Dear Moko

Ko Pārengarenga te moana, Pārengarenga is my ocean.

Ko Tawhitirahi te maunga, Tawhitirahi is my mountain.

Ko Awapoka te awa, Awapoka is my river.

Ko Kurahaupō te waka, Kurahaupō is my ancestral canoe.

Ko Pōtahi rāua ko Te Reo Mihi ōku marae, Pōtahi and Te Reo Mihi are my traditional meeting places.

Ko Te Aupōuri, ko Ngāti Kurī, ko Te Rarawa, ko Ngāi Takoto, ko Ngāpuhi nui tonu ōku iwi, My tribes are Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Kurī, Te Rarawa, Ngāi Takoto and Ngāpuhi.

Ko Hinemoa taku ingoa, my name is Hinemoa.

Dr Hinemoa Elder is of Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Kurī,
Te Rarawa, Ngāi Takoto and Ngāpuhi nui tonu and is the mother of two adult children. She has lived on Te Motu Ārai Roa, Waiheke Island for more than 25 years, and is the author of New Zealand’s best-selling local non-fiction book of 2021, Aroha - Māori Wisdom for a Contented Life Lived in Harmony with Our Planet.

Hinemoa is the Kaiārahi Oranga Hinengaro at Te Hiku Hauora, Muriwhenua. She also provides youth forensic court reports and neuropsychiatric assessment and treatment for tamariki mokopuna experiencing complexities in their recovery from traumatic brain injury. She is a deputy psychiatry member of the New Zealand Mental Health Review Tribunal.

In 2019, Hinemoa was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit,for services to psychiatry and Māori. You can also find her on Instagram and TikTok @drhinemoa.