The two ships that survive in a storm - a conversation with Nathan Harrington, Chief Executive of Te Kupenga Hauora Ahuriri

You may be one person in the world, but you can be the world to one person through your actions. Imagine then, the world we create when we harness our collective energies for the good of everyone – when everyone works to their strengths and doesn’t have to compete for funding. While funding models continue to coerce our sector into patch protection (and more so now than ever), we know we achieve more by prioritising partnerships over protectionships. The flourishing of our communities relies on it.

t’s said there are two ships that survive in a storm – partnerships and relationships. Nathan Harrington, CEO of Te Kupenga Hauora Ahuriri talks about surviving the biggest storm he’s ever experienced – Cyclone Gabrielle.

“One of the best things that happened in Gabrielle is that on the day that it went down, I spoke to my peer and I said to them, so my understanding is that you are leading the welfare response for Ahuriri? Is that correct? So we're going to lead the hauora aspect for Ahuriri. Are you okay with that? And then I went to another peer and did the same. What worked so effectively was having incredibly clear lanes and lines of communication – without that you drift, and that's when carnage happens. Sometimes we needed to nudge each other back into our lanes, but we were open and honest and transparent with our peers and all focused on our strengths.”

Nathan believes when you try and take on anything and everything, that’s when you’re not really helping anyone. “I think we can be really good at maybe four things, but if we focus on eight or nine, we're going to be average – our strength is diluted. So we stick to what we do really well and partner up and work alongside people that have a similar kaupapa. Everybody plays to their strengths.

Te Kupenga Hauora Ahuriri is part of a collective of five Māori providers with over 700 staff and over $55 million a year in contracts across multiple funders. Those providers work with over 20,000 whānau from Te Mahia to Takapau. A lead provider takes a contract on behalf of the funder and subcontracts out to others in the collective who channel reporting back into that lead provider. The collective has shared clinical governance and shared cultural governance around tikanga and kawa.

Nathan says the collective was “just sick and tired of just having to compete against each other and cut each other off at the knees. At one time our relationships were pretty terrible. One of the providers in our collective took a significant tamariki health contract off us, then one of their contracts went out for tender and we were successful in securing that contract. That led to strained relationships and low trust between partners. Our funders would play us off against each other. So we put a stake in the ground and said we're stronger together.”

Nathan says it doesn’t matter who whānau receive a service from, so long as they receive it. “I often say to our funders, our whānau, they’re not livestock! They're not cattle. They're not sheep. They don't belong to us. They're not your whanau. They should be able to pick and choose who they want to get their service from. It's all well and good, just as long as they're being seen, just as long as they're getting the support that they need.”

That doesn’t mean it’s all plain sailing, but Nathan believes if you work in this sector, you have a good heart and you just have different ways of getting to the result. “I often say to our partners, we all agree on the destination, we just argue over the direction to get there. So it’s about sitting down as a collective and nutting it out and going, well, ‘this is what I do. What do you do? How do you approach this? How can we work together?”

Nathan admits there’s a tension between a whānau ora approach and government models. “If you work with a whānau, they don’t understand that they are whānau number 23 and that you're funded to work with 20,” he says. But he believes you can either sit on the sidelines and criticise, “or put a jersey on and come onto the field and help.” Te Kupenga Hauora Ahuriri has put on its jersey and has been heavily involved for the past three years with Te Tumu Whakahaere o Te Wero (Te Wero) the Ngāti Kahungunu Health and Wellbeing expert advisory panel which is reimagining the relationship between Iwi and Oranga Tamariki.

“I've always received a bit of flack about it, but I always see Oranga Tamariki as our funders, partners, and as colleagues. Their role is around ensuring our tamariki are safe. Who doesn't want that? The majority of our Oranga Tamariki whānau aren't bad people, but the operating system that they work within isn’t great.”

Once again, Nathan says it’s about everyone playing to their strengths. “I don't want to do Oranga Tamariki’s work,” he says. “When Oranga Tamariki go out to visit a whānau, they carry a stick. When we go to visit whānau, we carry a kai parcel or the ability to work alongside them.”

Projects that have come from this reimagining of the Iwi relationship with Oranga Tamariki include supporting rangatahi to transition to independence, providing navigators to guide and walk alongside whānau and designing a new service to establish a panel to assess all reports of concern notifications that come to the attention of Oranga Tamariki.

“The beauty of this service is that it is about early intervention,” says Nathan. “If whānau don’t reach the threshold for Oranga Tamariki intervention, we as a group of providers may have whakawhanautanga relationships with that whānau, or have services to support them.

Nathan says there's no greater word and no greater dream than mana Motuhake. “Because for many whānau, they lead their lives being told what their issue is, what they need to address, what they need to do along that journey. They’re never asked, ‘what do you want? What do you need?’ For me to get whānau to a state where they can articulate and be supported to achieve their hopes, their dreams, their aspirations, that's what it's all about.”

Nathan arrived at Te Kupenga Hauora Ahuriri during COVID which was followed by Cyclone Gabrielle. Since then he says he’s seen the rise and demise of Te Whatu Ora and Te Aka Whai Ora and ongoing changes with Oranga Tamariki contracts. A peer had a catastrophic heart attack and almost died; another passed away suddenly. “We've had a major restructure within the organisation, because we needed to meet whānau and funder expectations. We're facing a total rebuild of our buildings which are currently not up to the new building standard. Frankly, our staff and whānau deserve great and safe spaces and there is increasing demand for us to step up in the civil defence space, so this requires resource.”

Throughout the challenges, Nathan finds the purpose in his work through a belief in others. “My dad used to tell me all the time that everybody deserves their day in the sun and I believe that’s right, that everybody deserves a break. I always believe in the potential of our whānau and our community.

Nathan remembers a kaumatua who he loved dearly and still misses every day. “He said to me, ‘Nathan, you're one person in the world, but you can be the world to one person through your actions.’ And so for me, that's what it's all about. How lucky are we that we come to work every day knowing that we're improving the lives of whānau? What better job can you have than going to work every day and knowing that your actions are contributing to whānau being safer, whānau being happier? It's absolutely magic. I believe and I was taught that a rising tide lifts all boats, that we are stronger together.”