Counsellor Cath Healey.

Cath Healey says her best-ever decision was enrolling for Te Tohu Paerua mō Te Aka Whakaaroaro – the Master of Professional Practice launched by EIT earlier this year.

Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāti Porou on her father’s side and Canadian on her mother’s, Cath can actually look back on a run of smart decisions despite her troubled start in life.

After quitting school and leaving home at 16, she lived a tumultuous lifestyle. Occasional insights prompted the first faltering steps on a different pathway.

Cath’s first attempt at tertiary study fell short. Unable to juggle the demands of study and caring for her family and constantly derailed by a dysfunctional lifestyle, she flunked EIT’s certificate in social services.

Seven years ago, she decided to try again, enrolling in the Bachelor of Applied Social Sciences (Counselling).

Cath’s placement was at Wairua Tangata, a Flaxmere-based primary health initiative for Māori, and she was employed there after completing her bachelor degree.

After several years working for the counselling service, she took a position as a Māori counsellor with the Hawke’s Bay’s Te Rangihaeata Oranga gambling addiction recovery service.

Between times, she returned to EIT, studying three te reo Māori certificate programmes with her father.

Cath has found the mātauranga Māori learning framework for her master’s study “an amazing help in decolonising myself”.

“Māori are still coming to terms with the impacts they’ve suffered through colonisation,” she says. “It may be that Māori can best be helped by drawing on cultural and traditional approaches to healing.”