safe and healthy masculinity
Responsibility and accountability
Supporting healing and connection with whānau

The framework is underpinned by principles that providers and services must commit to and demonstrate at all levels of the organisation:

Free and accessible services
Enacting Te Tiriti in practice
Whānau-led and whānau-centered
Actively address collusion (condoning or encouraging abuse)
Prioritise the safety and wellbeing of whānau and family impacted by the violence.
Collaboration and integration with specialist services, iwi and hapū to support holistic responses for tāne and their whānau and family
Take an intersectional approach that is responsive to tāne and men
Culturally, spiritually and physically safe and responsive to tāne and men
Continuous improvement through ongoing evaluation and reflective learning
Skilled specialist workforce to effect change

These principles align to the Te Puna Aonui Entry to Expert Framework and Specialist Organisational Standards and contribute towards our collective vision from Te Aorerekura where whānau can thrive; their wellbeing enhanced and sustained because they are safe and supported to live their lives free from family violence and sexual violence.

‘Violence is spiritual, we need a spiritual solution too’ – Family violence provider feedback

The framework can be seen in the following graphic. Click the image to open a larger image. You can also view this as an accessible pdf.