We’re regularly told to “not sweat the small stuff” but what about the (really) big stuff? With our planet getting hotter, mental and physical healthcare under strain, and the most foundational indigenous rights being debated amidst

a global backdrop of war and disruption, there is no shortage of “big stuff” to carry at the moment.

Three writers join Dr Emma Espiner (Ngāti Tukorehe, Ngāti Porou) (There’s a Cure for This) to discuss Māori perspectives on confronting and handling big existential challenges: author of The Bone Tree, Airana Ngarewa (Ngāti Ruanui, Ngā Rauru, Ngāruahine) whose writing explores how whānau and iwi can survive and rise above the systems that fail them; Chief Executive of Forest and Bird Nicola Toki, whose Tangata Tiriti approach to advocacy for te taiao comes at a critical moment for Aotearoa’s environment; and writer and suicide survivor Rob Mokaraka who is invited to communities and organisations with his story of attempted suicide-by-cop in his kaupapa, Shot Bro to help address trauma.

Together they discuss how they confront life’s hardest parts and find a way through.

Rite tonu te kīia mai kia 'kaua tātou e māharahara ki ngā take iti noa', engari ka pēhea ngā take nui (rawa atu)? I tō tātou ao e wera ake ana, i ngā ratonga hauora ā-hinengaro, ā-tinana anō e taimaha ana, otirā, i ngā mana taketake e noho nei hei mana tūāpapa e tohea ana i te wā o te riri me te whakatutūnga puehu ki ētahi tini whenua o te ao, kāhore i ārikarika ngā 'take nui' hei pīkau mā tātou i tēnei wā.

Tokotoru ngā ringatuhi ka noho tahi ki a Tākuta Emma Espiner (Ngāti Tukorehe, Ngāti Porou) (There’s a Cure for This) ki te wānanga i ētahi tirohanga Māori ki te ara e arongia ai ngā wero nui ki tō tātou oranga, otirā, e puta ai ō tātou ihu: ko te kaitito i The Bone Tree, ko Airana Ngarewa, ko ana tuhinga ka ruku ki ngā ara e ora ai ngā whānau me ngā iwi, otirā, e rewa ai ki tua o ngā pūnaha i raru ai rātou; ko te tumu whakarae o Forest and Bird, ko Nicola Toki, ko tana aronga hei Tangata Tiriti e tū ana hei reo mō te taiao e rangona ana i tētahi wā whai tikanga nui ki te taiao o Aotearoa; ā, ko te ringatuhi, ko te mōrehu i ora tonu hāunga tana tahuri ki te mate whakamomori, ko Rob Mokaraka, tērā ka pōhiritia e ngā hapori me ngā whakahaere o te motu kia whakaaturia tana kaupapa, ko Shot Bro mō tana whai kia mate whakamomori ai ia i te pū a te pirihimana, hei mea rongoā i te kohuki e ngaukino ana.

Ka wānanga tahi rātou i ngā ara ka whāia e rātou e arongia ai ngā taimahatanga nui i ngā rā o ō rātou ao, e puta anō ai rātou ki te ora.

Supported by Royal Society Te Apārangi & the Marsden Fund.