No. 24 Keri Opai | [Full Story] Te Reo Hapai and the Takiwātanga Origin Story

This episode is the FULL version that I have decided to publish as long-form content for this April 2023 - Autism awareness month. (51 Minutes and 17 sec). Short form episode of this was originally published sometime in October 2020 (22 minutes and 27 sec.) Keri Opai is a former Te Pou Paeārahi Strategic Lead who created Te Reo Hāpai, a Māori language glossary for use in the mental health, addiction, and disability sectors. The glossary aims to enrich language with "words of great power" in te reo from a strengths-based and a mana-enhancing Māori worldview for the benefit of tāngata whai ora. Keri received a special award for his contribution to excellence, innovation, and best practice in mental health services through the creation of Te Reo Hāpai. The award was presented at the 2018 Mental Health Service Awards of Australia and New Zealand by former Australian Prime Minister the Hon Julia Gillard AC, who is also this year's Mental Health Service Award Ambassador. The Mental Health Service Awards of Australia and New Zealand are presented annually by The MHS Learning Network to recognize and encourage best practices, excellence, and innovation in mental health service delivery. The MHS Conference, the largest mental health and addiction services conference in Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific, aims to promote positive attitudes about mental health and mental illness and to stimulate debate that challenges the boundaries of knowledge and ideas about mental health care. Keri also wrote a book "Tikanga: An Introduction to Te Ao Māori," where he offers a one-of-a-kind perspective on the Maori world that is both accessible to Pakeha and informative for Maori seeking to deepen their understanding of tikanga. Support us by grabbing T-Shirts here at our eesel shop: https://bit.ly/TakiwatangaShirts *Portion of any sale of our Takiwātanga shirts will go to maintaining our platforms. This enables us to share information that may support autism families. www.takiwatanga.org.nz Tangata Website: https://bit.ly/tangataao