Mauri Tui Tuia - Creative Therapies NZ

22/06/2026

We've been quietly building something for the teachers, professionals and parents in our lives...

100+ minutes of practical, grounded tools you can use at mat time tomorrow.

Coming 1 July. Watch this space - eek! We're excited 🌱

19/06/2026

Last call for registrations 🏃‍♀️🍁 we are hosting an early childhood conference day next weekend, fully funded by Ministry of Education for any early childhood teachers/kaiako/Playcentre parents across Tai Tokerau. How good!

Event details:
Calm, Connection and Creativity
Saturday 27th June 2026
Te Kamo, Whangārei
9:30-3
Fully catered

Registrations close 9am Monday, so register now! 🧡

29/05/2026

Kia ora Te Tai Tokerau ECE whānau,

We’re really excited to be offering a fully funded professional development day for early childhood kaiako in our region.

Calm, Connection and Creativity is a one-day, conference-style experience focused on supporting the real challenges educators are holding right now: increasing social and emotional needs, wellbeing pressures, and the need for practical, effective strategies.

This isn’t just a sit-and-listen day. It’s highly experiential, with hands-on workshops in music, movement, visual arts and drama therapy, all grounded in trauma-informed, neuro-affirming practice.

When you attend, you’ll receive:
• practical tools you can use straight away
• a goodie bag with sensory resources
• lifetime access to our Calm Connection video library
• handouts and resource materials
• delicious catered lunch + coffee and tea
• the opportunity to connect with others in the sector

📅 Saturday 27 June
📍 Arise, Te Kamo, Whangārei
⏰ 9:30am–3:00pm

If you’re an ECE kaiako in Te Tai Tokerau, your place is fully funded through the Ministry of Education.

We’d love to see whole teams attend together.

👉 Secure your free spot now: https://shorturl.at/DZRhM

13/05/2026

We’re so looking forward to presenting in September! Tickets are available now for the conference in Auckland. 🧡

Jan McConnell (Registered Dance Movement Therapist, Arts Therapist and Physiotherapist) and Katie Pureti (NZ Registered Music Therapist) will be keynote speakers at the MThNZ conference in September, talking about the amazing work they are doing at Mauri Tui Tuia - interdisciplinary creative therapies in collaboration!
Early bird registrations now open: https://www.musictherapy.org.nz/whats-happening/music-therapy-new-zealand-conference-2026/

22/04/2026

We're welcoming Chloe Chow to our team!

Chloe is a Registered Creative Arts Therapist based in Whangārei, with Dance Movement Therapy as her primary approach. Her work centres movement, rhythm and body awareness as gentle pathways to support emotional regulation, self‑expression and connection.

Chloe is passionate about supporting children, rangatahi and communities through creative, body‑based approaches. Her therapeutic work often weaves together movement, art‑making, rhythm, play and mindful practices, creating warm and supportive spaces where individuals can feel seen, held, and reconnect with their own strengths.

Alongside her creative therapy training, Chloe brings a background in social work within school settings, which supports her collaborative, relationship‑centred way of working.

We’re so pleased that Chloe has joined our Whangārei team full time, and look forward to the care and depth she brings to our precious Tai Tokerau communities 💛 Haere mai, Chloe!

20/04/2026

This is the kind of feedback that makes us go quiet for a minute (in a good way). 💛

Across Whānau Flourish feedback (2024–2025):
• 95% of māmā/carers felt the programme gave them more confidence playing with their child
• 95% felt it supported their tamariki to thrive
• 95% felt more confident in their own creativity and more connected to other parents
• 97% felt more able to share creative practices with pepi and whānau

And the comments? Parents talked about using songs and tools at home for transitions, and learning things like mirroring as a new technique - simple stuff that changes the feel of the day.

That’s the kaupapa: more calm, more connection, more confidence - and a bit more joy in the everyday.

(A bit about our Whānau Flourish programme if it's new to you: it's a 10 week creativity and parenting journey, facilitated in community settings by our registered creative therapists. Tamariki and parents attend together, and there's lots of music, movement, art-making and chatting on different topics each week.)

16/04/2026

Myth: Creative therapy is just “doing some art” or “having a sing”.
Reality: It’s a therapeutic approach delivered by trained, registered therapists, and it can look very different depending on the person and context.

At Mauri Tui Tuia, we provide arts therapy, dance movement therapy, and music therapy across schools, ECE centres and organisations, working ecologically with individuals, small groups, whānau and kaimahi.

A music therapy session might include shared music-making, improvisation, musical stories, rhythm games, listening, songwriting, dancing or learning an instrument - all within a therapeutic relationship and with intentional goals (communication, social connection, reducing stress, supporting emotional wellbeing, confidence and more).

A dance movement therapy session uses movement as the tool for expression, connection and healing - it’s not about being able to “dance”, it’s about how movement supports communication, emotional literacy, self-regulation and belonging.

And arts therapy uses visual and sensory processes to support expression and personal growth, especially when words aren’t available or safe enough yet. (Process over product, always.)

If you’ve got a child, teen, whānau or team who might benefit from non-verbal, creative approaches, we’re happy to talk through what could fit.

13/04/2026

This is one of the clearest impact stories we’ve seen, because it’s not about “liking the workshop”. It’s about real confidence change.

In rubric self-ratings (centres reflecting on their confidence supporting diverse learners and tamariki impacted by trauma/neurodiversity through music, movement and rhythm):
• Before the intervention, 61.2% rated themselves as ineffective or only just beginning to be effective.
• After, 60.7% rated themselves as highly effective or consolidating effectiveness.
• And 95.3% of centres improved their confidence by at least one full level.

That shift matters because kaiako are the ones holding the day-to-day rhythms - transitions, big feelings, conflict, sensory overload, tiredness, anxiety… all of it. When kaiako feel resourced and steady, tamariki feel it too.

If your team is feeling a bit stretched, you’re not alone, and there are ways to make the day calmer without adding more to the workload.

09/04/2026

If you’ve ever had a day where the energy in the room is all over the show, you’re not alone. And you’re not doing anything “wrong”.

At Mauri Tui Tuia, we offer creative therapy sessions, workshops, courses and ecological support, with one clear goal: calm connection.

That means supporting wellbeing in a way that’s sustainable for the whole system: tamariki, whānau, and the adults holding the space. And there really are doable ways here - things like considering how we nourish our own sensory systems as the adults in the room, using start-stops effectively to support focus and then extend learning, or supporting regulation with weighted tools and heavy play.

A big part of our mahi is working inside early childhood centres and schools, alongside teams- not swooping in with a “one size fits all” solution. We tailor the approach to each centre’s kaupapa, whether that’s:
• whole-centre workshops for kaiako and whānau
• a therapist working flexibly within the centre
• or targeted support for specific learners

Our practice is underpinned by Te Whare Tapa Whā, with a commitment to Te Tiriti partnership and bicultural practice. We believe wellbeing is whole-of-person (and whole-of-community).

If your team is wanting practical tools that actually work in real life (not just in theory), we’re here, and we’d love to kōrero.

07/04/2026

Big mahi, big hearts. 💛
So far, we’ve had the privilege of walking alongside 1,646 kaiako, 195 centres, and 8,727 tamariki through our creative therapy programmes.

Our kaupapa is simple: calm connection- using music, movement and the arts to support wellbeing in ways that actually work in real life (not just in theory). Just to whet your appetite, some of our most commonly highlighted activities that teachers love are Baby Butterfly, the Safety Sandwich, mirroring, Sing It Don't Say It... we developed this mahi specifically for teachers working with tamariki who have experienced trauma, or are neurodivergent.

If you’re a centre or school and you’re thinking “yep… we could use that”, flick us a message. Easy. 🌿