Two professional psychology organisations have apologised to Māori for the harm caused by racism within the discipline of psychology.
The joint apology from the New Zealand Psychological Society Rōpū Mātai Hinengaro o Aotearoa (NZPsS) and the New Zealand College of Clinical Psychologists (NZCCP) is for the structural racism and monoculturalism inherent within the discipline of psychology, which has its origins in 19th century Europe.
NZCCP president Clare Couch said that research over the past 40 years has found evidence of the negative effect of applying the assumptions and methodologies developed for a Western population to Māori, that this has often caused harm to Māori wishing to train as psychologists, to Māori who work as psychologists, and to Māori who wish to access psychological services.
“For this we are deeply sorry and apologise without reservation for the harms done to Māori by the discipline, as well as our failure to prevent these,” she said.
NZPsS president Iris Fontanilla said the apology followed those made to Indigenous peoples in other countries, including Australia, Canada and the US.
“We also recognise that many Māori within the profession here in Aotearoa New Zealand have worked tirelessly to bring change to the profession and to introduce models that fit with a te ao Māori worldview, and that they have faced and overcome significant challenges to do so, so we also apologise to them for being slow as a profession to act on this,” she said.
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