About Us
Aoake te Rā
Aoake te Rā is a free brief therapeutic support service funded by the Ministry of Health. It has been informed by a co-design process including stakeholders, lived experience groups, clinical and cultural expertise in suicide prevention and postvention, and recent literature.
Aoake te Rā is part of Clinical Advisory Service Aotearoa (CASA). CASA is a Non-Government Organisation offering a broad range of knowledge, skills, clinical and/or lived experience in the areas of suicide prevention and postvention as well as broader areas of mental health and wellbeing.
CASA works alongside groups and organisations to support their strengths in working together for wellbeing. See www.casa.org.nz for more information.

'Te rongoa tuturu o ngā tupuna ko te korero'
“The original medicine of our ancestors is to share our experiences with one another”
Meet The Aoake te Rā Team

I’m Amanda Christian, I’m from Tamaki Makaurau/Auckland and my favourite place is being on the beach, with a special connection to Taupō Bay/The Far North.
I work as a psychologist in the area of suicide prevention and postvention – facilitating a peer support group for bereaved others, supporting individuals and families through their traumatic grief, being an advocate for those bereaved by suicide and as a Clinical Advisor in Aoake te Rā.











Tēnā koutou e ngā rangatira, ngā tangata whenua o te Ao. Greetings all distinguished indigenous peoples of the World.
Ko Takitimu raua ko Kurahaupō ngā waka,
Ko Ngāti Kahungunu rātou ko Rangitāne, ko Ngāti Raukawa ngā iwi
Ko Renata raua ko Heketa Te Awe ngā tangata,
Ko Miriama Scott te ingoa.
I am of Ngāti Kahungunu and Rangitāne descent through our mother and Scottish and English descent through our father.
I was born in the Cook Islands, where there is a close association with the Takitimu waka, the canoe of the Ngāti Kahungunu tīpuna, to whom I whakapapa.
While I am a registered social worker, my education is in Sociology, Anthropology and History but due to the ‘strong’ encouragement of a kaumatua, Turoa Haronga, because I was facilitating learning on a social work programme, I completed competency to practice social work and then registration as a social worker.
My passion and commitment are to progress tangata whenua knowledge and skills in any field of practice and to challenge mainstream / generic services, where constraint of the legitimacy to practice as the indigenous peoples of Aotearoa may be evident. In keeping with this commitment, I also work to tautoko all indigenous peoples in the same endeavours.
Mauriora!

