Manukura | Aaryn Niuapu

Ko te tohu o te rangatira, he manaaki i te tāngata

The symbol of leadership is caring for people.

Ko te kai o te rangatira, he kōrero

The sustenance of leaders is communication.

Ko te mahi o ngā rangatira, he whakatira i tōna iwi

The duty of leaders is uniting the people.

Ko wai ahau:

I te taha o tōku māmā, ko Ngāti Whakaue tōku iwi, ko Ngāti Tūnohopū tōku hapū.

I te taha o tōku pāpā, ko Ngāti Hāmoa tōku iwi, ko Nofoali’i me Leulumoega ōku hapū.

Ko Aaryn Niuapu ahau.

Aaryn Niuapu stays with his wife, Alesha, and two children, Hawaiki and Piipiwharauroa, in West Auckland. Both Alesha and Aaryn have their own recovery journeys and diverse portfolios of experience across mental health and addiction strategy, cultural confidence, lived experience leadership, service design, co-production, workforce development, research, planning and funding. They are passionate about social justice and whānau-driven community initiatives.

Aaryn is currently focused on supporting local, regional, and national initiatives to strengthen the capacity and capabilities of the consumer, peer support, lived experience (CPSLE) whānau voice workforce.

The recent Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Health/Mental Health outlined a commitment to growing the CPSLE workforce. Aaryn believes it is important (for the CPSLE workforce, our communities accessing support, and the wider health workforce) that the political focus and direction of this growth, is led by CPSLE leaders.

The kaupapa of growing the CPSLE workforce relates to historical advocacy from our communities, and the CPSLE workforce, in transforming our mental health and addiction sector to be led/designed/delivered by people with lived and/or whānau experience. Aaryn believes that if the outcomes of the workforce investment into CPSLE roles aren’t led by CPSLE leaders, that national outcomes could be contrary to the ethos of the CPSLE workforce and open opportunities for political scapegoating.

Aaryn is an advocate for facilitating collective awareness and action. In his role with Te Whatu Ora Te Toka Tūmai (Whaiora Whānau Lived Experience Director), he has supported the development of a Northern Region roundtable. The forum, consisting of CPSLE leaders across the region, have a programme of work dedicated to building CPSLE best practice consistency and effectiveness. At a local level, Aaryn has led greater collaborative role clarity and development across the CPSLE workforce (both internal to Te Whatu Ora and external NGO partners).

Aaryn is passionate about growing and supporting the next generation of CPSLE leaders. He is part of the part-time teaching team for the Postgraduate Lived Experience Pathway, which is about to launch at Auckland University of Technology. Aaryn is extremely proud to offer guiding support and mentoring for the team at Whakatira Leadership. It is an Indigenous-lived-experience-firm, led by Alesha and her agile team of strategic consultants. Whakatira have been working with organisations locally, regionally, and nationally to strengthen their strategic direction on growing their CPSLE workforce.

Both the local and regional Te Whatu Ora CPSLE development work has seen greater role clarity for the workforce as well as collective confidence in CPSLE leadership leading CPSLE initiatives. Aaryn has been encouraged to see the idea of a regional learning community become an embedded principle in the strategy and actions of the regional roundtable.

Aaryn is encouraged to see the groundswell of demand for CPSLE professional development, and organisational change processes led by the CPSLE workforce. He is excited to support, from the background, the new generation of CPSLE leaders accessing training and/or starting their own community initiatives.